Need to replace OEM pin stripping on tank..

[Wayne S]

I did a stupid thing and got brake cleaner on the pin stripping on the tank in two places, one on each side of course.

Have any of you fellow Valkers replaced the OEM pin stripping?  What does it involve?  I'm intemidated to just buy the pin stripping and go at it cold.  I'm not a paint and body man.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Wayne S

[fudgie]

I believe the oem stripe is on there very well, under the clear coat. I know when I had mine repainted the painter use some kinda bondo on the tank and sanded it smooth. He said the old oem stripes always show thru new paint. Not sure what to tell ya unless you can use finger nail polish and fill in the lines.

[junior]

can you get a pic on here so we can see?

[DavRed]

Correct. If it is OEM it is under the clear coat. At least it is on the fairing.... Maybe sand it and reclear the tank.

[DFragn]

Here's what I would do.
The OEM decal for the tank is 2 pieces, left & right sides. They're about $100.00/side @ HDL. Hopefully your damage in 2 places is to one side only.
REVISED: I missed it, it is both sides. You can still probably take repair splices from just 1 new stripe side. The stripe kits are 3-color and pre-shaped so maybe you would need both. Careful evaluation could save $100.00

Using a new single edge blade cut & remove the damaged sections. You shouldn't have damage to the stripping where the clear coat wasn't thoroughly eaten through. Then splice in a section you've cut from the new Honda decal with a slight overlap to the good exisitng stripe.
Then you can be finished if you want or have those sections re-cleared. This is assuming the paint colors surrounding the damage stripe are in good shape.

I had a similar incident by standing my tank on it's nose and gasoline dripped from the cap overnight trashing about an 1 1/2" of stripping. I replaced that section with pinstripping, I had left from painting my fairing & pods, and did not clearcoat it. It's been fine for 2 years so far with waxing only.

The problem with sanding [as mentioned above] the pinstripping is you'll open a whole can of worms and it will get very expensive.
If you sand the stripe off you will embed its adhesives into the paint below contaminating any attempt to paint or clear over. You'll end up stripping the entire tank and repainting. I can guarantee that mess.
If you sand deep enough trying to remove the embedded adhesive you'll be well into two colors + clearcoat. Don't do it. Unless you would prefer to repaint the entire tank.

[Wayne S]

DFragn, after reading your post I believe it was gas instead of brake cleaner that damaged the pinstripping on my tank.

I had taken the tank off and stood it on it's nose as you did yours and more than a pint of gas leaked out the vent line and collected in puddles under the nose of the tank. (I had the tank sitting on a large trash bag out on the edge of my yard.  The weight of the tank made pockets in the trash bag that collected the gas and the rest is history.... damaged pinstripping.)

The damage is in the curved portion of the pinstripping and I don't know if one half of a the set will work due to the curvature of the pinstripping in the damaged area.  Both sides are damaged in the same area.

I've got to make a decision as to what action to take.  Thanks for your post, it has given me something to go on.

Thanks again,  Wayne S