A recent motorcycle paint job gave us a run for our money when it came to matching the color of the fender to the tank.

Being mindful of keeping the gas tank as original as possible, the customer didn’t want to repaint the tank, but wanted the fender to be painted to match the tank. Painting the tank would have slightly altered the original color that many people are after. In this case, it also would have given us issues with finding the exact right decals he wanted, so we understood the predicament.

The bike, a 1994 Honda CB1000 Super Four, originally from the UK, was brought in by a customer wanting us to paint the fender pearl red and white. Easy enough… or so we thought. Since the bike is from Europe, it had factory paint specific to European motorcycles.

The first time the paint was delivered (from England), it turned out to be a completely different color; a dark purple almost. After speaking with the company, we realized there were two models of this bike, each with a different color and that they had sent the wrong one. They then shipped the right paint, which  unfortunately turned out to be a shade off as well. Instead of continuing down this road, we spoke with the customer about his options and decided to stop trying to find the identical paint code and just color match the tank with a quality Chromabase paint.

In this case, the bike was rounded out so much that the Chromavision color matching machine couldn’t get a match on the paint. So, we used the paint catalog to find an identical color to the original red, and were ultimately very pleased with the result. The side by side comparison shows a perfect color match.

Tim even went the extra mile and painted his other fender a solid white in case he wants to switch them out once in a while. The customer was very happy, and had this to say about us:

“I recently had the lofty goal of painting a used cowl to match a brand new two tone Honda OEM tank in pearl red and white. Despite my best efforts with spray paint cans, which proved to be a disaster, I was fortunate to find TD Customs, located in Mills River. I cannot speak too highly of Tim who went above and beyond in finding the perfect color match for the notoriously difficult Honda red pearl color. Not only was the finished product a testament to Tim’s craftsmanship, but his integrity and honesty, coupled with a very fair price, speak volumes. I highly recommend TD Customs for any paint work needed on your car or motorcycle. It is evident Tim and his wife strive to make every customer happy. I am grateful Tim can add me to the list of satisfied customers.”

– John M.B. Houtman

Typically, finding a perfect color match is not this difficult. Whether through paint codes or the Chromavision machine, we are usually able to find a color match very easily. However, it’s good to know when a situation like this comes up, we are still able to find a perfect match on our own. And we always do whatever we can to get the job done right and make our customers happy!

We’d love to help you get your bike looking how you want it to look! Check out our Motorcycle Photo Gallery for lots of great pictures and contact us when you’re ready to get your motorcycle painted!