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I could have cried the other day and don't laugh I really mean that...my bike is four (!) weeks young and something hit my helmet while riding (and no: it was through town- so no speed involved). That something must have hit the top of the tank as well as I have an admittingly very tintsy but nevertheless visible little white spot now on my biarriz blue tank. It's the size of a little dust spot and no scratches- just a little bit of paint missing.

I phoned my BMW dealer (and no I did not ask for a new tank or the whole thing to be re-painted...) and wanted to find out whether they had a paint pen with which to touch up the little spot. Can you believe it? They don't! Apparently they don't sell these pens anymore? For the older bike models they used to have them.

What are you doing now when some paint chips off? Just live with it???

Anyhow- just thought I let you know and perhaps one of you can please tell me that my dealer is wrong and they do exist?
Stef.

Sorry Steph, I can imagine how you feel.

I tried in vain last winter to get some touch up paint for one of my valve covers which had an wanted meeting with a friend's driveway.

The best I could come up with was to bring y bike to a body shop where they can use a computer to match and custom mix some paint.

An alternative might be to find a dark blue car color similar to the bike, and get a touch up pen for that one. Not perfect, but it would take the curse off.

My dealer tells mne that BMW has gotten out of the paint business because of the difficulties involved in shipping the stuff legally.

Bruce

I had the same problem, got some braritz blue touch-up paint from here http://www.rsbikepaint.com/en/colours.php?makeid=15#

I ordered the touch up paint and clear coat from these folks:

http://www.colorrite.com/

I scratched my tank trying to install a different seat.

Bill

Stupid question Bill and zei220: and how did the paint look once you applied it? Could you tell the difference?
Thanks for the links- very useful!
Stef.

The paint works, you can't tell there was a problem unless you knew there was a chip there once.....

Thanks. Just ordered a pen.
Stef.

Stef. wrote:Thanks. Just ordered a pen.
Stef.

...can I borrow it?

Stef,

The paint worked well for me. I can see a liitle blemish, but I know where to look. Most folks probably wouldn't notice it.

It's terrible to get scratches on your bike, but it happens. I scratched the plastic front fender on my RT by brushing up against another piece of plastic. I was both angry and dumbfounded at how that could happen. Metal against plastic always wins in a scratch contest, but plastic against plastic?

Bill

Hey what about a smallish, stylish (by your interpretation) decal?
Leo

I had a similar problem with one of my previous bikes - except it wasn't something flying through the air while riding.

I had my XJ900 in for a service and when I collected her at the end of the day there was a 1/2 inch scratch / dent in the top face of the tank. Needless to say it was not there when I dropped her off in the morning.
I walked back in to the dealer and asked what the **** had happened only to be told it wasn't anything they did. I wasn't about to accept that and pushed him on it. He insisted they had not done it and to back himself up, he called the head mechanic in from the workshop. As he walked in it was instant vindication for me - the guy looked like all the blood had run out of his face and he was very sheepish. He admitted that they had dropped a spanner onto it and had not thought to mention it.

My pain didn't end there.

They agreed to send the tank off to be painted. Six weeks later after many calls (and no bike to ride) I go back to get it and they have indeed painted it, but had not thought it worthwhile to sand it back and prep the surface, so I now had a nice paint finish over a nasty scratch.

It stayed that way till the day I sold it. It was like a dagger in my side every time I got on to go for a ride.

Don't let anyone tell you that it is only a chip, no matter how small.
Every chip is like a pimple on your nose on the day of the prom.