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[Serkcus]

Mine, candy cobalt, has a beautifully done finish. but the tank is a lot lighter shade than the rest of the bike. The dealer says it looks fine (of coarse) that it is just the way the light reflects on the tank. This is BS, the tank, while a nice color has a least a coat less of the blue, the silver underneath can be easily seen while all of the other body panels are at least a coat or two darker where the base color is not so readily apparent. Was at a custom builders shop a couple of weeks ago and the first thing they noticed was the differing tank color. A friend of mine has the identical bike and his tank looks like it should have been mine and vice versa. he had really not noticed until
i pointed it out. Now he's pissed. Called HD and they say this is the first they have heard of missmatched colors. Wondering if it's just these two, or if it's a more general problem.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Mine, candy cobalt, has a beautifully done finish. but the tank is a lot lighter shade than the rest of the bike. The dealer says it looks fine (of coarse) that it is just the way the light reflects on the tank. This is BS, the tank, while a nice color has a least a coat less of the blue, the silver underneath can be easily seen while all of the other body panels are at least a coat or two darker where the base color is not so readily apparent. Was at a custom builders shop a couple of weeks ago and the first thing they noticed was the differing tank color. A friend of mine has the identical bike and his tank looks like it should have been mine and vice versa. he had really not noticed until i pointed it out. Now he's pissed. Called HD and they say this is the first they have heard of missmatched colors. Wondering if it's just these two, or if it's a more general problem.

Sounds like a very quick fix would be to have you guys just switch tanks; then you both would be happy.

With candy colors, pearl paints and some top coats, getting the base color to show through at the same strength is always a hard thing to pull off.

I was a service manager back in the '70s at a Chevy / Pontiac dealership and back then the pickup front sheetmetal was painted in one plant and then assembled to the cab in another plant.  I can't tell you how many paint problems we had with this very slight miss match, but most of the time I tried to just talk the customer out of doing anything to it.  One guys insisted that we repaint his silver 1/2 ton pickup because of the paint miss match doors/cab to front end sheetmetal.  We were told by GM to do and back then the paint technology isn't what it is today and after about three years the guys pickup look like crap with faded paint and oxidation all over.  Remember some of the factory paints back then, the light metallic blue, silver and maroon, were all faded and had paint peeling in just a few years.

We used to go to area meetings and the zone manager would at least one time during the meetings tell about all the good things they were doing now to make cars better.  He'd always get the words out, "I'm sure glad they don't make them like they used to".  Just thing back in the '60s cars had valve jobs at 50 to 60k miles, tuneup plugs and points at about 10 to 15k, tires were worn out by 10 to 15k.  Now look at what we complain about on our '06 and '07 cars and trucks today, boy I'm sure glad they don't make them like they used to.

That being said, the same thing can be said about our bikes today, regardless of the manufacturer.  Yes we have issues with the 110" motors, but I don't know how many guys here even with all the motor issues swear that they're '07 Harley is the best bike they've ever owned.

Regardless of the potential issues, I'm looking forward to my new '08 SERK.

Back to the paint issues, look at what all of the companies are doing paint wise these days.  10 years ago only the rich could expect to get such a fancy paint job on a bike.  The things they do today and call it a production paint job is just amazing to me.  I've done some of the very old '70s paint work and I couldn't begin to pull off any of this stuff.

Again on your bike, a couple hours of switching parts and you both should be happy.  Did you both buy from the same dealership?  If so, even though the dealer says it's an acceptable paint job, maybe they would take care of two customers and even get it approved from Mo Co for their warranty expenses.

Just a thought.

[DoCPooF]

You could always change the tank.

I don't notice that mine is that far off.

The problem with candy colors is light greatly effects the way the paint looks.

I was warned when I had my bags painted it will look different.  Most of the bike has curves, the bags are flat.  Most of the tin is, well, tin - bags - plastic.  This will effect the base coat and candy.

Perfect example.  Depending on the light the bags look like a perfect match, change the light and it looks like they are a shade off.








Either way, if you are unhappy with the tank talk to the dealer and have the tanks changed out.

Good luck. 

[Copper/Black Cvo]

If you are NOT satisfied with the shade of color from the manufacture....

after spending all that $$$$.....

Send it back and have it done right...

Don't accept anything less...

I wouldn't...

[Serkcus]

Great Pics DoCPoof, your bike looks superb! Realize the difficulties involved with painting these candy colors, basically they are done very well. In my case the color differential is like two differenty painters were involved in various components. The tank whle it looks great in it's own right is a very different color that any where else on the bike. It would be great id they were all one way or all the other darker shade. It appears like another coat of blue should have been applied prior to the clear. I am going to see if anything can be done, although I'm not really expecting a fix. The dealer has had the same response ( well those candy paints can look entirel different depending on the surface and how the light hits it), wich of coarse is a copout, as no matter what the lighting or the light source, the color differential is substantial. In short. I believe if the MoCo can't get a decent color match acreroos multiple panels on the same machine, they should stick to vivid black across the  entire line.