This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Paint bubbling

A

Andyc1511

Joined Oct 2011
32 Posts | 0+
Hampshire, UK
Evening folks,

Just wondered if anyone had this problem - had my 2001 Mille in my metal shed covered in a plastic bike cover (you know the type) since before xmas. Uncovered it last weekend to find it soaking wet from condensation and worryingly, hundreds of tiny paint blisters all over the tank. Anyone had the same problem? Anyway of getting them out without popping each one with a pin? I've left the cover off now and dont intend using it again.

Cheers

Andy
 
No never seen that, i never used to have a garage so my mille was left outside for like 4yrs with a plastic type cover on.

Is it the plastic tank or steel??
 
Weird huh? Its only since I put the cover on it (its an Oxford one) and appeared just over the xmas period. Its definitely moisture as I popped a bubble and water came out. Theyre the size of a pinhead and there's bloody hundreds! Its a plastic tank.
 
Mine was an oxford one too (silver and black).... Had a couple of them because the plastic starts to go brittle and they tear, especially if you dont wait for the exhaust etc to cool.

Mines the plastic tank too. thats so wierd, is the rest of the bike completely fine?
 
Thats the one only mines silver and blue, but same thing. Thought I'd put what type of cover it was because I wondered if the paint had reacted with the waterproofing on the cover. Even stranger, all the other paintwork is absolutely fine. Might try heating it up with a hair dryer and squeezing the bubbles out. Fookin thing!
 
Well bugger me, looks like it may well be down to crappy supermarket fuel with too much ethanol. Who'd have thought it, and also lends weight to the swelling tank when I lifted it the other week and struggled to get it bolted back down with the front bolts. Time to dry it out and just run on super gas in the tank.

Thanks a heap guys, really appreciated your help. Ride safe.
 
Andy, has the tank been repainted?...what you have is micro blistering caused by moisture in your paint..if it's been repainted moisture has come through the airline from the compressor used to paint the tank...only fix is to strip and repaint..i do alot of these repairs..unfortunately the blisters won't go away..if you stick a pin in one of the blisters see if water comes out..
 
Hi Jester. Thanks for replying. Although I bought the bike 2nd hand two years ago the tank paint looks original . Gregorious77 put an interesting link further back in this post to RSVRZone where some other guys had a similar problem due to ethanol breathing through plastic tanks causing the same bubbling problems. Most of the bubbles have disappeared now, just a few larger ones left where i'd tried to squeeze them together. I'll see if they too disappear otherwise its poppin' time.
Cheers for the advice though bud.
 

Similar threads

kawasakiinit
Plastic tank paint bubbling
Replies
2
Views
2K
kawasakiinit
kawasakiinit
RSV_Ecosse
RSV rear tail unit, seat cowl, pillion seat and rear light
Replies
4
Views
1K
RSV_Ecosse
RSV_Ecosse
W
aprilia way blue/looks like a rs
Replies
1
Views
834
wayblue37
W
Trevallion
Fuel Tank / Breather Woes. Take care!
Replies
10
Views
6K
bbydlr
bbydlr
T
RARE……2001 RSVR For Sale.
Replies
10
Views
3K
milliemonkey
M

New Posts