How to paint the Kawasaki H2R?

A true phenomenon! In the motorcycle industry, one had rarely seen such a beautiful painting effect, until the release of the famous Kawasaki H2R.
With its beautiful ultra-glossy black appearance, it does not go unnoticed. At first glance, one can see that its not just a simple black topcoat;
it is much more effective in reflecting light, and one can perceive, by looking more closely, a very impressive effect, like a metallized coat, a kind of black chrome.
In bodywork painting industry, this is quite unprecedented and most innovative!

The Kawasaki H2R paint:

But then what is it? What is the colour code and how to obtain the paint?

In response to many recent requests from motorcycle paint specialists, Stardust Colors shares the secret behind the technique to achieve this effect.

Indeed, for some years now, StardustColors painters have fun testing and combining the special effects with their spray guns.
And they know well this black chrome effect.
“This is not achieved with chrome paint, as some people think.
Here, we have been doing it for years and we call it black chrome”

Theres a metallizing (silver film) chemical effect which is used to produce such exceptional finish.
This can be achieved through a double nozzle spray gun that projects a pure silver film over the shiny black undercoat.
But it is not that simple:
To start the silver reaction, it is necessary to activate this surface with a third product.
It will bring an outstanding chrome effect.

Black Candy over Chrome

“We had found this black chrome effect by amusing ourselves to cover the chrome with candy inks, thus the black candy.
By applying a lot of transparent black, we have obtained a lacquer with a unique effect of glossiness.”

Each motorbike is “handmade” by the Kawasaki painters. (This may partly explain the price of 50,000 euros for each bike!) This process is done manually, with a chroming machine.
Only the topcoat part with a UV-cure clearcoat is done mechanically.

So what do you do if you dont have this chrome plating machine?
It would be difficult to use spray guns to undertake this technique.
It is necessary to have a chroming machine to spray and rinse all these products simultaneously.

However, StardustColors proposes a chrome kit without machine, but the process is limited to the treatment of small parts such as a helmet to the maximum.