painted plastic

[bickel76]

has anyone painted their fenders? i painted the hood and gas tank shroud black and it turned out pretty good. unfortunately, the fenders are in pretty bad shape for being an '01. i hate to spend 250 bucks on something that is just for appearance, especially if i can just get by with painting them. i've heard that krylon fusion is the paint to use on plastic to keep it from cracking and chipping. any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[06yfm350]

I painted my hood. I prepped it by sanding it down with a high grit sandpaper. Then i put one coat of Adhesion Promoter (used to make regular paint stick). let it dry for about 1/2 an hour, then i put about 4 coats of regular gloss black paint on it. It turned out perfect! no cracks or bubbles in the paint at all. doesn't even scratch like the regular plastic does

You should be able to find Adhesion Promoter at any automotive store.

 

[earthmovin]

working on it now with the fusion let you know how it turns out. its so btf I hope it will look better

 

[yamarider]

Did you already start painting it? I hope you prepped it good before you started! It doesn't matter how good the paint is if it's not sanded down good first.

 

[earthmovin]

yeah I sanded the crap out of it and shot it well it fish eyed so now I am going to prep it again and try it my way, the paint was no good it was separated so now comes the beating to the ace man.

 

[baja226sport]

I have painted plastics in the past and they have come out really well. The only thing is it would show "spider webbing" When I rolled it over and the plastic was bent.

 

[bickel76]

the main thing i was concerned about was it holding up after riding. i initially used plastic renew and it turned out pretty good. the only problem was that if you went through any mud, the fenders are pretty much useless and where the mud hit on the top of the fenders, the plastic renew would come off. i didnt know if the paint would do the same or hold up better. i dont want to have to repaint after every ride.

 

[baja226sport]

I don't think you'd have to do that. I used to paint every few months though. It got to be a pain in the ass after a while. But I was painting a candy apple/blue.....it took priming, a silver base, the metal flake blue, then clear. If you are just going with a normal color it shouldn't be to bad. Mine was just to expensive to keep doing. Basically I was trying to ride a show bike.

 

[yamarider]

that plastic renew crap on your fenders is probably why the paint didn't stick. If there's anything oily, waxy, or dirty on the fenders after you sand them the paint won't stick to that part.

 

[xj4m3]

^^^^exactly what he said, i do auto collision and anything such as oil or silicon based products(ex-plastic renew, or armor all)are what cause fish eyes. anytime you paint you should use a wax and grease remover very heavily to be sure your paint doesnt fish eye

 

[boxhead]

The plant I work for is a plastic mold and paint shop, the way you want to clean it (even if you wiped the **** out of it) is definately with 90 to 100% alcohol. You'll want to sand it down to over 600 grit but still leave it at a moderate grade for the paint to sort of grip. The only time you should ever prep finer than that is if you're going to fix a small spot on a already painted part. The shop uses 1500 and 2000 grit to simply remove dirt that got in the wet paint, that way it won't burn through the clearcoat. I wouldn't recommend painting the plastics at all, you would be better off just sanding down the plastics all the way to wet 2000 grit and then using a plastic buffing compound to bring out a brand new look. I've used that technique to remove several deep scratches on mine.

 

[baja226sport]

Where can you get these supplies? (2000 grit paper and plastic buffing compound)???????

 

[earthmovin]

Take the fusion back to the place if you have bought some and shove it up the salesman, I wish the plastic on mine wasnt already painted so I could have buffed it out

 

[boxhead]

If you can't pick up the 2000 or 1500 grit at any hardware stores just check with any company or website that deals 3M ****, they'll have it all. A heat gun will eliminate any stress marks on there, just don't hold it in one spot for too long or it will melt.

 

[bickel76]

well, after thinking about it for a while, i've decided to go ahead and go through the process of restoring the plastics using the steps from the tutorial section on here. i really like the looks of a warrior totally blacked out, but if i can get the fenders in good shape, that will work for now. i appreciate everyone's advice on here.