How well do plastics take paint?

[anonymous-user]

So after my off last week I'm looking for new panels, as the bike overall is in surprisingly good shape.
Have seen all the right ones on eBay, and in the right colours but all are a bit scuffed (rest of the bike is still pretty tidy).
How easy/realistic would it be to flat down, prime and paint plastics?
It'd be the same colour, which is gloss black.

[steveo3002]

perfect with the correct prep /materials.....near on every car on the road has painted bumpers and mirrors , you only see it flaking when its bodge job

[Lee540]

Crossflow Kid said:

So after my off last week I'm looking for new panels, as the bike overall is in surprisingly good shape.
Have seen all the right ones on eBay, and in the right colours but all are a bit scuffed (rest of the bike is still pretty tidy).
How easy/realistic would it be to flat down, prime and paint plastics?
It'd be the same colour, which is gloss black.

Or you could not bother and leave them mismatched..

My ZXR400 had 4 different coloured panels on it at one point.

Gloss black is a difficult colour to paint well, you could get the panels wrapped professionally? or hydro-dipped.

[anonymous-user]

Dipping or wrapping was something else I'd considered, thing is the panels on question are pretty intricate with some annoying curves, concave and convex.

[graeme4130]

Crossflow Kid said:

Dipping or wrapping was something else I'd considered, thing is the panels on question are pretty intricate with some annoying curves, concave and convex.

Having wrapped a complete bike myself, I can tell you that it's a flipping pain in the arse, and takes bloody ages.
If you do take on the job, heat is your friend so get yourself a good heat gun or a fairly industrial hair dryer, and don't be temped into using matt effect wraps as when the stretch, they become more of a gloss finish and it leaves the wrap patchy.
I did a mates Triumph 675 track bike, and thought the quotes for £3-400 plus materials seemed a rip off, so we attempted it ourselves. However, after several days and about 3 times as much wrap in the bin than on the bike, the high quotes started to make more sense

[MotorsportTom]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

This.

You can do it but form my limited experience keeping somewhere dust free and at the right temperature for the paint to spray well and cure is a pita.

For reference a one off colour, including repairing nose cone, 2 side panels, a belly pan and repainting the infill between the belly pan came to £300 from a local guy. It took a while to be done but honestly, I couldn't have even got anywhere near close to what he has achieved.

Well worth it IMO

[anonymous-user]

Ok, ta.

[Mr OCD]

A Chinese fairing kit might be an option?

Surprisingly good apparently these days.

https://shop.auctmarts.com/

[anonymous-user]

Mr OCD said:

A Chinese fairing kit might be an option?

Surprisingly good apparently these days.

https://shop.auctmarts.com/

Don't do Triumph Tiger :-/

[Mr2Mike]

'Plastic' covers an enormous range of materials. Some are easy to paint, others are not and require special preparation e.g. polyproplene (used on some fairings) may need flame treatment to get paint to stick.

[anonymous-user]

So next question, anyone recommend a good panel painter near Basingstoke?