Painting New Plastics

[Anonymous]

Inspired by the econo paint job in the Garage section I decided to piant the tank and side covers for my 82 GS850GL.

I have stripped the tank, found only one small dent, and was pleasantly suprised that it didn't take a whole lot of effort to get the paint off.

I am still sanding one of the side covers which was in reasonably pristine condition.

I have a new side cover that I picked up from bike bandit and I am wondering if I can just paint it as is or should I do any sanding to prep it?

I am thinking no, but my wife's cage has a front bumper which has big patches where the paint has peeled off. It was replaced by the previous owner and I don't think the shop prepped it properly. Since I don't want my paint to fall off I thought I would ask.

Thanks
Chris

[Anonymous]

Think your supposed to scuff it a little bit before painting, to give the paint a better surface to adhere to. With 600 grit sandpaper? or I think there are pads made just for that purpose.

[Anonymous]

I guess a light sanding couldn't hurt.

[mark]

what colour is your tank/sidecover combos. the plastic is black/grayish. when you start to sand the paint off you can normally see when the plastic starts to come through, i would advise taking as much of the paint off as you can. I commonly wet-sand all plastic parts to be painted as the sand paper will not make huge grooves in the soft plastic with the water barrier. Just have a bucket of tap water handy so that you can soak your sandpaper in, just do it over and over as you sand. you will see the paint dust in the water and not airborne in your garage (makes clean up a LOT easier, and my girlfriend cant complain...as much). If your going the true econo route (spray bomb in the garage) i advise letting your first coat dry the wet sand it again, youll be suprised at the uneveness of your sidcovers. you can repeat this process 2 or 3 times (one can should cover both sides twice at least) and you will have gotten rid of most of the surface roughness plus have three layers of paint. The final coat will be sprayed and then NOT sanded. Watch carefully at each wet sanding process, normally 600 or 1200 grit, you will see the surface smoothen right out. During the last coat be sure to cover your covers with a clean cardborad box so no little dust specs dry into the surface. I get complimants on my bike all the time and I did in in the driveway for about 12 dollars CANADIAN!!!


Mark

[Anonymous]

The old cover is/was black with a grey decal on it.
There does not seem to be any paint on it but the clear coat is a bear to sand.

The new cover is black and does not seem to have any paint or clear coat on it.

The tank was Black and metalic grey but is now bare metal.

Thanks very much for your responses.

The article in the garage says to get painting and clear coating done in one session here is the link

http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_repaint.htm

If I do this there will be no opportunity to sand between coats as I would have to let them set up longer.

Frank, can you throw in your philosophy on this??

[skip]

You can follow the advise in the garage section on painting. I used this and painted the mirrors and fairing lower on my bike and I am very happy with the results.

[Dink]

Even on the new sidecover you should at least lightly sand it with #600 wet'n'dry sandpaper wet, and then to ensure good adhesion of the paint to all surfaces(even metal) use an Etch Primer as the base coat, especially on plastics.
Dink

[Doze]

New side cover prep

Chris, if your new side cover is ABS plastic ( it should be stamped somewhere on the back side what type of plastic it is.) You can just scuff the piece and prime and paint it, although I would suggest 800 or 1000 grit on bare plastic. If it is anything other than ABS then you need to use a plastics adhesion promoter first. BTW sand with some 1000 grit paper between the primer and final coats to lessen the chance of sand scratches showing up when your paint dries. Rattle can paint is much thinner than normal automotive paint making it harder to cover sanding scratches even as fine as 600 grit. Get a tack cloth from your local automotive paint store also and tack off the surface after sanding it will help catch any dust or lint left after blowing off your parts. Have fun and good luck.
Doze.