I'm thinking about buying a bike with scratched plastics, and was wondering if i can paint them. I assume you can, but what types of paint would you use, and how would you go about preparing them for paint?

 

leave it scratched...
chicks dig it...

 

dude i thought you were already riding, heres what you need for prep:
the way we used to get scratches out of a car was buffing, basically youre scratching the paint down below the scratch to get it out, but you do it so fine that it doesnt get noticed, a good rule is that if you can hook your nail in the scratch it aint comin out, but since youre using plastic im really not sure, heres what i would do, as someone coming from detailing at high end dealerships
im not sure how much you know about what youre gonna do, or how picky you are, but for the sake of this post, im gonna assume youve never done this before at all, and that youre picky as ****.

Materials- High Grit Sandpaper, maybe 1500, 2000, and 2500, i think they sell up to 2000 at autozone, but for 2500 you really gotta be creative in where you look
Primer
Whatever paint you Choose
[ul][*] Wash the fairings[*]Sand arund the scratches from 1500-2500 grit paper[*]Primer the whole piece[*]sand the primer lightly thats what i would do to eliminate all bumps and **** before you paint[*]paint coat 1, go over with the 2500 grit MAKE SURE THE PAPER IS WET[*]repeat that 2 or 3 times[*]clearcoat it twice
[/ul]NOW you can stop here, hell i would, but if you really wanna get sick as **** with it, and by that i mean, as close to professional as youre gonna get... go buy some high grit buffing compound and a pad to hand buff. I repeat hand buff unless you know how to buff with a buffer, its slower, but if you use a buffer on that plastic not knowing what youre doing you could burn the paint, or just eat thru the plastic, so what i would do if i were u is get ahold of a litte white hand pad that we used to use to buff small spots on cars, i dont really know where you could find one but its like the size of a deck of cards, its soft, probably white, and kinda feels like a washcloth wrapped around a tiny piece of foam i guess, your gonna want to move it in small, fast circles, maybe like a 6 inch radius. we do this because basically what your doing is scratching the surface with a **** ton of tiny scratches, and bringing the high points where theres more paint down even with everything else, itll bring bumps and stuff down, because paint has tiny crevacies and **** in it, and obviously theres no way to fill them in so the only way to do it is bring them down till its flat. i hope that makes sense, if you buff the pad back and forth in a line you will get scratches going in the same direction and that **** will not look good at all. once you do this and feel that it is satisfactory, wax it a few times and youre down, if you wanna use paint sealant i think it goes on between the clearcoat and the wax.
the wax just wax on, and take it off in a circular motion, that is key i cannot repeat that enough. use a microfiber rag when you take the wax off, and either the same kinda pad you used to buff, or use a damn sponge, if you use a towel to take the wax off it will scratch your **** all up.

well thats about all i can think of, if you need help pm, or AIM-jzh515

 

mmm i guess if you have to ask what type of paint you better give it a miss
that's unless you have all the equipment, like compressor spray putty gun topcoat gun etc,etc

 

Well I wreck my bike about a year ago and i didnt replace every part on it and fix a few of them by buffing the scratches out. If the scratches are really deap, what you could do is buy a fiber glass glue, First tape off where u wanna blend all the paint in.Prime the spot bytaking sand paper and scratching it all around taking off the paint and some of the plastic. Mix both the compounds up (fiber glass glue usually comes in 2 compounds that you have to mix up) spread it on enough where it will fill up the scratches and a little more spreading outwards. Then Sand all that down to where its all smooth with the bike. Now what JZHALES forgot is that some paint doesnt stick to plastic. So you have to spray it with a special primer. If you go to a paint shop they know what u need. It comes in a airosol can and usually white. Spray this on probally 2 coats, let it dry, then wet sand it down using the fine sand grade. Like JZ said if your really picky then sand it till its baby smooth. Then from there on follow JZ's steps.

 

Once again JZHales is giving the wrong advice. Do not use 1500-2500 grit sandpaper, that is too fine of a grit, that is for finishing hence what you said that you worked at a detail shop. use 800 grit to scuff it up and get your other scratches out, if they are deep start with a lower grit and work up to 800. Prime it and then sand it with 800 again and prime. Now your ready for basecoat, spray 3-4 light coats allowing 15-20 minutes for flash time, make sure it is all covered. you can sand that with 800 and put another few coats on or leave it. Then clear coat using same method of a light coat and then a wet coat and then another wet coat allow flash time and then color sand and buff.

 

yea 1500 is too high for prep i dunno what i was thinking, dont drink and post kids lol, but ride i just saw you tell someone use 1500 after paint, now you say 800? when i did my frame 1500 made a big difference from 1000 and that was metal

 

800 grit is for a before basecoat, the paint needs something to grab onto. once base coat is done you can scuff again with 800 and then put a few more coats down for better coverage, but it isnt really necessary. 1500 grit is after clear coat is on, wet sand the clear with 1500 to get rid of small dust particles and crap that can get into your paint if not using a quality paint booth. Using 1500 allows you also to even out the surface and make it smooth. After wet sanding with the 1500 it will give it a dull hazy look, thats when you bring out the buffer with a heavy cut compound and start buffing. then follow that with a final glaze compound which brings it to a shine. What heavy cut compund is doing is removing the 1500 grit scratches you made when color sanding.

 

Do a search on this topic, that way you can come to a conclusion from all posts...

I've painted professionally for the past 15 years, and still wouldn't try to explain it all in a single thread. Why? Someone will always have something to say about an area in which they do differently.

 

www.colorrite.com has everything you need ,they have the OEM paint,primer and clear coat with the instructions on how to use them. you can get touch up pens,aresol and paint by the pint. this is where I bought the paint for my bike....