So i'm thinking about painting my bike with some extra cash i have and i was wondering a couple things...
First of all, i have a 01' F4i, and i want to know if i should buy new fairings that aren't painted yet or strip my decals and stuff off the fairings i have right now... but i have scratches on my fairings right now. so should i buy new fairings or just paint the old ones?

 

If your old ones are not cracked use them. Just sand them down, fill in the scratches with a good plastic repair. Sand them smooth again and paint. If this is your first time I would try to find a friend that knows a little about body work.

 

remove the decals very carefully. I would lightly sand the parts, do the scratches with a plastic repair or bondo or whatever, sand again till smooth (4-600 grit paper), primer, sand, primer, sand, paint, paint again, *let dry between coats* wet sand (600 grit), clearcoat it, then apply decals if desired, wet sand once more, then appply another coat of clear. Ithink you will likethe results if you do it correctly. be careful about air temperature (65-80 degrees), and humidity kills.

 

alright, thanks guys! it'll save me money not buying the new fairings

 

Ive been painting cars for a while now and if you wet sand the base coat before clear your going to ruin it. Best advice I can give you is to pick your product first then see what times the manufacturer gives as far as flash times and final dry times. They all have a window depending on temp and humidity as to how long you need to wait in between coats.

 

yah plastic repair is the way to go, if he/she is good, they can repair things as big as rips and cracks in the plastic.