Faring painting...

[mr.z]

Ive had a read of a couple of the DIY plastics painting threads and i'm wondering....

Recently i aquired a big and VERY white faring, i'm hopeing changeing the colour will improve its appearence somewhat... and allthough its tantamount to urinateing in a gale, but i must try...

So, If i was to have this (quite large, imagine in bikini terms... one belonging to dawn french) painted two colours
- red and black lower down, the join will be covered with some beige go faster stripes type stuff, sounds rancid i know but it is in keeping with the bikes style, it would look stupid any other way i think...

If i did a diy job it would be 4 cans of paint? lots of grades of sand paper.. anything else?

Its a fiber glass, aftermarket joby, it would be one of those that you'd buy and have painted to match, or left its eye hurtingly bright white... so would it need a primer? how would you go about preping it?

Because puting it on or takeing it off takes about 10 minutes it will be a long distance/winter thing only, which makes me wonder if haveing it done professionaly would be worth it?

Which leads me to.. how would haveing it sprayed (properly) be likely to cost? i undertand it would cost significantly more to have the two colours but they only need to be straight i'm guessing £200? (but i hope i'm wrong)

Opinions would be greatly appeciated
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[mr.z]

shameless bump/ another one while i'm at it...

Are honda mirrors threads the same as a standard 10mm bolt? is the pitch(if thats the right word) the same? otherwise what should i look for? /how do you mesure the pitch? (or whatever its called)
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[BLOFLY 636]

I recently had to repaint my ermax undertray that I was sent because it was a metalic green that the ZX-12R's come in instead of the regular KAWASAKI green I wanted, so I began my first plastic painting expedition by sanding back most of the older color which was my first mistake because the new paint will stick better to a lightly sanded original color rather than a bare plastic because the original color acts as a primer, then I cleaned the item with grease and wax remover then dried it with a clean lint free cloth followed by a VERY thin 1st light spray of paint I then waited for 20 minutes and sanded it again but only a small scuff was needed followed by a light wipe over with more grease and wax remover on a cloth and another light spray of paint I did this about 8 times all up and the end result was excellent I just need to figure out how to get that brand new look shine to it maybe by spraying on some kind of enamel clear coat or something just to give it that professional shine other than that I am very pleased with it's result I will post a picture in the PHOTO'S forum as soon as the sky gets blue again also with the mirrors try looking for a thread gauge depending on it's set up you will need either a male or a female gauge to check if it is compatible they are quite simple to use
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Those bloody footpegs......they ought to do away with em!

[mr.z]

Excelent, thanks for that, so it sounds like i wont need a primer.. luckly the faring is in as new condition which is nice...

Thing is it dosen't need to look as new... which might be a problem, its got to reasonably closely match 20year old paint

I might do my side panels while i'm at it...

I remember hearing of a company that will match paint for you and then put it into aerosols??? anyone know of such a place, i MIGHT be able to get the colour code as well (but then that will be colour pre 20years of fadeing)

What would make a suiteable grease/wax remover? the closest thing i have is engine degreaser! (gunk) i'm guessing that may be a bit harsh though right?
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[BLOFLY 636]

the closest thing to grease and wax remover is MINERAL TURPENTINE it doesn't have a greasy film like degreaser I live in Australia and I just went to my local car accident paint repair shop there they just scanned the seat cowl from my bike to get it's exact color then they just made up the recipe that needed to be added to the original Kawasaki moto cross green and then had it all placed into a pressure pack, nice and easy so have a look around for an accident repair centre or automotive paint specialist and ask questions hope you have some luck mate
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Those bloody footpegs......they ought to do away with em!

[ZRX61]

[mr jamez]

I did my whole bike recently, my way of doing it will probably offend the pros but it worked, looks good and I am happy with it. I think the mistakes I made were not using a high enough grit when *keying* the paint (I used 1200 wet and dry, 2000 is recommended I think) Couldn't be bothered to get a proper degreasent, probably loads of other stuff as well, but I am just so lazy and got bored by the time I started priming it

Clean and degrease panel, use 2000grit wet and dry, warm water with a squirt of fairy liquid to give a nice surface for the paint to cling to I guess degrease it again, prime any bare plastic, remember not to use a primer colour that will be seen through the top coat easily as obviously more top coat will be required. I guess you could put 2-3 layers of primer on the whole thing? obviously flat this back, degrease (spraying fairings is SO boring?) then whack a load of top coat on! I put on about 8 layers in total I think, leave it for a week, then lacquer it if you want.

Oh and as it is getting cold now, make sure you do it in a heated room otherwise it will just be a waste of time.

(waits for someone to correct my on my crappy preperation skills)

[popadop]

about a hundred years ago i used to spray cars for a living....
things have changed a little since then...

heres how i would do it......(working from memory)
get bucket of warm water & put a squirt of fairy liquid in it (mr jamez you weren't far wrong)
rub it down with grade 800 wet or dry paper
then leather it off.
get some de greaser (accessory shops do it)
pour some on a CLEAN cotton cloth (not the type with the fluffy bits ) (an old clean cotton t shirt will do if your a tight git )
wipe it on & then wipe it off with a different cotton cloth.
give it a few coats of primer....let it dry
rub the primer down with grade 400 wet or dry (with water)
until its nice and smooth...leather off. (if you have broken through the primer spray some more there) let it dry. lightly rub it down again . (getting rid of any over spray)

so now assuming its all nice and smooth and not broken through the primer anywhere.

wipe it down again with the de greaser & then wipe off.
it should now be ready to spray....

but you want two different colours

so spray the first half of the fairing and go a little lower than where the other colour is going to be...
give it one dry(ish) coat and let it dry. repeat again and let it dry off a bit. now give it a wet coat of paint (don't hold the can too close or it will run)
let this dry off a bit and give it another coat . (if it were me i would give it four wet coats...but then i was used to doing it in a spray booth) assuming your not give it three wet coats ...(unless your the daring type)
now let this dry properly ....a couple of days at least.

now here comes the tricky bit....rub down the other half of the fairing (this should be covered in over spray) with 400 wet or dry.
leather off & de grease...
now you need to mask off what you dont want to spray.
using a good quality masking tape mask off what you are not going to spray.

now repeat the process as above....
when this is dry carefully peel off the masking tape. (if all goes well, it shouldnt pull the paint off the other colour. (hence the good quality tape) but to be extra sure very carefully slice along the join with a scalpel blade. don't press to deep ...just enough to make sure the paint won't pull off.

now you should be looking at a fairing with two colours.

if the line between the two colours is
[/b]bold you may rub it very gently with 1200 wet or dry ....but be very carefull. to bring the shine back use t cut (dont go to mental as this takes a layer of paint off)


if your gonna paint in a garage or something ,wet the floor to stop dust from rising up on to the fairing and spoiling your nice work.

ive probably left something out...but hey , it has been 13 years since i got out of the trade....and the system has probably changed a little since then

hope this gives you an idea of what to do...

might be an idea to practice on something first
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andy

[ZRX61]

[mr.z]

Thanks guys,very much appreciated ...

Hopefully i will be able tohave a go sometime next week... the plan is to have it top half red and bottom half black,