Painting my trike tomorrow

[ColtonGG33]

Today at Walmart they finally got my favorite color I wanted to paiń my 225dx its this really nice blue here'sa pic of what the paint looks like http://fugertech.com/2008/07/30/helmet-painting/ I got my fine grit sanding block some primer to make the paint look brighter and 3 cans of paint ( you can never have enough paint lol) but ill be posting up pics of it tomorrow, if you guys want. Will be doing the before, durin and after. I might have to finish the next day just depends if it gets to dark out

Colton

[shovelryder]

Just beware.....Itll be fragile forever!!!!! Id get real auto paint...

[ColtonGG33]

I know what you mean, I dropped my wrench on it and it chipped the paint, it looks ALOT better now it came out good, what can I use to make it more durable? I filled the tank up and some spilt out and it dropped down and I had to repaint it, any ideas on what I could do?

[kebby28]

I think you can put an acrylic clear coat over it.

[briano]

A spray bomb job is not going to hold up at all. There is to much flex in the plastics and the paint is going to come off in sheets.

[fabiodriven]

Are we talking about painting plastics here? Bad move Colton. If you want to improve them then wet sand or polish them.

[ColtonGG33]

Ok I was thinking about polishing them, yes Fabio I did paint them, it seems to be holding up good so far, tomorrow in going to ride it for awhile and see what happens. If I wet sand then won't the paint come off?

[ebaccm26]

Ok I was thinking about polishing them, yes Fabio I did paint them, it seems to be holding up good so far, tomorrow in going to ride it for awhile and see what happens. If I wet sand then won't the paint come off?

I think that was the point.

[ColtonGG33]

Well I wouldn't just ruin them like that, I just spent hours painting it and taking the plastics off and all that crap, I'm gonna get the clear coat and polishing stuff ttomorrow that should work

[fabiodriven]

Ruin them? By wet sanding and polishing? Said the kid who just painted his plastics?

[ColtonGG33]

No ebaccm26 said that, polishing them I know won't ruin them, and if you would have saw how bad they looked before it was horrible. And spray painting them won't ruin them, have you ever used spray paint before

[Cave Rider]

No ebaccm26 said that, polishing them I know won't ruin them, and if you would have saw how bad they looked before it was horrible. And spray painting them won't ruin them, have you ever used spray paint before He has a point John,have you used spray paint ?!?!

[yaegerb]

Everyone needs to learn, whether it be through sound advice or your own experience. Painting plastic is never really recommended. It will look good until you go for a couple rides through woods or get it dirty and decide to power wash, in which you will start blowing big chunks of paint off.

Best way to do plastics has already been recommended. Scrape all the paint off the fenders (brake fluid works well to remove paint from plastic) and sand the fenders smooth, starting with a low grit and moving to very high. Once the fenders are perfectly smooth then you get out the buffer and polish and buff out all the remaining swirls, scuffs etc. You will be more pleased with the results and it will last a LOT longer.

[ebaccm26]

No ebaccm26 said that, polishing them I know won't ruin them, and if you would have saw how bad they looked before it was horrible. And spray painting them won't ruin them, have you ever used spray paint before

When did I say polishing and wet sanding would ruin them!? :wondering

[El Camexican]

If I may interject I think Fabio was suggesting that you wet sand and polish INSTEAD of painting, not after you painted. Not that you can’t it’s just a whole different process used for high quality automotive finishes. That Wal-Mart plastic paint will peel off like sunburnt skin if you try to sand it now. At this point you have what you have and short of a few hundred hours of elbow grease there’s no going back, so you may want to buy a few spare cans of that color if you plan to keep it. If you decide to do something like this again (I for one hope you don’t) to another piece of plastic there are primers and processes that you can use to do the job and come out with a decent result, but they sell them at DuPont, not Wal-Mart.

[riverrat]

These plastics were BLACK as night. Took me about 5 hours to make them look like this. Look at the second pic and the far fender, also notice the top of the tank how black it was.

[ColtonGG33]

geez, how long did that paint hold up?

[falloutboy]

thats how you refinish plastics :D Nice job.

[atc007]

geez, how long did that paint hold up?

That's not paint. That's plastic sanding and polishing. Bringing them back to where they used to be. After you've buried yourself in all that work. There are several plastic "sealers" you can run to keep them looking that way. What they are all trying to say is. Painting plastics just doesn't work for very long at all. It'a band aid fix that makes MORE work.

[fabiodriven]

Hey, we've all been there. Live and learn Colton. The good news is, you haven't done anything that can't be reversed.

[philgipson]

if your just gunna ride the wheels off of it fusion does a good enough job.