Post Count: Starting over
Arm chair racerRoostin Away
I did this on the front fender of my '85 250SX, and its whiteish colored. What did I do wrong? I started with 220 for about an hour and a half to get otu all the scratches, then moved onto 400 for about half an hour, then 600 grit for abotu 15 minutes, then i went to 1000 grit for probly 20 minutes, and then i used 2000 grit for a good hour, and its still white. When its wet, its very nice and red.. but then it dries and its all white colored and gross...
Power User
Lord of the trike
This is where you need to get with the polish !!
Currently :
82 ATC - 200, plain jane, almost mint. ( Sold, 03-17-2005)
84 ATC - 200 ES, Jimmy-Rigged, don't ask.( Sold, 03-17-2005)
85 ATC - 250 SX, Pride and Joy, Bottom-Less Money Pit.
84 125 M - The Mini-SXnot running yet. but won't be long.
--
The more people i meet.. the more i like my DOG !
Power User
Got the holeshot
I would say, go back to 400 grit and work that in for longer, and go finer sand paper by as small of incriments as posible.
ex. 220,300,360,400,500,600,800,1000,1200,1500,2000 then polish the hell out of it with compound.
Also, are you using waterproof sandpaper?
Post Count: Starting over
Arm chair racerRoostin Away
yeah.. im using 3M Imperial WETORDRY sandpaper. I also tried going back to 400 grit, and then working my way back up to 2000, and its still white. Parts of it are red, and the rest of it is white hazed. I used Scratch Out, and it made it red again, but whenever i touch it, it smears and looks bad, and whenever i wash it, its white hazed again. I also polished the heck out of it with the rubbing compound and it worked a LITTLE, but not too much... I dunno what else to do..
At The Back Of The Pack
Arm chair racerAt the back of the pack
Betcha a cookie that its an old Maier fender. You're best bet is to throw in the trash if thats the case. You can make them look okay if you use a cloth buffing wheel (like for a bench grinder) and some sticks of rouge. My stock 250r tank looks great after going through 220-320-400-600-800-1000-1200-1500, 3M perfect-it 3000, perfect-it III (used 8" foam buffer). I did the same on some Maier fenders, and they looked horrible. I ended up doing the sanding, but used some rubbing compound sticks and a cloth buffing wheel instead of the 3m and they came out okay. So, I would suggest staying away from the perfect it and try buffing with some compound sticks.
Post Count: Starting over
Arm chair racerRoostin Away
I'm almost positive that its the stock fender.. the previous owner was like an 85 year old man (he was ooold), and he said that he owned it since he bought it back in '85 and he had taken good care of it and everything on it was stock except the tires. I don't know. I think instead of blowing more money on the buffing wheel and compound sticks, I'll just go get a new fender. I've already spent $25 on materials to refurbish the front fender.. it doesn't make sense to get more stuff when a new fender costs $50 at my local store. Thanks for the help.
Power User
Roostin Away
If you have several machines, and have the extra cash to afford a buffing wheel that is the only way to go. Most times you dont have to do much sanding before the wheel. However, most people cant afford them, or know how to properly work them, so thats why I made this how to guide. I need to do another one with using a buffing wheel, and explain how to use them properly without burning or warping your plastic... incase some guys wanna try it that way.
Got The Holeshot
Arm chair racerJust too addicted
Ok, first of all great thread! Very helpful. Second my Tecate tank is also faded like meat box's but not nearly as bad. Mine is just a paleish green color and you can tell that it is supposed to be a brighter green because of where the seat covered up a small portion of the tank. that part is still fairly decent looking. Anyways after I sand my tanks following your instructions (chainsaw) and get it new looking again do you think kreeming the tank would be a good idea just to help prevent the staining from the gas? Or would that just be overkill? thanks for the help.
Got The Holeshot
Arm chair racerJust too addicted
One other question. My good tecate gas tank has absoluley no scratches in it. But is kind of faded like I mentioned above. So should I sand it the same as the tank with scratches or start with a higher grit paper or just buff it?
Power User
The day begins with 3WW
When can i expect to see this guide ?Originally Posted by CHAINSAW
1985 Tri-Z-
Power User
Teaching quads a lesson
I look forward to the guide-- I've never used the buffing wheel --just my hand until its so cramped up it feels like it will never work again. I wouldnt even do this process for a fender/or plastic that is still available ---way to time consuming to get it right. Ive restored tiger plastics, an atc 250r tank , and refurbished my old some of my old T3 plastics before they went to ebay. As for the tecate tank mentioned above they used a crappy grade plastic that faded and discolored very easy-- you can smooth it out but not bring the color back. When reading the 86 Tecate test from 1986 in a 3 wheeling magazine they even mentioned the plastic on the tecate tank --how thin it was and that you could see the gas level by just looking at the tank (not popping the cap). They had good insight into the tank that would be haunting us all 20 years later.
Wikipedia "All Terrain Vehicle" Definition excerpt
Other smaller or lesser known companies, such as Tiger ATV, Franks, and Cagiva, produced racing three wheelers, but in much smaller numbers. Few of these machines are known to exist today and are highly sought by collectors.
Check out my Tiger 3 wheeler Webpage..my quest for a TIGER MUSEUM started 2004 http://sites.google.com/site/tigerrotax/home
Rides: TIGER Factory line up, Tricky Dicks Cagiva 200, 4- Franks 3 and 4 Wheelers
Power User
Roostin Away
Id start out with about 400 or 600 then. If no scratches are in it, there is no need for aggresive sand paper. Another plus, it wont take long because your not spending a lot of time removing scratches from coarse sand paper.
As for kreeming, I wouldnt go that far unless you are planning on having the machine for a long long time to come.
MTS = I need to get some old faded plastic then Ill get started on it. Ill check around here tomorrow and see if I can find anything in town.
Registered User
New to the board
Great info,chainsaw.I've got another can of worms for you.My brother gave me an '84 Honda 200X and in addition to the road rash,the front fender has a split,which results in an aggravating flop-flop effect when riding.Any pointers on plastic REPAIR?It's not in two seperate pieces yet,and a previous owner half-a**ed a repair with Bondo,possibly,or some sort of an epoxy.Is it even worth the trouble?
Power User
The day begins with 3WW
Easiest thing is to drill holes along each side of the crack and zip tie it together. Looks like crap but it should hold it together for a while longer.
You can get a brand new Maier fender for about 35 bucks so don't spend any money trying to fix it.
Power User
Roostin Away
Ive seen people do the zip tie trick, and also put a piece of aluminum behind, and rivet on either side of the crack from opening up further. There is a such thing as plastic welding and fusing, but back 10 years ago when I tried it,.. it didnt work and wasnt worth the time in my opinion.
However I have read that a lot of progress has been made, and its possable to plastic weld and make it stay. Ive never tried it, and honestly for the money, you would be better off buying a new fender. The only way Id do plastic welding on something, is if it was on a high dollar car bumper, not on a $30-90 three wheeler front fender.
Or... with the knowledge of how to repair a sun faded one now.. buy one for $5 off ebay, and make her look pretty close to new!!! Ive done that with a lot of plastic, most of which people gave up on and sold for dirt cheap because they thought it was a lost cause.
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