Help with paint job...

[BPryz]

I bought my bike used, and the guy before me was definitely not concerned with how this bike looked. Almost ever body panel has chips, sratches, or cracks in it.

I want to start fixing all of this, so I'm just going to start all over again. I hear that the rule of thumb is that you only want two paint jobs on any surface. I know that the bike was originally yellow and had the blue painted on top of that. So I have to strip all the paint off (plus some of the chips are really deep and I'd rather start fresh than using body filler and have to worry about different primer color messing up the whole paint job).



So my first question is....what paint remover can I use that will not damage the plastics...?

I already experimented with the heat gun method on my mirrors.....that definitely didnt work. it started to melt the plastic on the mirrors as soon as the paint softened.

[tmk7c9]

I'd say sandpaper and sweat is probably your best option.

I've had pretty bad luck with the "chemical" methods of paint removal i've tried. The only paint strippers strong enough to get through paint, also get through plastic. The ones that are safe for plastic, seem almost ineffective on paint. So far, I haven't found a good middle ground.

If someone can recommend a specific product that works, go for it. Otherwise, I've found that sandpaper is easier....no matter how hard it is.

a good orbital sander makes it go much faster.

[teddy]

I bought my bike used, and the guy before me was definitely not concerned with how this bike looked.

understatement right there, folks.....I'm still trying to figure out the extra allen head bolt at the top corner of the screen....

Mojoe has had luck with sandblasting fairings, I would start with at least 80 grit on a DA....

[WildSide]

320 grit makies it rather fast and once you get down the the plasic, wet sand with 500 grit. thats the way im doing mine, and im doing it all by hand.

[BPryz]

320 grit makies it rather fast and once you get down the the plasic, wet sand with 500 grit. thats the way im doing mine, and im doing it all by hand.

youre saying 320 to prep after all the paint is gone right? cuz 320 to strip sounds like it would take waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to long to strip the entire bike with

[ctandc]

If the exisiting outer paint layer seems to be a decent quality basecoat / clear coat you should be fine with a good scuff / sand, use some filler as needed, prime and go.

[hawkeye34428]

looks like that extra allen bolt was to lock the dash in. my china body dosnt have anything for the screw to lock into there ether.

[BPryz]

it looks like i'll be using 80 grit on my palm sander, (tried it on an orbital yesterday and it tore the snot out of the plastics....wooops.


SECOND QUESTION: what body filler can i use on the plastics? I'm completely new to this game and don't know if there are adhesion problems with bondo on plastic, or if its all good. suggestions?

Thanks guys

[DreKat]

youre saying 320 to prep after all the paint is gone right? cuz 320 to strip sounds like it would take waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to long to strip the entire bike with

You dont need to strip all the paint just the rashed areas till its smooth. the rest on the body you just need to scuff up the paint so that the next layer will stick to the old paint. Have you decided what color yu are going to paint the bike?

[ctandc]

Check this thread..

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=94046&highlight=fairings

Evercoat is what I'm using. Recommended to me by a friend who paints for a living. I scored mine at a local Auto Body Paint and Supply place.

[teddy]

it looks like i'll be using 80 grit on my palm sander, (tried it on an orbital yesterday and it tore the snot out of the plastics....wooops.


SECOND QUESTION: what body filler can i use on the plastics? I'm completely new to this game and don't know if there are adhesion problems with bondo on plastic, or if its all good. suggestions?

Thanks guys

I like chromalite (USC brand), or Micro-lite from Martin Senour. Both are an easy to work with lightweight filler and have very minimal pinholing to them. As far as adhesion, just make sure you are to bare plastic that has been sanded a bit. Never, ever put filler on top of paint.

[BPryz]

Have you decided what color yu are going to paint the bike?

so far the plan is to do black fairings with burn orange accents....kinda playing off what airforceranger49 did.

[teddy]

so far the plan is to do black fairings with burn orange accents....kinda playing off what airforceranger49 did.

kinda playing off mine, too....my calipers and chain adjusters are burnt orange.. along with the 'f' in my gsxf decal....

[methodicreign]

If your just filling little chips and not smoothing huge patchs of body repairs, see if you can find "icing" it's a little easier to work with than a fiberglass filler and sands way easier. the yellow your talking about underneath looks like fiberglass not paint. unless your not talking about the picture you posted in wich case you might only have one layer of paint on it. I used to work in a bodyshop and it wasn't uncommon to see a car come in with up to 7 layers of paint on a panel, keeping in mind a "layer" of paint normally included primer, base, and clear. If you wanna get real dirty, and make it come out real clean, sand your scuffs and damage smooth, scuff and fill your chips and deep gouges, then prime the whole bike, all your fiberglass/plastics. you'll thank yourself for it, but it will take alot of work, alot.

[BPryz]

just saw my the guy who is going to be doing the paint.....apparently, my 80 grit palm sander was waaaay to aggressive. he says i have to now go back over with 120 to smooth it all out, and the rest that i didnt sand i have to use 220 on a sanding block....he doesnt think that all the paint needs to come off. hes been doing this since he was 15 and is now over 40 so im gonna take his word for it.....looks like i made my life harder than i needed to.