Topic: Side Panel Painting

[echilds]

Wow is all I can say.  My wife and I just bought the 78 550K a few weeks ago and joined this site a week later.  The responses from the other member is just astounding.  Enough blowing smoke... 

  As you can see to the side picture the bike is currently being broken down for some standard cleaning up.  The bike sat for about twenty years a needs a few things cleaned up.  Maybe you have seen some of my other posts?

  My wife would like to repaint the tank and side covers.  The tank I am not worried about, a little filler in the two two inch, slightly creased dings and new paint, no problem.  My question is with the side covers.

  I have never really painted plastic before.  Are there any tips or special procedures for painting these.  It almost seems a shame to paint them.  Aside from some clearcoat rubbed off on the right cover, they are almost in perfect shape.  Would it be worth tryinf to find another set to paint and keep the originals stock?

  Any suggestions would be great!! 

[don76]

Generally when you paint plastic, they say to add a flex agent, but I painted mine with Dupli-color enamel and have had no problems without the flex agent(two years now).  The other thing you might want to try first is to get a can of clear coat, follow the directions explicitly, and re-clear your originals.  That might cover up where you're have problems.  Good luck, I hope that helped.
Don

[csendker]

The set I have now are slightly cracked but have a nice paint job that matches my tank.  As I have a spare tank I'm re-doing anyway, I bought a couple extra covers so I could re-do them to match the new tank.  It never seems to hurt to have an extra side cover around - 30 year old plastic is 30-year old plastic.  I cracked one trying to get it off, so now I occasionally shoot a squirt of silicone spray on the grommets to keep them supple & easy for the tabs to slide in & out.

[Gordon]

I just painted another set of side covers yesterday.  The only prep I do on them when they already have paint is to wet-sand with 400 grit paper.  Not enough to take the paint off, but just to scuff it so the next layer will adhere well.  I've never had any problems with this method in the past.  The tank is even easier.  I use the Aircraft Stripper (No, Terry, that's not a stewardess with a night job )  Peels the paint off metal in about ten seconds.

That being said, if the side covers are in decent shape, I'd keep them the way they are and either get another used set off ebay, or a reproduction set from an online supplier.  DSS may have them for the 550K's.

[theunrulychef]

If they look good enough for you to use as is, then keep them the way they are.  If not, then I doubt you'll be able to match the clear coat to the factory paint.  I believe it's Krylon that came out with a plastic specific paint recently - called Fusion.  I haven't used it on my bike, but have used it for other things around the shop & it seems to work quite well.  It's supposed to chemically bond with plastic, as well as the mechanical bond you get with your sanding prep.

Good luck,
Jay in Philly

[nteek754]

hEY THERE  JUST PRIME AND PAINT  WELL  PREP PRIME AND PAINT BEEN DOING IT FOR THIRTY YEARS NOW  ON THESE OLD DINASOURS DONE ACRYLIC ENAMEL  OOPS  and played with some base coat clear coat laquer pain  them the same as your tank just dont strip them with chemcal  good luck  seven fifty four ever