Can spray painted plastics really look nice if done properly ?

[Dtboy85]

Hi

i was wondering if anybody has experience painting bike plastics? i ask because i am nearly finished a rebuild on my DT and the powder coated frame and brackets , forks etc look really smart but i didnt wont to ruin the overall look with crappy plastics! i am fairly handy with a spray can (misspent youth!) and i have reaserched the techniques and feel confident to do it, but does it really come up "good enough" or should i get them done by a pro or just buy new plastics. also any ideas on decent colours frame and brackets are black, engine is silver.

[DirtyDT]

Easy if you prep them right.

[NEV]

Like DT says if you prep them right and take your time they'll come out good, but to be fair if you've spent a few bob doing your DT up as in powdercoating, I reckon buying new plastics gives it the edge, unless you're looking at a custom colour other than Black, White, Blue, Red, etc, plus you'll be surprised how much it adds up using rattle cans, primer, top coat, lacquer, wet n dry, T cut, I doubt theres much difference in cost to a new panel, theres a chap on Ebay, Felipe in Portugal I bought mine from, very good prices for his panels, and decals too.

[Matthew Duncan]

so when you say prep them right . . what do you mean?

i'll be needing to spray my project biks plastics as its neer impossable to get new ones for them anymore

[NEV]

Rub down the plastics with wet & dry, so as to take out all the deep scratches, prime with 2-3 coats of Plastic Primer, again rubbing down with a higher grade wet & dry, top coat, again 2-3 coats, T-cut to take all 'orange peel' out of it, then 2-3 coats of clear lacquer, thats how I roll anyways.

Btw Matt, a very cool wheres Wally outfit, if I may say so myself..

[Dtboy85]

Thanks for the advise!

im gonna spray em myself, as i cant afford to do it all at once! i can prep then sand and do all the steps over a few months and take my time, hopefully get a good finish then slap some new yam decals on! i think i already know the answer to this but i should probably do the tank at the same time to match the colours right?

[NEV]

Aye, but be carefull when spraying the tank, as petrol eats rattle can spray for breakfast, I made that mistake, and had to have the tank done again with Two Pack paint.

[Dtboy85]

you mean petrol eats through after all the coats and laquer or whilst painting? if so what paint do i need for the tank. cheers nev i was thinking custom colour like a bright green or will that pants?

[NEV]

eats through paint after on the tank, whilst filling/drips etc, no like I say use Two Pack paint for your tank. I didn't need a lacquer coat on mine either, you can see on my pic.

[Dtboy85]

ok cool thats good to know.

just out of curiosity whats the top speed on yours and do you have any mods/derestrictions do they make a difference?

[NEV]

I could tell you, but then afterwards I'd have to kill you. So I won't, one bit of advice though, dont use the Red powerbands, use the Yellow ones.

Have a look in my projects thread, it pretty much explains whats what, in there, unless its disappeared into the annals of Y.O.C.

[dt502001]

Nev thats not nice but funny thier is no such thing as a red,yellow power band.DT85. the cost of paint ,primer and work is well out weighted by the low cost of new aftermarket plastic a complete set of plastic will run 150.00 canadian$$ with decals.

Check out wwwdecalmx.com. ... or UFO plastics

[Dtboy85]

sweet. changed my mind and bit the bullet new plastics on order all round ! the only other issue i have is when i bought the bike there was no front sprocket or chain. i know it depends on what the bike will be used for but what is the best sproket tooth size combination to use for normal road use maybe a little bit off road !or do i need to change sprockets for each style of riding!

[dt502001]

13 -14 for hill climbing 15-17 for street/highway just rember if you cut the chain to fit a 13 tooth sporcket it might not fit a 17 t if fit to a 17 first it might make the adjuster run all the way to tighten the chain on a 13.

Just a example as I don't know what rear sprocket your running but lets say a 40t

13/40=3.076 final ratio more torque less speed great for low speed wheelies motor revs high on highwaqy

17/40=2.352 so in words this means you your front sprocket turns 2.352 times to turn the rear wheel 1 time= less torque more speed

[kenDAWG]

I got decent results painting my old jc20 nsr, best thing I done was a light sanding with grit 1200 sand paper after every coat come up very smooth!

Found most rattle can laquer was absolute rubbish!

[Dtboy85]

can i gain some information from the engine number on my bike as the frame no has been ground off and the nuber on my engine is 4BL-**** * * can i get anywere with this! i know the engine may have been changed but im after all the help i can get getting this back on the road

[shambles1980]

i spray paint xboxes all the time. i know thay arent bikes but they are plastic,

provided you wet and dry them. then clean them (i dont use acetone based solvants for that, even isopropy can be bad, so good old soap and water is good.)

work up in grit with wet and dry i start with about 180 grit to get the scratches out. and work up to about 400grit. then clean thouroughly. "you can even throw them in the a dish washer at low ish temp with a Tiny And i mean tiny ammount of washing up liquid rubed on to them just remember to take them out before the thing decides to steam dry them" that will get them clean after sanding.

then you need to give them a few coats of primer. i like to leave them for like 16 hours between coats. but the general rule of thumb is you can either do a second coat after its become tacky (probably 20-30 mins later) or you have to wait the full drying time and then do a nother coat.

if your like me and prefer to let it dry to guarantee no messups, you again hit them with some 1000/1600 grit wet and dry (wet). dry that off and wipe down thouroughly so its clean.

as for the painting.. its not the easiest thing to avoid orange peel but its down to the ambient temperature and mositure. i will only paint on days between 18-22c and i do it indoors.. "in a shed/garage" Its also a good idea to get some warm water "room temperature" and put your areosol an in that so its about the same temp in the can as it is out of the can.

short even burst of paint is the way to go.. you can always add more but if you get to much on there it will run and you will hate it, and i dont care what any one may belive. if it does run and you try to catch it "dab it" then thats just ruined your paint job" if you dont try and catch it.. its ruined your paint job.

Oh and clean the nozzle lots and shake the can lots. And if its running low. then get a diferent can. dont use the thing till its empty. Theres nothing worse than doing a nice looking even coat then the thing spits out blobs all over your work.

if your really keen about the finish. some printer paper and toothpaste which has bycarbonate of soda in it will act like a ultra fine wet and dry.

as for the frame being haveing the numbers ground off it.. I would not be happy owning that frame.

[NEV]

Here ya go Shambles this is a panel I did for my lads bike, sprayed in all weathers and the the time it takes to smoke a fag in between coats, it wasn't the spray that cost me, it was all the fags smoked, you can see where I haven't T-cut, on the 'V' above the headlights, incidently that panel was originally the same colour as the Silver/Grey one at the back.

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[Airhead]

Nice one NEV that looks great

heres some I did with rattle cans

[kenDAWG]

In my opinion it's not the prep or the spraying that's the problem, laquer coat was a pain in the arse for me!!

There isn't a decent Finnish in a rattle can, could get the final coat of spray to look like glass then spoil it with the laquer!

Trial and error