Painting a full set of bike plastics.

[Pete.]

I'll just gearing up to spray a set of motorbike plastic fairings. I have a set of spare fairings painted silver (already re-sprayed once over red) which I want to paint to match the proper colours of the bike which is this colour (not my bike on this pic).



So far I have bought:

Timber batten and poly to put up a makeshift spray booth.
Air pilters and paint filter for the booth
Mandarin yellow 2k base 1L
Grey 2k base 1/2L
2k laquer 1.5L
Plastic adhesion promoter 1/2L
Dolphin glaze 2 part stopper
2 tins of plastic primer

Already got a decent nederman blower (thanks @Windy Miller) to use as an extractor fan and a 2kw infra red heater, pint cups, strainers, mixing sticks, coulle of budget spray guns.

I'm just waiting for the filters to arrive but in the meantime the plan is to flat off all of my panels first and fill any marks with the dolphin glaze. The I'll start with the grey site panels coz they are the largest and also theres only two of them.

I'll record my progress here, this William be my fidt attempt at automotive painting so I expect to make all the mistakes

 

[steveo3002]

already painted? dont need adhesion promotor then

 

[ajlelectronics]

Plastic adhesion promoter 1/2L

2 tins of plastic primer

Not required, paint over the existing keyed paint. If painting bare substrate, all you need is epoxy primer, which is far superior to those older technologies.

 

[ajlelectronics]

I'll record my progress here, this William be my fidt attempt at automotive painting so I expect to make all the mistakes

Tell us about your PPE, air fed mask etc?

 

[Robotstar5]

Tell us about your PPE, air fed mask etc?

I just breathe out of the side of my mouth (the side without the fag in it obviously)

 

[Pete.]

Tell us about your PPE, air fed mask etc?

Apart from the forced air ventilation I have a face-fitted mask with pre-filter and fume cartidges. No air fed.

 

[Pete.]

already painted? dont need adhesion promotor then

No, but it was cheap and I don't know if I am going to find the first paint stuck well enough once I start flatting it.

 

[tom2207]

great color ,,, apart from Boxer cup this is the best color for them ,,, yellow ones are faster [ even standing still ] .

 

[steveo3002]

No, but it was cheap and I don't know if I am going to find the first paint stuck well enough once I start flatting it.

so for a mixed bag bit of old paint , sanded edges etc , then 2k epoxy will seal it all up and provide a good start

 

[Windy Miller]

Re the Air-Fed mask @Pete. what about one like this?

It's not a HUGE amount of money for peace of mind. Some people seem to 'get away' with pushing their luck spraying 2K without the proper PPE, but other's have had a very different experience sadly.

 

[carbon]

Re the Air-Fed mask @Pete. what about one like this?

It's not a HUGE amount of money for peace of mind. Some people seem to 'get away' with pushing their luck spraying 2K without the proper PPE, but other's have had a very different experience sadly.

Exactly the same as the devilbiss MPV-623 at a much better price

 

[dobbslc]

Re the Air-Fed mask @Pete. what about one like this?

It's not a HUGE amount of money for peace of mind. Some people seem to 'get away' with pushing their luck spraying 2K without the proper PPE, but other's have had a very different experience sadly.

Pretty sure spraying 2k without a mask for years in a dingy railway arch is what killed my cousin quite young.

 

[Kram]

You'll need one of these

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9442GQS/

An air frd mask will require the proper breathing rated quality filters, seperate compressor in the correct place and a whole stack of HSE paperwork to verify that its any good.
If you do decide to use a filter mask, read up in detail of the risks, use a new quality filter, and limit exposure as much as possible.

An IR thermometer is very useful to get panel temp without touching it. I have one of these on the back of my front wing. The screen appears thinners resistant but the body plastic goes sticky, so it will get a coat of 2k clear soon enough.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BPX7S67L

Is that 2k primer? While 1k primer works, it can be wetted by solvent and sink when the colour goes on.
For plastics, some paints want flexibility additive to stop them cracking, but I have not used it.

You didnt mention thinners, panel wipe

I'd be cautious of too many layers if its been painted over before. It can make edges chip easily and I'm sure other problems.

Prep is the most time consuming and important part. A 3" orbital sander greatly speeds that up.
On my wing panel I stripped it back to metal with a p60 disc as it had too many uneven layers of paint. I remember I did the same on the bike panel, years ago.

There are some cheaper polish branded paint supplies available here

Pardon our interruption...

I have used their Bluecar 1:1 epoxy, and their Italko 2k HS clear, both work nice enough for my needs.

 

[Parm]

Re the Air-Fed mask @Pete. what about one like this?

It's not a HUGE amount of money for peace of mind. Some people seem to 'get away' with pushing their luck spraying 2K without the proper PPE, but other's have had a very different experience sadly.

That’s just the ticket, but will need plenty of air

 

[tigdlo]

Air fed masks for compressed air are relatively cheap, it's the filter setup and the cost of a replacement set of filters that's expensive.

Something like this, LINK, could be useful for some, the larger hose for the air shouldn't be much of a hinderance for bike panels, might be for a complete car though.

 

[Wedg1e]

On the last bike panels I repaired I used Evercoat PolyFlex.
Eight years later and there's still no sign of any cracks or peeling.