Steps for Painting your Plastics..

Mrs_3_0_5

New Member
Dec 18, 2008
697
19
0
Florida
The key to successfully painting ATV and dirt bike plastics is proper preparation. Using these procedures, you will be able to prepare your ATV and dirt bike plastic for painting.

Step 1
It goes without saying that the first step is to clean the plastic. Once this is done, sand the entire surface with 180 grit sandpaper. After fenders have been in the sun and are subjected to the elements, they tend to get a really thin "crust" on them. You need to remove the "crust" by sanding.

Step 2
After sanding, scrub all the plastic with Scuff Magic and a red scuff pad. This will help to remove any water soluble contaminants and also help to remove any contaminants that may have been ground into the plastic from Step 1.

Step 3
Sand again with 180 grit to remove any spots or "crust" that you missed in Step 1.

Step 4
Sandblast everything with 80 grit aluminum oxide.

Step 5
Clean the plastic with Super Clean plastic cleaner.

Step 6
Apply 2 heavy coats of Plastic Magic. Be sure to allow first coat to flash off before applying the second coat. Allow Plastic Magic to dry completely.

Step 7
Now apply Black Cat high-build waterborne primer surfacer. The high build will fill any sand scratches and sandblast pits. Allow the Black Cat to catalyze completely before the next step. While the Black Cat is sandable before it is fully catalyzed, it does not get maximum adhesion until it is fully catalyzed.

Step 8
Because Black Cat is a high-build primer surfacer, it has somewhat of a orange peel finish. Sand the surface smooth with 320 grit paper. Black Cat sands nicely and easily.

Step 9

Any low spots or imperfections can be filled with Putty Flex and sanded smooth before applying sealer.

Step 10
Apply a sealer that, when applied, provides a barrier between the topcoat and repair materials and prevents the solvents in the topcoat from attacking the repair material.

Step 11
Once the selaer dries, you can apply your basecoat and clear coat. Don't forget to add a flex additive to the topcoat. That's it!​
 
  • Like
Reactions: blasterman312
thats a very thorough write up, and will definitely allow for whatever kind of paint you choose to stick... but...

theres really a bunch of unnecessary steps.

i do paint and body for a living, whether or not you believe me about the unnecessary steps is up to you.

ideally you need to strip the mold release agents from the plastic for paint to adhere. when the parts are moulded its necessary to have a mold release agent on the plastic to be able to remove the part from the mold. it just so happens that the mold release agent will not allow paint to stick to the plastic, kind of the same way they dont want the plastic to stick to the mold.

if you want paint to stick...
scrub the crap out of it with a scotch brite pad and some comet/ajax cleanser. wipe it down very thoroughly with a good paint prep type wax and grease remover, then proceed to sand it with 180 grit paper. not just scuff it a little by hand, but sand it to where it has zero gloss. scrub it again with scotch brite and comet/ajax, wash it with dish soap or laundry detergent water solution.

then proceed to prime it with a decent 2 part catalyzed primer. a good 2 part primer will lock the surface down for fresh paint. kinda like the sealing step in fore mentioned procedure. let the primer dry.

you can go straight to 400 or 600 grit wetsand from here, but its faster and less effort to dry sand with 320, then step to 400 or 600 wet. a good guide coat will help a lot to remove all runs and orange peel, or show pits (and if youre really serious about making it razor straight by block sanding) and low spots. personally i use 3M brand dry guide coat, as theres no time for it to dry. you can use aerosol black as a guide coat, but make sure to use flat black as gloss will clog the crap out of your sand paper. just dust the surface with the black and allow it time to dry. itll show an untrained eye an awful lot of imperfections in the surface.

once you have wet sanded the primer youre ready to wipe it down with wax and grease remover and spray it!

im certainly not trying to bash your post mrs 305, but its just an awful lot of unnecessary work just to make paint stick to ABS plastic. ive heard a lot of people say theres no way or its almost impossible to make paint stick to it, but as with any paint job... its all in the prep
 
  • Like
Reactions: blasterman87
but what about like the the lil compartment box in the rear fenders i got oil and sh*t that wont come out i used purple power simple green everything and it wont come out!
 
but what about like the the lil compartment box in the rear fenders i got oil and sh*t that wont come out i used purple power simple green everything and it wont come out!


between the scotch brite pad, comet/ajax, wax and grease remover, 180 grit, and a good catalyzed primer it wont be a problem. even if you can still see it.
 
good job jeff i gave you rep points for that one for the quicker/easier way

thanks for the rep. if you guys have any questions about paint or body repair ill be happy to answer whatever questions i can.

with all the info ive found out on this forum its the least i can do.