How-to: Paint Rear hugger/Mid insert or not prep plastic. PICS!

[davebluer6]

Material needed:

- Polyprep.
- Brake cleaner (or any cleaner)
- Paint
-Gun or a spray can depending what tools you have around.
-scotch brite


You should find polyprep at any body shop supplier like PartsSource, NAPA, etc.. For the paint, I didn't choose Color-rite since is so damn expensive, I went to NAPA with my bike and got my paint scanned. They come with a matching color with 90% accuracy. Since the part I wanted to paint are not side by side it doesn't botter me. I think they are able to put the paint in an spray can but I'm not 100% sure.

Note: if you paint your mid-insert, you'll probably want to get the expensive Color-rite to have a perfect match.



1- You need to clean very well your parts with brake cleaner or any cleaner. Please, DON'T use WD-40! It's not a cleaner here.... (It clean well my wheels but don't use it to prep a paint job because your paint will not stick).

I repeat CLEAN WELL the part. Every single inch square, edge, curve. EVERYTHING.

2- With the same attention you did for cleaning, vaporize polyprep (picture below) everywhere on the part and use a Scotch Brite, like the one shown on the left side of the bottle. The plastic part should turn mate.

3- Paint it!. Depending of the type of paint you use the procedure isn't the same.

A- Since my gf's father is a car painter, I had access to a real paint gun. If so, the shop where you buy the paint should give you the perfect mix between paint and activator you should do before spraying the paint. If not, ask them and they should answer you. It change dependly moisture, temperature, type of paint. Me I got a base coat with few coat of varnish. (higher quality than a polyuretane paint where the varnish and the paint are mixed together.)

Note: If you spray the paint without activator, the paint will not dry properly. If you put too much activator, the paint will dry too fast. However, the mix can be done without measurement. IF it says half/half, you can put half paint, half activator in the gun without measure it with a measured cup. Just do it with your judgement and it should be correct.

If you use a spray can, you only need to spray the paint without asking question.

4- Let it sit until it's dry.

5-Enjoy it.

I apologize for any grammar errors.

-Dave

Here the pic in order: The fourth one show you how close the sanned color is with the original one (front fender vs rear hugger)



1-

2-After polyprep, the plastic look mate/white BTW the red CRX is not mine...

3-

4-Oem vs mine

5- Installed

6- After 10 000Km still like Day one

[dHanoon6]

That looks great! thanks for putting this together. I have a few q's cause i'm a real real noob when it comes to painting. Is that polyprep used instead of sanding? is that grey sponge like a tack cloth? and uhh whats the diff between wet sanding and dry sanding? Looks great though, good job

[YAMMAN]

great write up, but whay happened to the pictures

[davebluer6]

I don't know it worked when I made this How-to. I'll try to fix that.

-Dave

[davebluer6]

Originally Posted by dHanoon6

That looks great! thanks for putting this together. I have a few q's cause i'm a real real noob when it comes to painting. Is that polyprep used instead of sanding? is that grey sponge like a tack cloth? and uhh whats the diff between wet sanding and dry sanding? Looks great though, good job

I didn't sand my rear hugger at all. So polyprep prepare the plastic to be painted. It help the paint to grip the plastic easier and be stronger and remove everything from the plastic that can block the paint to grip.

For the difference between dry and wet sanding:

Dry sanding = Rought, you use a rough sand paper that remove a lot of material but leave also a rought to the touch surface. You use it when you just apply plastic or primer on your surface to fix a damage.

Wet sanding = You use a very small sand paper with small grain (1000/2000 or so) with water to sand your surface. You use it just before the cleaning and painting operation. Once finish your paint should be better than the original one. (that's why I'll paint my car because usually it's very long to do and bodyshop don't do that kind of finish)

After that you painted your surface, you should polish it. With dry sanding, wet sanding and polishing, your paint should be A+++.

I saw one and it's amazing. (clearly better than any OEM paint)


Feel free to contact me if you have any questions

-Dave

[YAMMAN]

Looks great!

I'll try it and let you know how it goes.

Thanx for the info!

[AFC]

Nicely done Dave, thanks for the how-to. You can do mine for me this summer.

Added to the quick-link list.

-edit- Nice plug for PartSource ...these guys will have no idea what you mean

[davebluer6]

I'll do it.

If you can get me the Polyprep

[dHanoon6]

Originally Posted by davebluer6

I didn't sand my rear hugger at all. So polyprep prepare the plastic to be painted. It help the paint to grip the plastic easier and be stronger and remove everything from the plastic that can block the paint to grip.

For the difference between dry and wet sanding:

Dry sanding = Rought, you use a rough sand paper that remove a lot of material but leave also a rought to the touch surface. You use it when you just apply plastic or primer on your surface to fix a damage.

Wet sanding = You use a very small sand paper with small grain (1000/2000 or so) with water to sand your surface. You use it just before the cleaning and painting operation. Once finish your paint should be better than the original one. (that's why I'll paint my car because usually it's very long to do and bodyshop don't do that kind of finish)

After that you painted your surface, you should polish it. With dry sanding, wet sanding and polishing, your paint should be A+++.

I saw one and it's amazing. (clearly better than any OEM paint)


Feel free to contact me if you have any questions

-Dave

Awesome! thanks for you help. I'll be painting my lowers/mids black so i'm browsing the internet looking for any tips. Thanks a lot man

[davebluer6]

Originally Posted by dHanoon6

Awesome! thanks for you help. I'll be painting my lowers/mids black so i'm browsing the internet looking for any tips. Thanks a lot man

So I presume your lower and mids are already painted?

If so, I'll do it that way:

First, you don't need polyprep since it's already painted/primered.

If your surface is in good shape (no cracks or scraches) you can directly use a small grain sand paper and dry sand it. After that use a smaller grain sand paper and wet sand.

If the surface is not in good shapes, do the same steps than before but starts with a bigger grain than after that use a smaller one and after that wet sand.

To know if your wet sanding is good, wet sand by doing circle, and when you feel that it's easier, than the surface is good. You'll also feel that the surface is not rought anymore or the surface doesn't have any grain on it when you will touch it.

Don't forget also, that BEFORE ALL THAT, CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN and CLEAN the surface. You have to remove ALL the GREASE. If you have any grease left when you will shoot the paint, the paint will form ''fish eyes'' and you cannot remove that with polishing.

If while you shoot the paint, some dirt, fall on the paint, don't panic, add more coat of paint and varnish. It will let you more room to polish the paint after that.

If you use the same paint I used (the paint is NOT a polyurethane so the paint is seperated from the varnish) you need to apply the varnish once the paint is still sticky but not liquid. touch the paint at a place you will not see once it's installed on the bike...

If you use polyuretane, just shoot it and let it dry.

Hope it's help...

Last thing, do that kind of stuff in a garage, and before that, shoot water on the floor. Garage floor are dirty as hell, so by shooting water, you stick dirt on the ground. When you'll shoot paint, it will not push up the dirt on your paintaing area.

-Dave