Ok, I have a 2000 big bear 4x4 that needs some work. I'm goin to put it in the shop and get the rear brakes fixed, and have it serviced. I'm also planning to repaint the racks and front bumper. I don't know what to do about the plastic tho. It's faded and has ALOT of scratches and fold marks. So my question is what are my options? Idk if there are polishing compounds or what. I also have 5 holes in the fender where the dealer installed that huge switch for the warn A2000 winch that's long gone. The holes bug me to this day so what's my options there? Thanks in advance.

 

You could try "Plastic Renew" on your fenders to remove scratches and give them shine, but it's alot of work. You have to sand your fenders down starting with like 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper and work your way up to 2000 grit or more. You know it's ready when the water won't stay on the fender, it'll run right off. Then you apply several coats of the Plastic Renew liquid and let it dry. Mine only lasted a few rides and it needed doing again to keep it looking like new. I doubt it would help the fold marks.

A cheap way to help the fenders is to just spray the fenders with Armor All after every wash!

For the holes maybe a cheap fix is to put some nice-looking stainless steel bolts in the holes to make it look like they have a purpose.

I have seen people weld plastic fenders, but it requires a plastic weld gun and some donor plastic of the same color and material (usually an old set of fenders) to make 'welding rods', but this method comes out looking better on lighter colored fenders.

 

Ok. I was also thinking about plastic krylon paint or maybe just replacement plastic. Any Idea how complicated it is to replace the plastic? I want something that's goin to look good and last a long time. Man I wish I could go back and slap my younger self. I really wish I could have taken better care of it.

 

I've never seen fenders painted that actually looked good for more than a few months. The fenders have so much flex that the paint ends up chipping off and looks worse than before they were painted. The fenders are easy to replace, so I would go that route, but they are not cheap. New ones could range $500 for the set or you can find used ones on Ebay for around $200.

 

Yea I just priced new plastic at the dealer and it's about $300 for the set. But that's without decals or bolts. I may have to wait a lil while on that. I also priced a new 700 grizzly. At 8k I think I'll just fix my big bear lol

 

Yeah armor all can work wonders until you get some more fenders, just don't get any on your seat!

 

Yea I'll just try armor all until my budget allows for something better. Thanks for the seat tip, mines rough anyway. I went with the camp one way back when and it's kind of like one layer wore off where I always sit on it. Idk it's weird, it's not worn out just kind of worn off. Anybody else experienced this?

 

Ok I thought I would finally update this thread. I finally got my big bear serviced. The cleaned the carb, changed all fluids, put in all new wheel bearings. They also cleaned all the mud and water out of the reader diff, fixed the brakes, and installed a new set of grips. All to the tune ad about $600. But the good news is its like riding a brand new machine. I also got around to painting the racks and bumper. I even found something to use on the plastic. WD-40. Yep, I couldn't believe it either. I just sprayed it on and wiped it down with some paper towels and its 98% of its original color again! It even worked on the black plastic around the neutral and reverse lights. I wish I had taken a before pic but oh well. My new gas gauge should be in tomorrow or Wednesday and that will pretty much finish up my resurrection of this machine. Next on the agenda is to find a honda, either a foreman, a rancher, or a fourtrax 300 that needs some work so I can bring it back to life.

 

take a look at my photo album .that how i restored mine.