I was wondering what is the best method for painting plastic on a Banshee. It is a 99, so the platic is not bad, but I want to do some painting of the edges of the plastic. Any ideas, will it stay for at leat 4-5 months?
Thanks,

RoostKing

 

Roostking: I rep a major automotive paint line for a living.... to answer your question... YES you can sucessfully paint your plastic. I first attempted to paint the tank/rad cover on my banshee back in 93' and had great luck..... then in 96' I decided on a new design for the tank. Between 93 and 96 the paint held up great. I had a few chips but nothing major and no pealing. That brings me to early last year.... I decided to go all out on the fenders. If you go to my site you can see the finished project. I drove out to Silverlake dunes in Michigan (890 miles one way) during that trip my rear fenders flexed and bounced while I went down the highway. All in all... Not a crack, chip, or anything else. I am not saying that if you hit a tree the paint wont crack, chip or possibly peal, but under most conditions the paint will hold up very well. The process to paint the plastic wont be cheap, or an easy process. If your still interested let me know and I can walk you through it from start to finish.

walter
88 Banshee 370
95 Dodge Ram 4x4
99 Quadbuddy

 

B370,
Ive been to your site before so I know the results are good. I am still interested in doing the painting, possibly this weekend, so if you could give me the specifics that woul be great. Im talking prep, and all. I only want to do some minor trim work to set it apart from the others, nothing major just yet, so if you would share, I would be most appreciative! Thanks,

RoostKing...

 

I have painted the plastic on my quadracer about 3 months ago and it holds up great. Just be sure to follow any directions the paint rep tells you. I painted my plastic (front and rear fenders) for about $75 bucks. I was hesitant about taking it through the woods after it was painted, but I was surprised to say, that it will beat down trees with the fenders and still not chip or peel. I would do it again in a heartbeat. One hint of advice though, just like bodywork on a car, the more time you put into prepping the surface to be painted, the better the paint will look. I have a few scratches on the plastic, and they really stand out with the paint on them.

 

Roostking:
Are you planning on just highlighting edges and clear coating the rest of the plastic? If you are i would recommend against that. The clear will only have a chemical bond to the plastic. What I would suggest is to choose a color as a ground coat(similar to the color of the plastic), and then do your highlighting. If you can give me an idea of how you want it to look I am sure I can give you a suggestion that will work.

WARNING! Once you start prepping the plastic there is NO going back!! "standard disclaimer"<g>

Its obvious that you must remove the plastic from the quad. Next wash the plastic inside and out with a grey (3M) scotch bright pad with dish detergent throughly. This will lighly scuff the plastic and semi remove the release agents from the plastic. Dry off the plastic and look for any shiney areas that were missed....Rescuff those areas. You want the water to sheet off of the plastic, not like a freshed waxed hood on a car.

Next wet sand the plastic with some 400 grit wet and dry sand paper. Make sure that you get all tight areas very well. Make sure that you get the outside edges well also! They are just as important! Those areas will be the first to peal if not prepped correctly. If your doing the whole plastic (tank cover, rad cover, frt fenders, and rear fenders you will use approx 4-5 9x11 sheets) Dry the plastic and recheck for any missed areas. Remember the flatter the prepped area the better the job will look. If you have any small chips or scratches take a small flat block of wood (paint paddles/sticks work well) and wet sand the area well to remove any little imperfections.

Next use a red (3M) scotch bright pad with a plastic cleaner (this will need to be purchased at an automotive paint supply house) ICI autocolor's # is 1333 cleaner for plastics. RM's part number is 901 and or 902. I have some of this that I can send to you so that you dont have to purchase a large container and only use a pint. The 1333 plastic cleaner is the best I have seen... Spies Hecker has some also but I dont have the part # in front of me. All of the major paint lines have plastic refinish procedures but NOT all of them work sucessfully! You need to scuff the plastic again w/ the red scuff pad and the plastic cleaner. Make sure the cleaner does not dry up... keep it wet. This will open the pores to the plastic and greatly help adheasion.
Rinse and dry the plastic off. You have to topcoat the plastic with a plastic primer within 10 minutes of cleaning/drying the plastic with 1333.
Next apply 2 medium coats of plastic primer (ICI's #2001) with a flash of 5-10 minutes between coats. Let the primer dry for 15 minutes and then top coat it with a high quality basecoat (this is where I recomend basecoating the whole part for better adheasion) Apply your basecoat until coverage is obtained, making sure that you gave each coat plenty of flash time inbetween coats. Let the base coat sit for 15 minutes per coat (3 coats 45 minutes, 4 coats 1 hour) After a thourough flash you can do any graphics or Highlighting as wanted.

Next apply a high quality clearcoat (follow instructions for the clear you use for painting plastics) adding flexagent etc. There are many diff paint lines out there. If you decide on one stick with there system from start to finish. Just keep in mind that NOT all of them work like they say they do. The best plastic refinish systems I have seen are from Spies Hecker, ICI Autocolor, and Sikkens. The other companys have systems but for painting quad plastic is a diff story. This project wont be cheap since most companys dont sell these products in small amounts. Let me know and I can put together a few small cans with the products you will need.

I am sorry this was such a long post but thats whats involved in painting plastic and having it hold up well. If you have any more questions or if your confused about something let me know and I will help as much as I can

walter
88 Banshee 370
95 Dodge Ram 4x4
99 Quadbuddy

 

Banshee370,
Yea Im interested in painting it. Thanks for the information on painting the plastic. It sounds pretty time consuming if you want to do it right. I am not going to do the whole machine, I just want to do some trim work around the fenders, but right now they are in perfect shape so Im a bit hesitant right now. I will email you and we can sok out some sort of reimbursment for the materials if you still want to do that.
Thanks for the advice everybody, I'll keep you posted.

RoostKing...

 

Roostking:
When ever your ready let me know...... if your stock plastic is in good shape why not get a decent used set to paint? I got a used set of fenders from K&K atv that was scratched and faded bad(white) and they also had a crack in the front fenders(i was gonna cut them anyways) I do know that the blue fenders on the new banshees are fairly cheap right now. I can get a price this week and let ya know
let me know if and when you need any help and I will do what i can
walter
88 Banshee 370
95 Dodge Ram 4x4
99 Quadbuddy