So, I'm rebuilding a 01 400ex, and the plastics seemed a little faded, and are scratched to hell, so I started using the hat gun trick, very happy with how it smoothed out the plastic and got rid of scratches, BUT VERY dissapointed on how it seemed to fade my plastic even more and leave swirrels EVERYWHERE!!!!! Anyone know how to get rid of them? very annoyed and pissed because i think i ruined my plastics.

 

Anything you use to try to get the swirls out such as a light compound paste will just take may be the plastic look even duller. We used to use Protect All on all the plastic,windshields,etc until we had a guy come in that swore that Pledge spray furniture polish works for him. We gave it a try and it really livens up old faded plastic. It doesn't last(nothing really does as the color is made into the plastic) but does help in selling one,plus makes machines look better until the next time you get it muddy.I've heard of the heat gun trick,but never had the nerve to use it on someone's machine. Don't know what to tell you other than replacement or a cover or the plastic wraps. Others may be able to help you better.

 

It's very hard to get an even spread with a heat gun. New plastics are not that expensive. I'd replace.

 

I'm not 100% sure this will work for heat swirrels, but it should... Read through the first posting on this forum:

Best way to make your atv/dirtbike plastic shine as new - Honda Foreman Forums : Rubicon, Rincon, Rancher and Recon Forum

A LOT of people have had great success using this method to restore plastics. Its cheap and easy. If you go to post #23 of that discussion (on page 3) you can see great before and after pictures of using this method to restore plastics.

I'd definitely give this a shot before buying new plastics... It shouldn't cost you more than about $25 to try it, and that's if you don't have any of the supplies and have to buy everything.