I am new to the board and it is a great source for information. My buddy and I just picked up our first ATVs...both got 06 Predator 500s. I want to get used to its stock power before I do any performance mods... but I definitely need to fix it up style-wise so it will look different than my friends. Also, gotta get out there and discover the good riding spots...I'm in SoCal by the way.

Hope to be jumping in on some of theses discussions too!

Off hand...would it be better/more cost effective for me to powder coat the factory wheels black...or buy aftermarket wheels? If powdercoating is the way to go...does anyone know of a good spot in SoCal with good prices?

Thanks.

 

Grats on the new quad and welcome to the forum. The predators are a nice quad, have a friend that rides one with us.

Nerf bars are always my first componet

Im in the same boat as you as far as leaving stock power alone for a bit. You can see the upgrades ive made so far in my sig. Pipe and stuff are next.

Have fun and be safe they can get away from you till you learn them [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Yep, congrats and welcome to the forum. Lots of good info here and good people to help ya out...

 

your stock wheels are the best you can buy. Polaris has a nack for bringing the After Market into OEM. Your wheels are Douglas Aluminum's, if you want them black send them off to the powder coater.

one fantastic way to change the way your quad looks is by putting new plastics on. theres several different ways you can do this, one, you can get custom plastics in custom colors by Full Bore. Full Bore plastics are 1 peice. another way is to mix and match colors through the plastics you can buy from polaris which allows you a total of 3 different peices to go from, the front peice the rear peice and the headlight shroud. you can also trim your plastics

look at my predator in my pictures to see what i did

 

*agrees*

Powder coat these wheels if you want them black. They are Yellow label Douglas .19s. For comparison purposes, the other 450s are riding on .10s so these wheels are almost twice as thick and are practically unbreakable!

Congrats on the new preds! i'm sure you'll love it! also, a full set of black plastic can be had on ebay for $130 - $170. Combine that with the graphics from an '03 or '04 Troy lee and you'll be sitting great cosmetically! or if you have a local graphics shop, they could make up a set for you.

 

Welcome aboard themartinz, Good luck with the Predators. I'm on the other side of the country in the hills of NC. We ride mostly 4x4 ATVs here because of the rough terrain. I hope to find an older Predator someday to fix up and play around on. I don't know much about them myself, but some of these fellows on here do and they will be a great help to you.

 

To custom the look shave the plastics and add your own decals, you can buy sheets of vinyl adhesive decal for cheap and cut your own. check my profile for DIY mods.

 

race cut the fenders, makes it look pretty spiffy, and i've seen guys buy the little DS wheel fenders and mounted them on their predator, looked pretty nice. and spyder6 , 57hp at the crank right?

 

yeah at the crank, if i had it at the rear end, i think i might need alot longer swing arm [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

 

Are you and your friend a couple? that sounds cool. Anyway fool......Some of those ideas are great. Thanks everbody for the help. I'm the buddy with the identical Predator 500.