A buddy of mine was looking for new plastic for his 88 LT500, and he said he was going to order a set of Maier plastic, as the stock stuff was too expensive (and not the color he wanted). I forewarned him about the Maier plastic being dull and brittal, and even showed him an old set of white front/rear Maier fenders that I have to prove my point.

A few phone calls later, he ordered the Maier plastic after the rep told him that Maier was just starting new runs of LT500 fenders using a different type of plastic. He was told that this new type of Maier plastic would be shiney and stronger than the old stuff.

Well, it arrived, he installed it, and I saw it yesterday, and it's GORGEOUS. He hasn't ridden it yet, but it looks great in his garage. It has a bright luster to it, and is the perfect colors (front/rear is white, and hood is black, with a matching black/white/blue seat cover!).

Anyway, I'll try and post some pics some time soon when I get back over to his house.

Thespazardman

 

How is the fit? Maier has been known to fit poorly. I assume they are using the same molds with the new plastic but I'm just quessing. Are they strong like OEM or are they flimsy and weak?

Thanks

 

I had the old Maier plastic on my '92 LT250 and the fit was terrible. Had to drill my own holes at all the mounting locations, the yellow wasn't even Suzuki yellow and the thickness wasn't uniform throughout (was thicker in one spot and thinner in another). Another thing that peeved me was the front nose. The factory plastic has a channel that the blue nose plastic fits down into making a nice, clean line. The Maier plastic was just a round edge right there so the stock blue nose I had just sort of "floated" on top of the Maier front clip. It was awful, they'd really have to offer an extremely good product for an even cheaper price to get my repeat business. Until then I'll just keep ordering stock plastic.

 

Ditto on the Maier junk!

Friend of mine purchased it for his LT500, had to drill all mounting holes, use the heat gun to make it even come close to fitting, then looked like total hell when we were finished!

There are still many LT500's out there, why isn't anyone else making replacement plastic????
$$$$$$ opportunity missed here!!

I do hope Maier get's their act together. Sounds like the new stuff is injection molded (like OEM) vs. vacuum molded (like pickup bed liners).
That alone would be a huge improvement... Now will the colors match?????

Price?????????

 

You guys have me worried I ordered plastic and it's comming next week. Hope I'm gettin the new stuff. My Zilla should be back in action following an almost total rebuild. 3 months I ready to ride. Free tip:
if you don't have a case saver on your LT I would by one or as I did I built one the covers the shift rod. Thats the reason for the rebuild.

 

I had a little better time with maier plastic than you guys did! I put maier yellow on my old '86 Quadsport 230 and it looks great. Yes, it is the semi gloss finish but I like it better than shiny on that quad. It did require some finesse and hole relocation but no problem as it was easier than fitting 'glass panels on drag cars {talk about a nightmare!}. The front was in 2 halves instead of 1 pc. The quality of the plastic was very good too. Overall it was about what I expected. It is nearly impossible to match oem fit on body parts on any vehicle, atv's included. I am in the oem auto parts biz, so I know this well! I was very happy with the maier plastic, but compared to the cracked,bashed, and faded oem stuff, anything would look great! A complete cleaning,repaint and elimination of the ugly oem gold didn'nt hurt either! Just my 2 cents worth.

 

Just a little FYI guys. I Emailed Maier and it is official they are making and selling "Shiny" plastic now. Exactly what that means I don't know, but hey atleast it will finally be shiny and not cost and arm and a leg, I can handle drilling some holes! A Word of caution, if you want the new "Shiny" plastic, specify that in your order or they will try to pass off the old stock on ya. Keep the rubber side down gentlemen.

 

Here's some pics of the new shiny plastic (sorry guys, on a Honda):

Front
Side

Yes, mounting holes have to be drilled, but you have to do the same with the $500 Fullbore plastic.

 

AWESOME!

I am SO getting some next time...

 

Where did you get your number plates and numbers, the ones I have go the other direction and I couldnt get 3 numbers side by side on them.