hey anyone had any luck painting fenders? got a buddy i work with that paints custom cars and was telling him about my wifes 92 timberwolf that she always complains about because its olive green and he told me to pull all the plastic off it and bring it into work, said he has some harley orange left over from a job he just did and he will spray it, said the problem people have with painting plastic is the paint, he uses automotive paint with a flex agent same paint they use on plastic car bumpers, figure its free and got nothing to lose, any bets as to how it will turn out? will post pics when its done.

 

I cleaned and lightly sanded mine then used a pain ment for plastic.

 

I just got done painting my 96' Timberwolf. I scuffed the plastics with 320 wet/dry sandpaper, then applied some adhesion promoter, painted it with a grey primer, waited until the next day and painted it with some cheap Stage 1 Black paint, total paint job with primer was under $30. I borrowed a friend's compressor, and he had a touch up spray gun, I never pained with one of these real professional guns, so I prepped a piece of sheet metal just like the plastics then I painted it with the sprayer to see how much I could put on before I got runs.


-Came out perfect, I had this thing for 5 days, in 5 days I repainted the whole thing, welded the racks where they were cracked, replaced the brakes, tuned the carb, patched a 2" hole in the exhaust, Rhino Lined the racks (looks totally awesome) and fixed the skid plate and brush guard which were bent way out of whack!. This thing goes through mud with my girl friend on the back no problem, my buddy has a 4x4 honda rancher and he gets stuck and I don't. The only difference is that I have Muddin Tires, he has crap stock ones.

 

As long as your painter uses the flex agent you should be fine. Still, the flex agent can only flex but so much. If you roll it or one of your dumb buddies uses your rear fender as a seat, you could see some cracking. But, if its free, go for it! If you dont like it, they do still make paint remover!

 

Just get some Krylon Fusion.... it is made for plastics.

I heard of it a while ago, and told a guy I know about it, who was selling his 400ex. He wanted to replace the plastics before he sold it, but instead gave the Krylon a try. The quad was yellow, and he turned it Honda red with less than 2-cans of this stuff. It looked great, and even under the fenders held up over a few rides with no chipping of flaking. The stuff even filled in a few heavy scratches he had in the rear fenders.

The best part is that his entire prep consisted of a rag and a can of brake cleaner. The stuff seems to almost melt into the plastic and make a permanent bond. I don't know how it holds up long-term but it looks promising.

 

We used Krylon on one of our quads. It has held up pretty good, only need to touch up where boots scrap it while getting on and off. As far as the plastics flexing and the paint cracking, it hasn't been an issue so far.

 

Primer is not necessary if painting over clean, factory plastic, use an adhesion promoter and keep the paint thickness at a minimum. Do not put it on in thick multiple coats or it will crack. I painted my Warrior in a single stage enamel 3 years ago and it still looks great, no chips yet, but i am very cautious with the pressure washer when cleaning.

 

Don't put the pressure washer to close to the paint, especially if it does have a crack in it. Otherwise, break out the spray can again.