Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hey i was wondering if anyone has any advice on painting the plastic fairing on the spree?? i plan on just using a spray can.

i work at a body shop. if we must paint plastic we use "scratch pads". its like fine sand paper mets steal wool.
my advice is to use super fine sand paper or rub hard with steal wool all the plastic pieces your painting before painting. it will take the glossy finish off and let the paint stick better and help against chipping

also if you must use spray paint go really light , let it 100% dry then lay another layer. it could take 3-4-up to 5 layers so take your time. if you rush and try to do it all at once it will run ,get wavy, and there will be spots you can see the old color

i know " but its just a crappy beater i dont care if it turns out bad" well take your time and do it right or it will look really bad and you will have to do it again. let me tell you... Taking off a bad paint job is alot harder then taking off the gloss in the first place

I repainted all the panels ('cept the foot plate and speedo bezel) on my 90 sb50p. I stripped them down a couple of different ways.

On the sides, I used a sanding sponge (found it in a home improvement store), It was the size of a schoolroom whiteboard/chalkboard eraser, and it came in medium, coarse, or fine. I kept dunking the sponge in a solution of 3 capfulls of pine sol to 1 gallon water, and scrubbing in a circular motion on the panels. You can spend a couple of weeks "after work" scrubbing, but it comes out as clean as they were at the factory before paint.

Of course, this takes a lot of time. After doing the sides this way, I gave up.

I used a black and decker orbital sander, and the finest velcro-held pad I could find. It did take a lot less time, but it got paint dust everyplace, and I had to be careful not to grind in any one spot for too long, or else I'd make a nasty flat spot.

Once all the paint was off all the panels, I hung them in the basement on coat hangers, and sprayed them with 2 light coats of Krylon plastic primer. This gave the surfaces an extremely faint "pebble" that the spray paint could grip onto.

Then I did a light base coat of white. Once dryed overnight (really dry... not "barely tacky", dry...), I dampened a paper towel and lightly wiped down the panels to get rid of spare dust or loose paint bits. A second coat of white went on, and dried, and was wiped down again.

I took some painters tape (from the house paint section of your local do-it-yourself) and applied it to all the places I wanted to Stay White. I then sprayed the exposed parts with red. again, 2 light coats with a wipe down in between.

I took off the tape, and used a "2 in 1" touch up pen of honda nighthawk black and whatever I could find for a straight edge (cork backed rulers, if you can get 'em) and ran a line of black using the pen tip across every part where red and white met. Even though I had taped it down, there was still a little bit of fade. The black line sort of "cheated" the exactness of the line, so it was harder to tell that I had messed up.

From there, I applied decals... and re-applied the panels... Bingo, done.

And remember, it's just as fun to ride without body panels, so take your time with it.

Pygmaelion wrote: And remember, it's just as fun to ride without body panels, so take your time with it.

i couldn't agree more. i wanted to get my paint job done really fast and i totally totally wrecked the paint job. i put on waaaaay too heavy a coat of paint and it really wasn't dry when i put the next coat on and it wrinkled up in spots like a raisin. totally looks * and will be a beast to fix.

take your time!

im painting my rims Friday(finale layer Friday) i just got them all off , mostly taped off, i used a scratch pad and got it all ready. primer tomorrow and getting paint thursday. painting friday
(dark metallic blue)

any pics of the rims now?just curious as to how they look.

if your using can paint use the one with the"fan spray tip"makes the job easier if your sanding is done correct!

Once you get the coats of plastic primer down, can you use any kind of spray paint or should you continue to use the paint intended for plastic?

I went with "Primer for Plastics" and "Spray for plastics". I figured that since Krylon went to the trouble of marketing sprays specificly for my application, I'd try them out.

Additionally, I've melted plenty of various plastic and foam compounds with regular ol' spray paint, and didn't want that kind of warping going on with my one and only set of panels.

Other stuff may work fine, but I didn't want to risk it.

i got some pictures but there kinda bad.the lighting was bad so its kinda hard to see the true color. i sanded it before i taped it off so i had green dust all around my rims+ all that work sanding and taping off and i messed up my hub pretty bad
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