Repainting plastic fairings

[Mikkel]

What level of finish would you be able to expect from a professional repainting of a set of plastic sportsbike fairings?
What durability or hardness could you expect to achieve?

How many coats of primer, colour and clearcoat would you expect to put down to achieve such a finish?

All informed opnions will be appreciated.

[98tls]

Plenty can achieve a wonderful finish,it can however go sour if its an odd ball colour.

[Mikkel]

Plenty can achieve a wonderful finish,it can however go sour if its an odd ball colour.

Please expand...

...as in the colour failing to adhere properly to the primer?

[Squiggles]

Would have thought a few good clearcoats is a good idea, else you get alot of scratching and chipping

[Mikkel]

Please, I'm not asking for good ideas about how to do this job myself - I am asking what I could reasonably expect from an expensive professional job.

And if someone is working in the field of automotive painting perhaps they can answer the third question.

Cheers.

[98tls]

Please expand...

...as in the colour failing to adhere properly to the primer?

Na mate,my old TL is a very odd colour and awhile back i sent a left hand fairing on a joy ride round supposed experts and it was a disaster,i have the paint code blah blah blah but no formula,tried everything but a no go,if you have a late model oem colour bike you should be fine.

[Mikkel]

Na mate,my old TL is a very odd colour and awhile back i sent a left hand fairing on a joy ride round supposed experts and it was a disaster,i have the paint code blah blah blah but no formula,tried everything but a no go,if you have a late model oem colour bike you should be fine.

Ah, so they simply couldn't match the colour itself?

I'm more concerned with the general finish and durability of a professional repainting here.

[R6_kid:Me]

*most* modern paint colours/mixes have a code/formula and it tells the painter (or the guy at the shop) what paint and additives they need to mix and in what quantities. The type of paint (metalic/gloss/flat/etc) all have different ways of applications.

Assuming the guy knows his shit, has been painting for a long time, and hasnt been doing too much painting without his filtermask on then you should be able to understand what he's saying and what he needs to do.

Remember there's not just the painting but the prep, and a lot of paint types require extra prep between coats of different mixes. Metallic paints can be a bit of c*nt... why not ask to see some of their work in the flesh and make your decision from there.

The finish should end up being just the same as an OEM part, perhaps 'better' if a lot of work is put in, in terms of durability, the paint should have be 'rubberised' or flexibile on the plastics, that way it won't crack if you flex the fairing, not so important on the metal bits that dont flex like plastic. Also as mentioned, more clear coats gives it a 'deeper' shine and offers more protection for the colour coat against stone chips and scratches and also allows you to polish your fairings up to a beautiful finish after you've cleaned them if you are that way inclined.

[lostinflyz]

ive had a number of fairings through a company here in chch called the bumper shop and they always do a primo job. You can ask them to do it well or cheap but even there cheap versions are super. As my bikes old as (well the ones ive had painted) the fairings look new, but ive never seen new so cant comment.

but a good pro should be able to make it pretty much looks very close to the way it left the factory. I was amazed the first time i ever got a set done.

[Mikkel]

So it would not be unreasonable to expect a finish and durability comparable to the factory paint job.

In which case - if the paint looks significantly deterioated one month after the painting has been done and chips and scrapes off very easily - something is definitely wrong.

That was what I would expect.

[James Deuce]

Box the fairings up and send them to crazefox.

It will cost you less in the long run and you'll have a damn good job done.

Kawasaki use pigments, so colour charts won't help.

[Owl]

You should be able to expect a decent finish that will last!

Also, less = more in terms of product use! You do what you need to do and no more. The more product used on a job, the more likely it will fail.

More info about your particular issue may be more helpful! Stone chipping in exposed areas is quite normal and "It scratches easy" could mean all sorts.

[imdying]

What level of finish would you be able to expect from a professional repainting of a set of plastic sportsbike fairings?
What durability or hardness could you expect to achieve?

How many coats of primer, colour and clearcoat would you expect to put down to achieve such a finish?

All of the depends on the price.

Assuming the tank, front, rear, mud guard, and around the $1500-2000 mark, you should expect an OEM quality job.

In which case - if the paint looks significantly deterioated one month after the painting has been done and chips and scrapes off very easily - something is definitely wrong.

Chips, well chips happen, no matter how good the job is. Modern paints are flexible and will take a beating, but they're more expensive and harder to work with, so often painters won't use that unless you specify it, or they're doing a repair on something that requires them to use the same as the existing paint that's still on the vehicle. It it's scraping off due to poor adhesion, then that's poor surface prep; perhaps contamination, perhaps insufficient keying of the surface, wrong type of paint etc. Whilst it'll still chip, it should definitely not be scraping off, or coming off in big chunks etc.

[Mikkel]

Box the fairings up and send them to crazefox.

It will cost you less in the long run and you'll have a damn good job done.

Kawasaki use pigments, so colour charts won't help.

Unfortunately the job has been done now. I'm happy with the look - but I am very concerned that it won't last. Let's see how it pans out, your suggestion might still become a valid option

More info about your particular issue may be more helpful! Stone chipping in exposed areas is quite normal and "It scratches easy" could mean all sorts.

It's not stone chips... The job is about a month old and I have done less than 500 kms since then because the bike has been sitting in a workshop having its suspension freshed up.

Last night I scratched the side fairing with the 'tards footpeg (because I am a tool) - however the extent of scraping on the fairing was much more than I would expect. To check it I took a smashed up crashed fairing and scratched that hard against the footpeg. The damage to the coat was far less extensive. More of a scratching than a scraping off of the paint so to speak.

All of the depends on the price.

Assuming the tank, front, rear, mud guard, and around the $1500-2000 mark, you should expect an OEM quality job.

$1500 for the whole lot - including wheels (which incidentally also got scratched when they were put carefully in a tyre machine). No fancy stuff and not a lot of decals either (and the tricky ones I provided myself).
So I'd expect a quality job - and I asked for "as new" quality.

Chips, well chips happen, no matter how good the job is. Modern paints are flexible and will take a beating, but they're more expensive and harder to work with, so often painters won't use that unless you specify it, or they're doing a repair on something that requires them to use the same as the existing paint that's still on the vehicle. It it's scraping off due to poor adhesion, then that's poor surface prep; perhaps contamination, perhaps insufficient keying of the surface, wrong type of paint etc. Whilst it'll still chip, it should definitely not be scraping off, or coming off in big chunks etc.

Of course the coat will suffer some damage over time - but 1 months and 500 kms is not over time as far as I am concerned. Except for the motard incident I have been very gentle around the bike.

I'll get a WOF for the bike tomorrow and then one of these days I'll just have to pootle down and talk to the guys. I just wanted to make sure that I could indeed expect a durability on the level of the factory job before talking to them.
I really hope they'll be reasonable about it.

[imdying]

There are other tricks that they can do to improve the long term durability, mixing a little of the top coat tinter into the primer for one... it'll still chip, but you can't really tell as the undercoat is then a similar colour to the top coat. Not suitable for every paint type mind.