Painted Beartraker plastics

[payne]

Big thanks to Frank Angerano for all the help he's provided. Plastics were super sun faded and decided to paint them. 

Upon Frank's recommendations, i used minwax poly to clearcoat after the painting. Turned out good, and is a very close match.

[Frank Angerano]

Looks awesome! 

[JacobSlabach]

looks pretty dang good.  does panting the plastics work long term tho?  ive heard (and seen) that painting isnt the answer for plastic and that it flakes off after the first summer of sitting in the sun.  is there a way to do it to avoid this?

[payne]

Not sure, this is the first time I've done this. I did 3 coats of paint and 3 coats of minwax polyurethane upon Frank's recommendation. 

He has used just poly on another project that turned out great. I thought mine were just too sun faded for just the clear.

[JacobSlabach]

oh okay.  do you have a link or what kind of poly you using?  i have a couple faded atvs that id be awesome if i could make them look brand new again

[payne]

This machine must've lived outside for a long time. Every damn bolt/screw was rusted in place and the plastic under the seat disengaged and broke apart when I tried installing it.

[JacobSlabach]

shoot haha thats hilarious.  reminds me of my 86 honda trx 350 4x4 that lived outdoors all its life.  had to go through the whole wiring harness to get spark cause everything was corroded and locked up lol

[payne]

Just miniwax quick drying poly in a aerosol can. I used satin. 

This beartracker was a nightmare for weeks. Nothing electrical worked, brakes were all locked up and reverse linkage was also frozen. Many, many hours on this thing.

[Frank Angerano]

With enough sanding of the plastics, i like to water sand so no dust. 
You take off enough layers to get back to the original color.  Its just a matter of how deep you can or want to  go. 
 

[JacobSlabach]

12 minutes ago, Frank Angerano said:

With enough sanding of the plastics, i like to water sand so no dust. 
You take off enough layers to get back to the original color.  Its just a matter of how deep you can or want to  go. 
 

okay makes sense.

[Frank Angerano]

Yep sure does, deep down there are good layers so it depends on how deep you have to go for fresh layers.