yeah i searched and read alot on this. But from experience whats the best way to prep the plastics? Yes sand and paint. but like whats the most effective ways. O'yeah and on the cheap side,,,,not hella cheap but you know! thanks

 

hand sanding is by far the best way to get an even paint job and use 600 grit for the final sand.. don't use bondo to fill scratches use that **** that comes in a tube i think its called body filler yellow tube i believe but don't do it in a day.. take a week out just for prep, make sure you use just as good primer as you do paint, do one piece a day and make it perfect.. every nook and crany?? be a perfectionist don't get frustrated just take your time you will love the results

 

buy a cheap da sander. use a 320 to sand the paint and then throw on the primer. after it dries wet sand it with 600 and your all set !!!

 

i used a filler primer(can build up pretty thick depending on how many coats you use) , sanded that with 600 grit, and went to town painting, everything came out looking good.

each person is going to have a personal preference on the technique they use

 

98% of your time for a paintjob will go into sanding and prep work. I use a DA sander to sand everything down, then hand sand all the nooks and cranies. Fix any imperfections that stand out. Then throw a few coats of primer on, i use duPont fill and sand, that takes care of the smaller imperfections. Then wet sand with about 600 grit. If your really paranoid lightly spray a guide coat and hand sand to find any high or low spots. Use a real like scotch brite to scuffy primer before base coat. Wipe everything down with a wax and grease remover and shoot your base coat.

 

so, when preping the plastic just sand it smooth and paint over the old paint of do you get it all the way to the plastic. and i'm not going for perfect my bike is stunted and crashed so its not ever going to be the best but I don't want it all ghetto either i just smoothed out my tank dent and it came out good but took for ******* ever!!

 

im wth this guy ive painted my bikes several times, i use a buffer pad with a 60 grit to strip the gas tank down to bare metal, the plastics i start out with 160 grit for stripping most of the paint, for me getting the surfaces back to bare matierial will give u the best results, then u gotta sand it down agian with the 320,wipe it down, sand again with a 400, then use the dupont fill n sand, 2-3 coats of that! then depending on wut type of paint ur going to use, u may need to shoot it with an epoxy primer, thats the best resutls for use with house of kolor, but depends on wut type of paint u want. wet sand ur primer with like a 500 or 600 grit, then u start to spray paint, but a bike should honestly take u bout 2 weeks total working on it every day till its done! thats taking a little time to make sure it looks good too, n for the clear coat to cure and b wet sanded!, after that u can do a wet sand and clear coat wet sand and buff up to get that mirror shine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I usually like to sand down either to plastic or close to it. If you don't scuff throught the clear coat, expecially in the tight spots, primer or paint won't stick. you will shoot it and it will look good and as it starts to flash the primer/paint will just seperate from the clear. happened to my buddy and then he ended up sanding all over again back to plastic so i could shoot it for him lol (he ended up putting over 16 hours into sanding)

 

thats exactly how its done...

 

One more tip:

When painting plastic use a light coat of BULLDOG adhesion promoter on top of where you sanded the factory clearcoat. If you go all the way to the plastic then hit that with some primer too.

You can get it at Autozone in a spray can.