changing color of the sidepanels ?

[ride -4-fun]

i have read a couple of people talking about changing the color of there plastic.are you worried at all about adhesion of the paint to the plastic ,i would like to change all the black on my fx nytro to blue but i worry about it sticking to plastic.i havent seen a nytro up close yet , but i am thinking that it is a textured plastic ?. i work in a body shop and have seen paint not stick to the textured plastic so well .i was just wondering what you all thought and how you were doing yours. thanks

 

[NOS-PRO]

Painted my Attak in Oct. 05 from new. 4,000 miles of jumping, rough trails, asphalt racing, putting stickers on and off, and still looks amazing.

 

[ride -4-fun]

what paint system was used to paint it ? i just worry about the tight trails with the tree and bushes..

 

[NOS-PRO]

Sorry ride-4-fun, just saw this thread that you posted after my post, and can say the paint on mine is holding up great for the abuse it has gone thru. The brand of paint used was Sickins, and the primer is actually bonds to the plastic. Paint it, then lots of flex in the clear.

My panels are piling up right now, and should be painted very soon.

 

[ride -4-fun]

thanks nos-pro i have decided to paint mine,talked to the paint rep today.

 

[NOS-PRO]

Thinking of doing something really differnt this year, and hope you guys like the look of it when the Nytro RTX is done.....

 

[nate007]

I don't have any flex in my paint, but if you use a poly-urethane, you shouldn't need any for the type of plastic the Apex panels are made of. I used House of Kolor, I sanded all the texture off starting with 80 grit, and ending up with 180 before my first coat of adhesion promoter and epoxy primer. Lots of auto parts are made of very similar materials, adn its all in the prep and paint material choice.
I currently have over 1200 miles of ditch banging, hard weed ridden miles on mine and not hardly a scratch. You'd be on your best game to pay particular attentionto the recessed holes in the lower panes (dremel with a sanding drum) to be sure they are cleaned and properly sanded.

 

[nate007]

NOS-PRO, did you do your paint work yourself?

 

[ride -4-fun]

i'm not going to sand the texture off , painting over it .your right nate prep is the most important part of a paint job.

 

[nate007]

If you don't take the texture off, or at least sand into it aways before primer, you probably wont like the results. I think I speak for the other guys who have painted sleds, they al have taken at least 80% of the texture off before priming. A good, high build epoxy primer will fill quite a bit of the texture, but IMO, you would be pushing the limits on thickness by the time you fill the texture. If you have the thickness too high, your risk of peeling goes up significantly! Take the time to remove it!!! A d/a sander with 80 grit and about 1/2 hour per panel will go along ways!

 

[ride -4-fun]

im not looking for the plastic to be smooth ,i just want the panels to be all blue and not black.all i am doing is clean the plastic with a cleaner,scuff the plastic with a special spounge ,spray it with a adhesion promoter ,then just put base color on and then clearcoat.i'm using PPG paint products.

 

[skidooboy]

he's not suggesting removing the texture for cosmetic reasons. he is telling you for quality of work and longevity of "repair". even with adhesion promoter use if you do not have proper prep you will not get adhesion.

the name in itself should tell you it is not a be all end all product. adhesion "promoter", doesnt mean it will adhere, just means it will help adhesion with proper prepping.

you need to rough up the inner lines of the texture which you cannot get to without significantly removing that texture.

you need to start with a good substrate to get a good top coat. if you short cut the prep process, your final product and finish will not be as good nor last as long as you would like it to.

then your cost just became proportionally higher due to the need for reprep repaint, or new panels and starting over, due to a failure of the final product.

this is comming from a 25+ year member of the collision repair industry. do it one time and do it right. you will be alot happier with the results. good luck and report your final product. love seeing personalized sleds. ski

 

[nate007]

I don't know if you can find the right color you're looking for, but most full-line hardware store are now selling spray-cans made just for plastic. I used a can of it to freshen up an old plastic patio table, and it actually looked pretty good!
Just an idea if you want something easy..

 

[ride -4-fun]

ive got the sled home now and seen it for the first time.the plastic doesnt have much for texture at all.not sure what i want to do ,doesnt look to bad in person ... i'll figure it out,i was painter now i do metal work ..

 

[NOS-PRO]

NOS-PRO, did you do your paint work yourself?

Nope, bodywork is not my thing, and I can truely say "I don't have the patience for it"

The body shop here quoted me a price, I gave him the panels, and told him what I wanted done. I knew I would be "possibly" putting nicks and scratches in it from off-trail and juming, along with the asphalt racing stickers, so I only had them sand smooth where the blue on chrome stickers were going to be. All the work was done by them, sanding, preparing, priming, painting, and clearing. All I had to do was install when done. They even painted the screws. All that for just under $500.

The Nytro will have more sanding, but they said it shouldn't cost anymore than he quoted me. Will be a little more with the nytro, due to 4 more panels, but still under $1,000.