Painting an RX-1

[nhrxrider]

Due to the fact that I crashed pretty hard the first season I had my '03, I now have a blue sled with a black hood. Unfortunately when the dealer replaced my seat, they refused to let me change the color, so I can't just paint the tank cover black and call it good. I am trying to decide between just painting the hood the original blue and putting on '04 or '05 graphics, or change the color completely to something that goes well with the blue seat (use blue as a second color in the design). Either way, I need to paint the hood, so I need to know if there is anything special I have to do with this material to paint it. My hood has no damage, so I don't have to deal with that, just remove the decals, scuff it, and paint it. These hoods are much harder plastic than some others, such as 'Doos, so do I need a flex additive, or just shoot it and go? I would actually like to be able to shoot it with a can, since I don't have a great setup for body work. I'm no impatient amateur with spray cans...I get as good of results with a can as most do with a gun...and did my bike this way, which came out great. Anyone have experience with spray can paint on their plastic?

Thanks.
Jim

 

[TopGunn]

Paint is pearl white that would look trick some other color besides what everyone else has make it your own.

 

[Roadrunner]

They do make paint (vinyl dye) that can be used on the blue part of your seat to make it black. If the seat is properly prepped (cleaned) and you use a quality product it should hold up quite well.
You must be pretty good with a spray can if you can match the quality of the factory paint.
The other option is to watch ebay or this site for a totally black seat. Maybe someone who has installed a "Boss" seat will sell you their old one. If you're real lucky, maybe someone will trade you.
If you have to spray it, I would use a flex additive in the paint.

 

[Turbo Tim]

#1 Buy or borrow a gravity feed hvlp spray gun . ( High volume low pressure ).#2 Buy 1 pint or quart of sealer w/ activator , 1 pint of base color of your choice, 1 quart of clear w/ activator ..........Follow directions on label or get a tech sheet.#3 .DON'T DO ANY OF THIS W/OUT GOOD VENTILATION AND A RESPIRATOR FOR PAINT. Flex is not necessary on semi rigid plastics , but it will help in case you roll your sled or crash .
You can do it! The key words you are looking for here when referring to good paint is acrylic urethane. (sealer and clear) basecoat is just color , just be sure you use the same paint line throughout .I use BASF Diamont at my shop..........clean hood and strip decals, use #600 grit and water to prepare for paint....No shiny spots! .Put on 1 or 2 extra coats of clear , and color sand w/ # 2000 grit then polish out with a machine polisher and 3m perfect it polish /compound.finish off w/ perfect it foam pad polishing glaze.