Wetsanding plastic

[HondaRacing83]

I bought some new graphics and was tearing my stock ones off and its nice and perty and brand new underneath and made me realize how tearable it is everywhere else.. i figured while i had it naked and all stickers off id like wetsand it and buff it and make it brand new before i put my graphics on. thoughts? has anyone else ever done this? how hard is it?

[CJM]

Been there done that, dont do it. Im not sure exactly what kinda plastic they are made of, but no amount of sanding I have ever managed to do has got ridden of scratches. If anything it made it far worse.

You could try and melt them with a heatgun-this I know works. But sanding just creates a mess.

[HondaRacing83]

I know nothing of this, tell me more?

[CJM]

Take a heat gun and carefully melt the plastic. It kinda helps bring the shine back and will remove some scratches cause you melt them.

[HondaRacing83]

ill give it a go

[DragonGunner]

I wet sand on plastic alot, not for the scratches, but just to make it look better. After you get it nice and dull, which is what it will look like when your done and its dry. Then put your graphics on. After that everywhere else put Future Floor Wax in liguid on. Let dry between coats, I usually put a couple of coast on at least. Got plastic on a ATC that was so terriable an dull the red was a faded pink, and got pinker after I wet sanded, put future wax on and it BRIGHT RED, after 2 yrs it still looks like brand knew. Also have done on yellow and white plastic. Best way I have found to make old look like brand new.

[CJM]

What grit did you use Dragon? I tried starting at like 150 and going up to 2000 and I also tried sanding with 600 and going up to 2000-stil made small scratches.

Course the plastic itself was horrible before I started too. Deep gouges and cracks.

Ive also seen someone take a good razor blade and literally shave the plastic. Then melt slightly with a heatgun and it came out nice. I tried that but its time consuming-they did it on a dirtbike which has alot less plastic.

[DragonGunner]

Been using 200 to 600.....keep it wet sand paper....keep it wet. Sometimes I use something courser or blade to get some scratches out, smooth it out, then wet sand. Its kinda scary because it looks like its going to ruin it, it gets so dull. But keep at it and it will start to get smooth and slick....I first tryed this on a small piece, the color of the plastic is all the way through, you could shave alot off and its the same color, and that color will always come come back out. On a side note i used future floor in the Army on my boots...screw the spit shine crap, every friday the 1st Sgt. gave inspection, he liked boots....best boots and uniform got friday off....I had about 60% of fridays off!!! More than anyone...LOL. You use cotton balls and rubbing alcohol to take the wax coat off, buff and re-aply new coat of future......gotta go....wife needs computer.......

[DragonGunner]

This is off my 86' Honda 200X ATC....red headlight cover was VERY faded....worse red plastic I worked with.....

[CJM]

Maybe I didnt keep it wet enough. I was just using water, I think Ill use some soapy water next time.

[Thumpin440ex]

I have done it on a few bikes, it is a pita. It seems that in my exp the honda plastics is the hardest to bring out. Also found that a wool pad and water in a spray bottle has gave me the best results after some wet sanding, scuff/steel wool. I did a set on a DS650 I had and they literally came back to new looking. Had time in it, but it did come out nice..


John

[CJM]

I think Im gonna give it a shot with my 450r plastics. I did score what I thought was a stock rear plastic but its a maier and mounts stupid. Course swapping to white plastics with retro cr gfx would be cool too.