Gee oh Dee

I got a smokin deal on an older sport bike. Runs great, just a bit abused cosmetically.

I have a complete set of fairings for the bike, I've just gotta do the sanding and painting, which shouldn't be an issue.

Does anyone have suggestions for sanding, though? I'd rather not do it all by hand. And what grade sand paper should I use?

Keep in mind its plastic, not metal.

Kuro89

Painting Plastic fairings is a PITA, and it is real easy to do a crap job. You should cruise around a motorcycles forum for some tips

nukinfuts29

From experience i can tell you that you should REALLY do it by hand. Do the entire thing using wet sanding, and start at 800 grit, then 1000, then 1200 till you have a great and smooth surface. Any lines, scratches, etc are going to come through in the paint so do you're best to get it smooth.

Wet sand with 1200 after every coat of primer, and the first coats of paint.

Gee oh Dee

It doesn't need to be perfect. Im just tryin to "flip" the sale for some fun and extra cash.

But the advice is appreciated.

nukinfuts29

If thats the case sand it by hand, dry, with 1,000 grit then spray the primer. Wet sand it with 1200, then spray another primer coat. On top of that spray the paint, wet sand with the 1200, then spray another coat of paint and clear the crap out of it. Some buffing and a coat of wax later it's good for sale.

1996XJSport

I'm restoring an old 80s Honda CX500 Turbo with a few friends in Auto Shop right now actually. It has only 41 original miles and was a stolen recovery that got donated to the vocational training school I go to. It was laid down, beaten up, and had different colors of spray paint all over it. We're working on all the plastics right now too. To sand it down, we used fine spaced wire brush attachments on pneumatic cutoff tools. It worked pretty well and didn't scar the plastic up at all. We're working on painting it all gloss black to make it a street fighter bike. It'll be sick!