Reducing Scars on My Fairing?

[Evan]

I was told by a fellow VentureRider that it is not if, but rather when my VR will go over. Well, it did recently, and left some minor scars on the corner of the fairing. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can make these scars that you can see in the pictures less visible without repainting the fairing?

[Jayceesfolly]

Evan:

 

How about stick on pin stripes or decals of your favorite sports team? There are a lot of sites on the Internet to buy every kind of decal you can think of.

Or add a contrasting color in that area of the fairing. How about a gloss black color, spray painted in a free form shape to cover the scratches? Do both the left and right sides of the fairing, so it looks balanced.

I'm sure someone else has more ideas.

 

Jim

[escheue]

I have the same color bike and did the same thing on the left side. I did a light sanding with fine sandpaper used a small tube of filler to build it up to the right shape and bought some spray touch up paint that was a close match. You cant tell it was damage unless you know where it is and look really close. I am not a paint and body guy so if you are good at handy work you can do it.

[tz89]

Every time I start sanding or painting I learn something. Mostly I learn that I should not have used any kind of sanding if I wasn't going to paint.

 

Most recently I posted some pictures after I went down. For that fix up I used some touch up paint followed by some clear coat touch up. Next time I have to try touch up I'm going to figure out a way to thin the paint with something that won't dissolve the abs. Any suggestions?

 

When I looked at your pictures, the first thing that came to mind was a colored crayon, maybe a cheap one, or a good one from an art store. Get the color close or a little bit darker. Fill in and buff. Does anyone think that would work even if it had to be redone regularly?

[Marcarl]

Ouch,,,,, now that it happened, do you feel better,, like more with the in-group?

[Evan]

--- When I looked at your pictures, the first thing that came to mind was a colored crayon, maybe a cheap one, or a good one from an art store. Get the color close or a little bit darker. Fill in and buff. Does anyone think that would work even if it had to be redone regularly?

 

Comments appreciated, including this comment from Tom. I did something similar to what Tom mentions to reduce the visibility of a scar on my saddlebag lid. But instead of using a colored crayon, I used some nail polish that was a good color match. It definitely helped on the saddlebag lid, but I would have liked the result more if the nail polish had been a thinner. Also, I think it would be much more difficult to do a good job with nail polish on the side of the fairing because I couldn't work with in a flat position like I could the saddlebag lid.

[Oldseadog]

Evan, You idea about nail polish made me think of this. Try one of the colormatch paint pens from Duplicolor. They are available at Canadian Tire, and available in almost every colour. They have a brush on one end and a pen on the other. Not very expensive either.

 

Bill

[alwrmcusn]

What I did.....

Two weeks after I bought the bike new I let it go just past the point of "Oh Sh*%, hang on sweetheart!!" Some minor scratches on the right side of the fairing.

Bought new fairing front (mega bucks!!)

Stereo problems later required removing the fairing front by the dealer. I found out I should NOT have used Loctite to put the new fairing front on the bike. (very salty naval language in copious amounts!)

Put the old scratched fairing front back on. I had the bike triked a couple of years later and now I have....

1. "How did you get those scratches on a trike, question. I've met several new friends over the explanation

2. I now consider those scratches to be my "P.A.R." (Pay Attention Reminder)

I have no intention of fixing the scratches or replacing the fairing front. The way I see it is that I allowed the problem, I should enjoy the consequences

[spitfire9]

My left replacement fairing (my drop crunched my fairing against my other bike) has a very similar scratch to the one yours has on the edge. I was thinking about some kind of stick-on plastichrome to trim out both sides along the edge, but haven't had that aha! moment yet. Still keeping my eyes open for the right trim or stickers. More chromey bling on a loaded VR can't be a bad thing, can it? :wink:

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

I think Tom and Evan are on the right track, colored crayon..... But the crayon you use may be the key. I have never done this but in my mind it will work. Because you have one of the so called fast color bikes, you can go to a GOOD lumber yard that select finishing products and they will have crayons to fill wood nail holes and such. I think you will be able to get a crayon that will greatly reduce the visibility of the scratches. No sanding or painting, the most I would do once you have a good match would be to polish with Pledge after. That is how my mind sees it, let me know how far out to lunch I am if you try it.

 

at times by my own thoughts

[BlueVenture87]

if you can't catch your fingernail in it you can usually buff it out. A power wheel with a variable speed trigger is best. I use a Milwaukee 9" grinder / polisher and 3m finesse-it. If you want to do it at home and are bufferless, you can use 3M finesse-it on a cloth but this can be work. Don't use the light tan polish in a can, it's too coarse and the result will be a hazy shine. Most of the fine grit stuff is white in color. Like I said, a power buffer is nice but I still tape off any sharp-radius corners on bodywork as the polisher on an edge will cut the paint right off. I watched a paint guy at Maaco polish out a light scrape on my pickup this way and it took him less than 10 minutes from the desk to when I was out the door so it shouldn't cost much at all to get it done. He went right for the fine grit right away and didn't work through any grit sequence. This is especially useful if the goal is to reduce the damage and not eliminate it as the area around the damage already has a shine and there might not be much paint thickness left to work through grits.

 

Best

 

-JK

 

A post from 2012, Guess I need to step away from the screen... -JK

Edited September 28, 2013 by BlueVenture87
commented on a 2012 post...

[Flyinfool]

A couple of options.

1. drop it on the other side so both sides match and you can say it is supposed to be like that and then send in 2 $5 dropped bike donations.........

 

2. Get some touch up paint to match for the deep parts and then buff it to blend.

 

When I was shopping for my bike I looked at around a dozen, every one had the right top corner scraped off. I just assumed it was supposed to be like that........

[SummerBreeze]

Might try going to a local sign making shop and ask if they can match the color or use gloss black on each side to match with a piece of material like they use do do wraps on NASCAR's. Then you could lightly sand with say 1000 grit to remove any rough edges and do peel and stick.

[dna9656]

If you are going to spray paint get a RESPIRATOR with the proper filters. If you're going to sand use your respirator and the proper filter.

I cleaned the surface with alcohol, I scuffed the (320 wetordry wet) surface up for tooth, I sprayed epoxy primer on it; 2 double coats. I sanded the resulting orange peel. I used Rustoleum's Black enamel ($8.00? @ Wal-Mart; because the acrylic automotive paint was $104.00 per quart & you have to buy the thinner for it and you SHOULD buy the hardner too) I thinned it with xylene because mineral spirits evaporates too slowly and will give you sags and runs. I bought a can of "Japan Drier" at the Sherwin Williams store after several tries getting runs and sags even with the xylene.

Lot of info huh?

So the expoxy was a chem. barrier to the problem you guys had, maybe I could have used a sealer (Ditzler 1980s) I don't know. I do know what I did worked.

Questions? PM always welcome.

[Yammer Dan]

Thee are some chrome covers for those corners. I have a set that are rusted pretty bad. Hard to find.

[Peder_y2k]

Safety reflector tape......... yellow with black stripes, as if you are improving night visibility markings.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

[Hard Likr]

I just picked my new to me 92. I picked it out because all of the plastic is intact. I have been buffing some of the scratches out in a variety of areas and the corrosion off of the handlebars and engine casings. I have had super luck with Maguires Rubbing Compound and a wool pad with my drill. Some of these were the type that you could feel with your fingernail so I feel vey lucky. You can't see any sign of them now. I have similar edge grinding to do on the top dash edges. I am going to try the same procedure. But once done I was thinking about using some Air Conditioning tape; it looks chrome like and is extra sticky. Also I have seen gyp wall corner edge guards in clear plastic with built in tape that I thought could go over and provide a minimal amount of future protection. When done I will try to post a pic.

[djh3]

I have thought about if say it was the front fairing and was all nicked up, maybe a wrap?

[dna9656]

You can get a piece of the ABS you want to paint and test the different thinners on it for compatibility. Yamaha painted (or had them painted) the fairings so SOMETHING is out there that works. Check my prev. post. To thin fingernail polish (see prev. post by others) you can use FNP (fingernail polish remover), My Theory: FNP could be lacquer; my reasoning: it dries fast and you can later liquify it (lacquer) with lacquer thinner. It might be that FNP is enamel and it's remover is so hot (powerful) it dissolves it (like MEK does to enamel) I don't really know. We do need to know if FNP is lacquer or enamel, then you can go from there. To polish you can get REALLY sine sandpaper, it'd available in 800, 1000, 1200, and maybe 1400 grit. Fingernail polishing sticks (used to polish unpainted finger nails) have some of these grit ratings and to me if it's fine enough to polish a finger nail to the same reflectivity as polished paint (they do trust me) it's a safe bet you can use the same grits on the bike.

To re-cap: I used epoxy primer (thinned with lacquer thinner) to prime an after market ABS "bucket" on my road star and I had no problems with the enamel I painted over the primer. Over scratches you can do this with un-thinned primer and the primer will fill most if not all the finer scratches. I use ABS pipe glue to repair and fill deeper cracks and scratches but if it's this bad you'll be sanding, priming, sanding over and over till you get an absolutely blemish free surface but keep in mind the final primer-ed surface should be sanded with no finer than 400 to 600 grit so the paint you put on will have a "profile" (tooth) to help it stick, the paint will fill any 400 grit scratching. The decals are a good idea and the guards are too if you can find them in a complementary shape...but that's subjective of

course.

[videoarizona]

 

I went to WalMart and bought these craft touchup paints in craft area. $.50. So far I haven't matched color perfectly. Trying different mixes of colors. May just go with the black on right on both sides.....

[djh3]

Fingernail polish to my knowledge is Lacquer. they do make body filler now that has "flexible" properties. I dont think you want to try to patch a fairing that has a big crack in back together, but some imperfections it should be fine.