I'm working on a red 2001 Honda XR650l and I'm guessing that the bike has spent a considerable time outside. The fenders are turning white in spots. What is the trick to restoring the color and hopefully some gloss without buying new plastic? I seem to recall something about a heat gun and steel wool. Yes, no??
I'd guess paint or vinyl wrap are the good options, I seriously doubt there's a simple way, odds are the plastic is white under the top coat. Pete
A very soft high speed polishing wheel mounted in a polishing machine using a polishing compound suitable for plastic (blue in the brand I buy) will completely buff out the haziness that's commonly found in head light lens in a car that sits in the sun. It'll buff this out and bring the plastic lens back to new without scratching. So perhaps this might work on other plastic panels. Never tried it.
one of the motorcycle supply companies sold a spray solvent to restore oxidized plastics. I assume it was a fairly strong solvent, probably scary stuff. I haven't seen it in a while though. I saw the stuff work on a old PE Suzuki fender....worked great. Check around the catalogs, might be still available.
I have had luck with using a heat gun on KLR faded plastics. It takes a bit of a touch though, or you can over do it. Just move the gun around on the plastic until it the color start to turn. Don't over it do it or you will end up with something less than what you started with. As with wiping with ArmorAll, the results are temporary. Good luck
I think this is the stuff.... http://www.motosport.com/blog/how-to-make-your-dirt-bike-plastic-look-new-again
They say a heat gun will bring back the color. I go to Cyclegear and get my replacements, plastics are cheap.
start with steel wool (0) go in a straight line and keep the plastics submerged in water, this will take off all the crap, go to (00) and (000) using the same technique. then use 150 grit wet dry sand paper and go in a circle, reduce your grade all the way to 1000 or 1500 depending on how close you want to factory finish. its very time consuming, but gives you back OEM looking fenders.
Kawasaki KLR 250 Plastic Resortation with a Heat : http://youtu.be/o7AbneccV6w Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Somewhere on this forum, I tried and can't find it, is a thread about a guy rejuvenating the fenders on his 4 wheelers. Used something like a 50-50 mix of paint thinner and mineral spirits. From what I remember it was quite successful and did not effect decals or warning labels.
I don't know if it will work on that plastic but meguiars ultimate compound is amazing on headlights. Made some crusty junkyard lights I picked up look new with just a few minutes of rubbing.
I made a video last summer You will need, (1) small pack of gyp knife blades (1) large pack of beer (1) scotch brite pad Paint peels, especially when fuel is spilled on it. Had a KDX200 that the p/o had painted with the Krylon plastic paint, it all bubbled first time a drop of fuel hit it. Heat gun works okay but real easy to burn the plastics. Enjoy <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PMyyOVZ2sw0?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="640"></iframe>
it's simple, but time consuming 1: remove oxidation: the hard part razor blade scrape - only use if it's lots of white/textured oxidation.... skip the scrape if it's not that bad... its very easy to leave gouges in plastic with the scrape if you are not careful... progressive wet sand - 220 -1500+ lots of water, don't let plastic build up on sandpaper, or it will scratch. 2: bring back shine - the easy part 50/50 boiled linseed oil/pant thinner wipe on with soft rag. and let it sit for a while, then wipe off. it takes very little. an ounce of this mixture will do several fenders..... 3: polish rubbing compound/plastic polish/final glaze - 3m 'perfect-it" products work the best, although pricey -a 32 ounce bottle will last a lifetime.. i believe the smallest bottle of the commercial quality is 16 ounce? i last bought the quart bottles of rubbing compouind and final glaze in 2004ish, and have 3/4 of each bottle left at least... or you can use the novus 1/2/3 kit for the final polish etc. it's cheaper... but you really only need the part 2 - fine scratch remover. but i think the 3m products are better... that being said, a new front fender for an xr650l i would assume is $35 or so. i'd be buying a new one if there's any deep gauges in the plastic, as the time it takes to remove deep scratches and the final look is not going to be as nice and easy as new plastic....
Just about all of these will give decent results. When I restored my 1985 XR, the flash red was not offered anymore in replacement panels, so I used PC Racings plastic restore kit and was very happy. Just like all of these other methods, it takes a lot of time and elbow grease to do it right, but all of that chalky mess is gone and the bike still looks shiny a few years later. Good Luck Steve and happy new year!
Sanding is a lot of work, but results are guaranteed. http://www.thumpertalk.com/wiki/_/how-to-restore-vintage-plastic-r5
