Prepping my Metric **PLASTIC FENDERS!**

[mascman]

I have done a little prepping on older cars when I was younger, but this is the first time I'm prepping a "plastic" fender. Anyone have tips for a newbie?

I have a Volusia with a black paintjob and factory pinstriping. The tank has clear over it, so I am planning to DA it to get the stripes off.

The fenders are not cleared over the stripes, so I am hoping to be able to peel them off.

My question is, how do I prep these plastic fenders?
I would think a DA may be too harsh...should I just prep by hand?

Also, is there a primer that will work on both? For example, say I have to DA the tank down to bare metal where the stripes are, but the fenders, I can get away with hand sanding. Is there a primer or sealer that I could get to do both?

I'm not in the paint biz so I don't want to buy too many different supplies if I don't have to.

Any and all help will be appreciated! Don't be afraid to "oversimplify" your answers as I want to learn whatever I can.

 

[Jim]

My Buddy Has the same bike,the stripes on the fender comes off easy.You should be able to sand the stripes off the tank without going to metal.I would wetsand with 600 or everything smooth,seal it and go.Some guys wouldn't even seal it.But,I feel it's better for adhesion.Jim

 

[mascman]

Thanks for the reply.

A question about sealer...as long as I don't go to bare metal, I can just use a sealer right? Is primer only necessary when painting bare metal?

Also, you say use 600 and seal after that. Does the sealer not fill in like a regular primer? I thought you would need something a little rougher to give the paint something to bite into, or does the sealer chemically bond to the paint?

 

[Jim]

Yes!and it's really called primer/sealer.It's pretty thin and no,it doesn't fill very much.It makes the surface one even color and aids in adhesion.When I have a patch panel or whatever bare metal,I use either an etch or epoxy primer,Etch is insurance against rust and I put a 2K primer over it because,it doesn't fill much.Epoxy just plain sticks to everything and is thicker,good stuff!
600 will work fine for adhesion,you can go with 400 but you may get some sand scratches.I don't think anything will chemically bond with old paint.But that doesn't mean it won't stick well.jim