Painting RGS bodywork

[bigdavergs]

Afternoon all, some advice and opinions please. Had some brake fluid leak from the brake m/c
onto the fairing on the RGS which has lifted the paint from the back edge of the fairing
where it joins the tank. Took it to a painter who specializes in bike work who won't touch it
because of the brake fluid; he says he can't paint over as there will always be some
residual fluid that has soaked into the bodywork. What do you think? Am I resigned to
finding another fairing? Thanks, Dave.

 

[Sporteous]

Had a similar problem after I foolishly used paint stripper on the plastic side covers on my 3CL.
Once I had applied a nice coat of orange paint I came back the next day to find large bubbles where the stripper had soaked into the plastic.
Advice I was given was to use an adhesion promoter for painting plastic parts. Product I used was Flexi Prime by motospray.

http://www.hichem.com.au/htmlfiles/DIY%20auto%20body/pressure%20packs.htm

After using this primer I still got a couple of little bubbles, but not too bad. Probably if I had used a few more coats of the primer I may have avoided all bubbles.

I'm no expert but this worked for me.
Good luck.

 

[bigdavergs]

Many thanks Sporteous, Dave.

 

[Dellortoman]

Brake fluid is hygroscopic, so it binds to water molecules. Wash it well in warm soapy water (soak it if you can) and rinse it well. Then use some prepwash before painting.

 

[Marmite]

Dave,

RGS plastics are made from Bayflex. This is very widely used in industry for machine covers. One of the properties is a fairly high resistence to contaminants (imagine what chemicals are placed or spilt on an industrial printer cover).  Brake fluid is not a normal spillage on this material but, unless it has actually broken down the plastic compound, you should be ok.  Bayflex polishes up to a pretty high shine. If you try this on the damaged area and it doesn't shine up (stays soft), then the fluid has damaged it.

I spoke to my painter friend and he had a very simple idea: clean of off the damage, paint and all. Then give it a spray from a rattle can and wait a couple of weeks. If nothing comes up, your good to go.


HTH

Pete

 

[chrisk]

When you paint it, the Orange it should have been  , if it bubbles, just say it's orange peel effect! 

 

[bigdavergs]

Thanks all, a combination of excellent and 'interesting' advice. Dave.