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Paint inside of side covers?

briandel

briandel

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2020
Total Posts
752
Total likes
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Location
Kansas City, MO, USA
Hey all, I may be to the point where I might spray my tank and side covers this weekend (CL350). I'm wondering, were the side covers painted on the inside from the factory? It's kind of hard to tell on mine actually; there's a bit of flake inside but I wonder if it's just overspray from the original base coat over a yellowish base plastic. I'm going to be spraying reproduction side covers from RetroCB and, even though they're repops, I'd kind of like to do it as it was originally done. I know no one will know but me but, for whatever reason, it will bug me if I don't... I'm weird that way.

I'm hoping the answer is "no" since having to paint the inside will complicate my setup; I'd have to hang them or something while keeping them oriented as they are on the bike so the flake in the base color will lay out the same as it does on the tank. (I had a friend have his old Falcon painted in a metallic and the shop painted his removed doors laying on their sides - looked absolutely horrible contrasted with the paint on the body...)
 
Hey there! I also have a set of those RetroCB side covers that I'm planning to paint soon.

I have zero experience in painting anything on a bike or any other vehicles for that matter. Wondering, what is your plan to prep them before painting? Anyone else have some advice?

I'm ordering the Hawaiian Blue Metallic from VMR to try and match the original color, and their clearcoat as well. (both rattle cans) So far, my plan is to scuff them up a little with scotchbrite, clean them, then a coat of primer, then the basecoat, then clearcoat. Their guide doesn't mention anything about sanding between coats, so I don't plan to do that unless it says otherwise on the can.

I've read that it's best to use products from the same manufacturer for the various coats, but the only primer I see on the VMR site is an epoxy type, and their guide says something about it being made to apply to metallic surfaces, but doesn't say anything about plastic. Anyone know if it will be OK on the plastic, or should I use something else?

Thanks!
 
I used Omni MP170 epoxy on my tank and Transtar 4603 https://www.amazon.com/Transtar-4603-Gray-2-Primer/dp/B00H2W41X6 on the covers....but what do I know. I was a little leery of the epoxy on that soft plastic too.

To prep the covers, I scrubbed them down good with some Barkeepers Friend to make absolutely sure that there wasn't any mold release agent on them, then scuffed them lightly with a scotch brite pad. The paint seems tight so far, but the bike hasn't had a season of riding to really tell how the painted covers will perform.

I would be interested in others experience too.
 
Yep, clean them really, really well. Mine definitely had quite a bit of mould release agent (or something) that was very apparent when I'd drag a finger across and get it in the light just right. Other than that, I scuffed them up pretty good with 400 grit. As for primer, I did get a can of primer from VMR in my kit (pint cans as opposed to rattle cans) but it was a urethane primer.

As for sanding, I only sanded (400 again) after the primer coat to get a smooth surface for the base to go on.

Seems to have worked well but they haven't been put in use yet... We'll see.

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Hey there,

Wondering if you had to modify the tabs on those RetroCB covers to get them to fit on the bike? I haven't painted mine yet, but tried to put them on and the tabs seem way to big to go into their slots.
 
Whether or not they're oversize, remember to put a little bit of lubricant on the posts before you pop them into the old grommets. Too many sidecover tabs/posts have been broken because they were dry and resisted being popped out of the grommets. I use a small amount of white lithium spray grease, just enough to coat the post with the grommet dry.
 
The tabs on the covers for the CL weren't oversized. In addition to a little lubricant, you might want to get new grommets (they are cheap and might be at your local dealer) as the old ones can be age hardened. Make sure you can get those new covers on and off ok before you paint.
 
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