[17A]

Yesterday I was on the maiden voyage of my brand new Grizzly. To make a long story short, my friend's XMR 1000 did a nice job of scratching and gouging my gorgeous brand new green plastics all the way down my left front and rear side plastics when I was stopped and he was passing me on a tight trail. Now my brand new bike looks like I rolled it onto rocks on the left side........Fak. Is there anyway of buffing that out short of getting new front and rear side plastics?

 

[Spheno]

I harpooned a tree sticking into the trail about a foot off the ground and smashed my front left fender plastic. So I zip tied it and since it was already broke, I added some beer holders on my fender

 

[17A]

Would a heat gun help with the heavier scratches?

 

[Scoundrel]

People have used heat guns for that before, yes. Sandpaper to get the scratches out and then heat gun to restore the gloss. It won't be 100%, but it will be a lot better.

 

[17A]

People have used heat guns for that before, yes. Sandpaper to get the scratches out and then heat gun to restore the gloss. It won't be 100%, but it will be a lot better.

Ok thanks Scoundrel, I will give it a shot.

 

[DiggaDave]

Battle scars chick's dig battle scars.....always a good story behind every scratch lol

 

[mainehunter]

Yesterday I was on the maiden voyage of my brand new Grizzly. To make a long story short, my friend's XMR 1000 did a nice job of scratching and gouging my gorgeous brand new green plastics all the way down my left front and rear side plastics when I was stopped and he was passing me on a tight trail. Now my brand new bike looks like I rolled it onto rocks on the left side........Fak. Is there anyway of buffing that out short of getting new front and rear side plastics?

That sucks!

 

[mainehunter]

That sucks!

I got to thinking. So how about if you start out with say, 220 grit sandpaper to get the deepest scratches out, then go 320, then, 400 grit, then maybe to rubbing compound with a rag, it might polish right up. You might have to go to 600 before the rubbing compound. A new coat of SC-1 and it may be nearly as good as new. Take you're time and I bet that would come out nice. I have been polishing stainless steel to a "shaving mirror" finish for 35 years. Doing plastic is the same concept, you just have to go slower to not build up heat, and experiment a little to get the right grits. The final buffing compound we use on stainless is 1500 grit, about the same as rubbing compound. It's just with metal, you can apply it with machines and buffing wheels.

 

[mainehunter]

Oh, and do this by hand sanding, any regular sander will go too fast, build up heat, clog the sandpaper, smear and melt/burn the plastic, and then it's wrecked. With a power sander, this can happen in mere seconds, trust me, I tried it once when I was young and foolish! Ha, Ha!

 

[Scoundrel]

Not sure how plastic polishes compared to steel, but there are lots of YouTube videos showing heat guns restoring a nice shine and bringing color back to lightly scratched and faded plastics. After the sandpaper, polishing compound might get you there as well, but if not, the heat gun will finish it off nicely.

 

[mainehunter]

Certain plastics polish out quite well. That's how those plastic headlight restoration kits work. But, atv fenders are pretty flexible, which means soft, so care would have to be taken and go at it slowly with patience. I did some on an old Honda 4-trax I had, it worked pretty well.

 

[RedRocket]

Don't the 16+ Grizzly fenders also have the textured plastics near the edge of the fenders like previous years?

 

[17A]

Thanx Scoundrel and MaineHunter for the excellent advice. I think I will try the sandpaper 1st and then the heat gun to finish it off.

Below are a couple of pics of the damage. If my quad was a year or two old it probably would not be a big deal but just picked it up the other day.

The pictures don't look as bad as they really are.

 

[DirtDawg...]

Agree with plastic being relatively soft for flexibility vs brittle with cracks or breakage resulting from trail carnage. A nice aspect of my 17 Grizz SE is the matte silver finish, with no worries about gloss. Also easier to respray small areas if needed over time...

 

[guipago]

You could always mask off the area & spray the sides with a flat black to cover the scratches if nothing else works for ya.

 

[17A]

You could always mask off the area & spray the sides with a flat black to cover the scratches if nothing else works for ya.

Thanx. I have not done anything yet to it. Been riding alot of riding getting the breakin period done.

 

[rhino_343]

I've been thinking of covering my entire plastics with Line-X ... no more scratch worries and way stronger

 

[mainehunter]

I've been thinking of covering my entire plastics with Line-X ... no more scratch worries and way stronger

I bet that would be mighty bad a-- looking, and tough as nails too. It wouldn't have to go on in as thick a layer as in a truck bed either I would think.

 

[17A]

I've been thinking of covering my entire plastics with Line-X ... no more scratch worries and way stronger

I have no idea what that is or how it goes on, but it sounds interesting.

 

[okbear]

I have no idea what that is or how it goes on, but it sounds interesting.

Line-X is a spray in bedliner product. They are a national chain here in the US.
http://www.linex.com/us/okc-line-x-F0963