Black plastics

Talking about rear fender, chain guard and airbox. What is the good process for restoring?
Any way plastic can be polished? Or paint?

Bought can of PJ1 black plastic paint which I am thinking on using on airbox. 

What do you do for those parts?

I use a spray called black pack on anything black.  Works great on black plastic,  black vynil,  black paint. Not entirely sure what's in it but it sure works. It lasts a few months but if you make it part of your cleaning schedule it's not an issue. Spray on wipe off.  Simple.  

We use Back to Black, sounds like the same thing as Black Pack. Works great, spray on and wipe off.

I couldn't find PJ1 plastic paint, but if it's for plastic it should be fine.  FWIW, I painted the exterior plastic trim on my Ford Escape w SEM bumper coater >> that was almost 5 yrs ago & it's still intact w no chips or peeling or anything.  The rear bumper cover step gets a bit of abuse but there's not as much as a scratch.  For an airbox & chain guard I would look into the SEM Trim Black located in the Aerospace coatings section of their site.  I don't know how their plastic coatings stand up to solvents which could be an issue on a motorcycle, especially the chain guard.
 

Well, I decided to give it a try (not sure why I typed PJ1, it's VHT) - VHT Duplicolor ESP820007 Black High Temperature Plastic Paint

It's for engine bays, and says UV resistant. So, who knows.. But chain cover looks much better. I will give it a try for fender and airbox.




 

It certainly looks good. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up.

Looks really good Katit, lot's of plastic products are too shiny to look like plastic

wrote:

It certainly looks good. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up.

Thats main question. Also, hard to show on picture, but for some reason top of the guard ended up being more "flat". I painted at night maybe didn't put wet enough last coat. Anyways it looks day and night comparing to what it was.

I have this "back to black" stuff, but I don't really like how it works. You have to reapply it, and it works OK when it's discolored.

In case of this chain guard I spent probably 30 minutes just cleaning crud (underneath mostly), but top had dirt and stuff you can't just wipe off. So I did use some scotch brite pads and obviously scratched plastic.

This paint says NOT to do any plastic primer and not worry about sanding/scuffing. Just clean and degrease. If scuffing - 800 grit. Well, I sanded with 400 lightly and degreased. Paint covered it just fine with 3 coats, even some pre-existing deeper scratches. It smells funky, I assume there is some kind of chemical which fuses to plastic? Will see.

I personally sceptical about painting plastics, but for $15 why not? I don't have better choice, really..

It doesn't look flat/glossy like original, it looks more like modern Honda plastics.

As others said, that chain guard now looks really nice, I'd be delighted with that outcome.

Have you tried a sample to see if it's fuel resistant?

Ian

No, I didn’t try if it’s fuel resistant. 

If you choose to not use paint, a 50/50 mixture of boiled linseed oil and paint thinner gives great results on weathered plastics. It is quite flammable so be cautious with rags etc.  Happy detailing and Labor Day to all.

Plasti-Dip might also be an option:  www.nonpaints.com/en/spray-paints/plasti-dip
Also not fuel-proof sadly.
Ian