Painting a sidecover

Tried to do a search on this but my spotty internet on my phone isn't co-operating

The RH sidecover fell off while riding on the weekend managed to score one from a local salvage place but it's Red and my bike is Silver.

What's the easiest way to remove/reattach the emblem and can anyone reccomend a rattle can that would match the original silver? Also do I have to prime and clear coat?

Many thanks

Take your other side cover to a professional automotive paint store and see if they can use their equipment to custom match the color. The stores around here will also put it in a "rattle can" for you. Won't be cheap as going to Wal-Mart but it will be automotive grade paint and won't be that expensive.

Sand off old finish down to the base coat. No need to sand to the bare material.
Prime yes
Clear coat yes

Sorry forgot about the emblem question.
No matter how it's held on, once the paint and clear coat have dried for a couple of days, you can re-attach with pro quality double sided tape.

If it has some posts and push nuts holding it on, carefully try to remove the "nuts" and lift off the emblem. If it's glued on you can apply heat from heat gun or hair dryer and take a piece of thin fishing line to get under the emblem and saw it off.

If the emblems have the push/lock washers, you can score/cut them with a dremel cutoff wheel, then pry them off ---- the old rusty fasteners should crumble. To reattach them I cut threads into the posts & used nylon lock washers plus a small dab of silicone caulk as a just in case (credit to skyman for the thread cutting idea).

Good idea about the thread cutting. I'll give that a try next time. I used small washers that fit tightly over the nubs along with a big dab of silicone.

Those stock-type push/lock washers are available at hardware stores, but I had a bear of a time prying off the old ones on the first try, so there's no way I'd ever use anything like them to reinstall the emblems. doh.

+1 to cutting the original lock washers from the emblem post. Sometimes the post can break off trying to remove them.

If you can find a silver close to the current color, just repaint both side panels. Even if the color is a shade off it's not right next to the original paint like a car door/fender. Since the side panels are not prone to having gas/chemicals on them you can use off the shelf Duplicolor clear coat. For a more durable finish use a urethane clear like Spray Max.

Replace the side panel grommets and install a hitch pin through one of the mounting tabs so it wont hit the pavement again.

I used these small nuts to resecure my 900 emblems. DO NOT USE PAINT REMOVER on your side covers! Lightly sand the cover and feather out any damage.

someonewakeuphicks wrote: can anyone reccomend a rattle can that would match the original silver? Also do I have to prime and clear coat?

Have you looked on Amazon for the correct paint? If not, find the paint code and/or proper name and try a search. There are a couple vendors on there who sell the correct paint for my GPz (Firecracker Red) and a whole slew of Kawasaki racing green variants. I've never looked for silver but it's worth a shot.

It will be more expensive than an off-the-shelf rattle can but it will be correct.

And it seems like Krazy Glue would work to attach the emblems but I haven't tried that yet.

I had to go down to the plastic.
Steve

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