Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

What does everyone use for paint that is good on spree/elite plastic body panels. What are your favorites for:

-- Color coat - what is good for body panels that does not chip and can handle flex.

-- Clear coat - As a protective coat and to blend "seams" between colors

I'm looking for a durable paint that handles flex/vibrations well and can be applied via <u>spray can</u> over properly prepped and sanded factory finishes.

Thanks!

,. body color ultra silver.,.make sure to get"fan tips" when u getspray can paint,regular tips sucks.

How does Krylon Fusion do? I've been considering touching up whats left of my plastics. They are getting pretty scraped up from crashing it.

krylon fusion wasn't all that imho - and there are only about 20 colors

i too use duplicolor with excellent results. like edward said - fan nozzles are where it's at if you must use a can. i also prep everything and use an adhesion promoter.

the chrome is a bit blingy for my tastes for the wheels - i prefer the oem silver that duplicolor puts out in their wheel paint line, but to each their own, and it actually looks pretty good with the silver paint on that bike.

the duplicolor paints are also very buffable. i use a power buffer with varying compounds to get the paint down to a mirror finish (when i actually care about the bike i'm working on!)

Cool...I'll go with duplicolor. Looks like they have a lot of specialized paints too. I'll definitely be needing the wheel paint...I'm thinking graphite or black. Going stealth on this one...

Anyone have any experience using their rattle-can clear coat? I'm thinking about using it for another project...

My favorite paint for plastic has been the spray lacquers. I felt lacquer bonded best to plastic. Lacquers were the preffered paint for custom cars and airplanes. Unfortunately lacquers are hard to find now in spray cans. Lowe's American accent spray paints are automotive quality at a real low price for what they are. Usually automotive quality paints are found only at auto parts stores at a hefty price Their plastic Paint bonds extremely well. If they do not have the color you want, use the clear plastic primer. It alows you to use any paint over it.

Stroker,

The Spree is transformed in silver! I am emotinalluy attached to the colour of my red Sprees, but that photo gives me doubt!

Nice prep work; it really looks professional.

Thanks,

RM.

Hehehe. Mine is a little darker metallic grey.

Here go:



Note the matching half shell army style helmet

You should look into a nice metallic red if you want to keep it somewhat stock looking but still jazz it up a little.

I've used the Krylon Fusion with good results. My 2 cents:

Color goes on thin. Plan on 3+ coats.
Use a professional grade plastic cleaner from a professional auto paint shop.
Paint everything at once. The nozzles tend to plug.

The red paint I used has held up well, even on the floorboards. No cracking or peeling.

I used Duplicolor silver wheel/hubcap paint on the wheels. Close color match, and it's a polyurethane, pretty indestructable.

What Suzuki is that in the pic? TS185? TS125?

That dark silver gray is a great colour.

That 1200 degree High Heat silver is a great paint for wheels. It has a ceramic in it which seems to toughen it and it is very shiny. Have used it on wire wheels on a sports car with great success.

Will try some of the suggestions made here. Many thanks for the help.

RM

d*** you're good! Its a '74 TS185. I traded a guitar amp that needed work for a Suzuki that "needed work". Cleaned the carb and off I went.

My Spree feels like a toy after ripping around on the 185.

Have a title? Looks like a cool bike, though I like enduros completely stock (I see you have a few other decals on it). Don't try to paint it; in my opinion, the worst looking stock paint always looks better than the best spray can job. Unless you are going to sand and paint everything original, and use new orignal decals, don't paint the enduro. I've seen a lot of repainted bikes, and they never end up looking too good. On eBay there was a pair of Kawi enduros; a '70s KE100 and a '70s KE175. The 100 was repainted purple, and had flames, and the 175 was repainted metallic green, but the paint the person used wasn't fuel resistant, and you could tell they spilled when filling the tank, since it took the paint right off.

I'm big on vintage bikes. I'd love a dual shock vintage MX racer, or a big 4 stroke enduro (Honda XL500/600, Yamaha XT500, etc). I almost bought a '78 or '79 TS185, but that had an '80s enduro look to it (headlight mini fairing, better suspension, number plates). Overall, I know older Japanese enduros very well. My '84 KLR250 looks very '80s.

Also, my 185 four wheeler feels like it has unlimited accelleration compared to my Elite, and the 185 only does 35ish, and doesn't have any suspension in back. It can't even pull a wheelie.

Im having my motor and carb rebuilt. Then im going to leave the spree the same ugly faded color and put on some more stickers and maybe some dirt.

I say let the thing look like crap and run great. I also live in not such a good neighborhood.