Paint your parts

[tntnj]

How to Paint Can Am Parts for under $100
Things needed to do the job
Try not to Paint on Very humid day or rainy day (Best to paint on 70 + degree day with a 60% or less day humidity)
Paint (base coat and clear coat) (scratches happen web site) $70
Gray scotch bright Fine (600-800) grit (Lowes) $6
Prep Spray (oil and wax remover) (Auto Zone) $13
Clean wax free rags (Walmart)
Gloves (Included in the paint from Scratches Happen) (Your skin absorbs chemicals and it protects oils on your skin ruining from your paint)
A clean dry dust free surface (not outside if possible) Wind, dirt and bugs will get in your paint

REMOVE TO TOP CASE SIDE PIECES
1. remove 3 screws on the side piece, 2 on the top edge 1 by the speaker
2. remove two push pins on the brake light cover
3. pull back a little on the speaker cover
4. GENTLY remove the side cover NOTE: the bottom has a little hook toward the speaker cover

Prepping your piece for paint
1. Put the gloves on, use a micro cloth and spray some prep spray on the cloth (TEST a piece to see if it effects the paint) If it doesn’t go to #2 (If it took paint off STOP) You need to find another wax and oil remover
2. Wipe down the pieces you want to paint (try to handle only the parts that are NOT to painted, your fingers contain oil and will affect the paint (that is why you wear gloves)
3. Get a CLEAN contain of water, wet the scotch bright pad and lightly scuff the painted surface All you want to do is make the painted area dull (Mind the edges don’t cut through the paint)
4. Wipe the parts dry making sure you remove any loose residue
5. Now that the ENTIRE piece is dull you can wipe down the part with Prep Spray
6. Lay the parts on a clean dry flat surface (I like to put my parts on a piece of paper or cardboard)
7. Spray several LIGHT coats of the base coat on your pieces. Be sure to let the paint dry (setup) between coats. To check to see if the paint is dry touch the paper NOT the Painted piece. (Keep the spray about 6 inches away from your parts) NOTE the paint will be dull with no shine until you spray the clear coat. A HEAVY SPRAY WILL MAKE METALIC STREAKS ON YOUR PIECES - GO TO 8 if this happens - SKIP IF PAINT IS EVEN
8. IF you have streaks in your base while painting try to raise your spray about 12 inches and spray fast over the piece to try to even the metallic (This is called dusting)
9. If you are happy with the base coat and it is dry all over to the touch and it is ready for your clear coat Again light coats (make sure the base coat is dry, it will be a uniform color)
10. After your first coat of clear, wait about 5- 10 minutes, On the second coat spray a little slower making sure you do not run your clear coat the third and final coat (5-10 minutes) You want to make the paint look wet (overlap your spray so the clear looks wet and has a shine)
11. Now let it dry and when the paint is no longer tackey you can put it in the sun to dry
12. 24 hours later Install you painted parts
13. If you have a bad area (Like I had) DON’T WORRY, IT CAN BE FIXED - Wait 24 hrs, then sand the area down with the gray pad wet, until smooth, then sand the entire part with the gray, if you break through to the paint spray the small area with color and let it dry the give the entire part 2 coats of clear.

I am not an expert, I used to do body work 30 years ago. If I wrote something wrong, let the readers know.

Note: I tried to add pictures but the site will not let me add more

[Peter Aawen]

.....

Note: I tried to add pictures [B]but the site will not let me add more

The site will, altho for the ease of any potential viewers wanting to read your post/s &/or the entire thread, you should try to limit each individual post to no more than 6 pics per post, as some readers may be viewing on devices that won't even open the thread if the pics in any one post in said thread are too big/too many/take too long for their device to load! So if you want to show more pics, just put the first 5-6 images/files in the first post you put up; submit that so it displays; then put the next 5-6 in the next post; and so on for as many posts in the thread that it might take.... :)

But to add pics, the most useful way is to simply 'Go Advanced' on the 'Post Reply' or 'Post New Thread' text screens, then scroll down past the text box & into the 'Additional Options' fie ld, continuing down until you reach 'Attachments'. Once there, click on 'Manage Attachments' to get to the screen where you can add pics/files from your device/camera, etc, or scroll down to add pics via their URL from other sites. If you keep on scrolling down, it'll show you the pic/file types you can upload and the max sizes for each. ;)

Once you're on the Manage Attachments page, if you click on 'Choose File' it'll ask you where from (your Camera, My Files, or other Files on the device you're on) Select where from (if it's your Camera, it'll need to be the devices built in camera or a camera that's currently linked to your device) so it'll open a page showing all the images/files for you to choose from (you might hafta dig down thru a few directories to get to the right image/file ;) ) then select the desired image or file, and click Done to get back to the Manage Attachments page where your image/file identifier will be shown alongside the 'Choose File' button - REPEAT AS NECESSARY using the next Choose File button in the list (there might be 10 lines there, but please, restrict yourself to no more than 6 if you want everyone to be able to see your post/thread!) and once you've got the images/files chosen, go to the bottom right of that box & click on 'Upload'..... it'll probably take a minute or two, maybe 6 or more, but once the image/file identifiers disappear from alongside their 'Choose File' buttons, they're uploaded and should be listed down below the URL boxes but above the File types/max size details. You can go to the bottom of that page to 'Close this Window', or simply re-open your 'Post Reply/New Thread' page & click on 'Preview Post' to see what it'll all look like when you finally hit 'Submit Reply' to load the post! After that, you can REPEAT AS NECESSARY to upload the next 6 images/files! :ohyea:

By using this method, much of the orientation &/or sizing issues will be taken care of by the vBB system - altho not ALL, you might hafta remember to take your pics in Landscape mode by always dropping the top of your camera LEFT, or Anti-clockwise; and you hafta keep under the max file sizes shown.... BUT, this method doesn't require a separate host site for your pics, cos it uploads the images directly to the Forum, so it's always going to appear & not get lost if your host site demands more fees, changes it's address, or updates its sharing policy.... :banghead: AND, if you keep each individual post to no more than 6 images/files, then there's a good chance that any/all interested members will be able to open the thread & have a read/view the pics, even if it takes them a while to paint up on their small screen devices! :yes:

Sorry about the length of this 'off topic' post in your thread, but it's been posted elsewhere & yet as evidenced byp your note above, many members still have issues/don't realise that you CAN actually post more than one image per post - altho ideally, you'll restrict yourself to no more than 6 image/file inserts per post in as many posts in the thread as you like! This will also help avoid you losing the lot as you try to upload - you'll only ever lose a max of 6, instead of maybe losing them ALL if you press the wrong button/hit a glitch during uploading! Wins all round, even if it takes a little effort on your behalf, which I'm sure will be somewhat less effort than it took to type this lot out! :thumbup:

Do feel free to drop me (or any other Mod) a PM if you have any questions/hassles - same applies to anyone reading this! ;)

Cheers :cheers:

[tntnj]

Here is the before and after:

198744 198745

198746 198747

[tntnj]

198744 198745

198746 198748


Here is the before and after

[tntnj]

198776 198777 198778 THE finished product

[Rednaxs60]

Very nice work. Paint can or spray gun? BRP is not known to divulge its paint codes. is the paint you used the same code as BRP or a close facsimile?

Repainted my ex 1995 1500 GW - Pearl Glacier White including blue accent plastic, during C-19 as well as my '85 Limited Edition Gold Wing - gold and brown metal flake and brown accent pieces. Wanted to try spray guns. The 1500 started off as a small panel repair and paint, but when installed on the bike, made the rest of the plastic look dated and dull, onwards down the rabbit hole I went.

Like you mention, it's only paint, can always start again.

[DGoebel]

I used ScratchesHappen.com to get the matching paint for my '18 RTL Anniversary Edition, so I could paint the plastic "chrome" Highmount Taillight and repaint my front frunk center section that had road chipped a bit.,
198781
198782

[tntnj]

It was a spray can. The paint code are on the bike but I found the paint code online . The clear coat paint is very good quality. What I did find was if you sand down too much you will need to put primer on the area to fix the scratches.
I could not find the correct paint code in the auto paint stores .

[Quickdraw]

Nice job. I put the wrapmyspyder sticker on mine but would rather have had the blue. Then if I wanted to add some decorations, it'd look nicer. I think I'm going to get some paint over the winter and tackle both the top case side panels and maybe the case lid as well.