What do you do for Gas Splash on plastics?? New bike - damaged paint!

[LesGrossman]

Hello...

I'll assume other Can-Am Spyder owners have splashed some gas on their Spyder when filling it up?

I had a gas splash while filling up and I cleaned the fuel off within 15 seconds... I even washed it off the right-hand service panel and wiped it dry with a microfiber towel.

2hrs later, I saw what you can see in the pic.

Dang!! Is this normal for Can-Am painted plastics? Only had the Spyder for 2 weeks now. :banghead:

The paint is jacked. It wrinkled and cracked near the thumb screw, and deep stained it everywhere else the gas touched it. I used a DA polisher on it too. No success.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

The black access panels are a pain in the butt. I just ended up spray painting mine due to all of the scratches and blemishes it was getting.


I used a Behr interior/exterior metallic blue from home depot. Prep by cleaning with alcohol; cover the latch with petroleum jelly using a qtip so the paint does not stick to it.

Then spray about 4 light coats about an hour apart. Clean the petroleum jelly off the latch with a dry qtip making sure not to get any on the painted surface.

After a couple days of curing and a nice long ride to get some heat under it and bake it in, soak it with some graphene wax and buff it out.

Pretty much bullet proof now against minor scratching and blemishes as compared to the standard paint. If you are worried about paint being permanent you can always go with some plastidip spray and just peel it off when you don't like it.

Also a lot cheaper at $9 a can compared to the $40-$50 that some websites want just for access panel decals.

With the way your panel is cracked it may be good to sand it down and prime it before going to the painting steps so you get a nice even coating.

 

[BigPoppa]

I keep a shop towel in my F3 Limited's "glovebox" specifically for gas pumps in case they don't have paper towels. I always wrap the nozzle in something as I remove it to keep from splashing residual fuel on the bodywork.

 

[K80Shooter]

I always take a folded-up paper towel and place it under the nozzle when I fuel up just in case of a burp/overfill.

 

[FrogmanDave]

That damage is crazy from just a gas splash. Very surprising that your paint is that soft. I knew Spyder's had soft paint but that is ridiculous.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

That damage is crazy from just a gas splash. Very surprising that your paint is that soft. I knew Spyder's had soft paint but that is ridiculous.

:agree: .... I've actually used gas to remove , grease , tar etc. .....paint looked fine afterwards .....Mike :thumbup:

 

[seagravesg]

I put black microfiber 'wrap' on both access panels. Keeps marks from happening AND I like the look better than the shiny paint....presents a nice contrast and will not streak or spot.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

That damage is crazy from just a gas splash.

Yea, from the pattern of damage it looks like a pretty good amount of gas was splashed on it and it ran over to the side.
It had to be a good bit to get the paint to crack. I have had drops hit the tank and panels and never had that happen with wiping it off right away.

 

[Peter Aawen]

That damage is crazy from just a gas splash. Very surprising that your paint is that soft. I knew Spyder's had soft paint but that is ridiculous.

I'd guess that it ended up so bad cos the paint is so new - he's only had the bike for 2 weeks, and the story is that these modern water-based paints take something over a month of exposure to sunlight for the paint to properly harden!! :shocked: Some paint guru's even say THREE months!! :lecturef_smilie:

So don't wash it; don't spill gas on it; don't let any birds crap on it; and don't let any bug splatter stay on it either; not for at least that first month (or three!) after un-crating!!

Sorry, that probably doesn't help you too much now, Les... pps: But for whatever it's worth down track, or for anyone else... :dontknow:

 

[LesGrossman]

Thanks for the replies... No matter what tricks I tried with buffing and polishing, I couldn't correct the paint. Needless to say, I was disappointed in the quality of the paint (and clear coat, if there was any).

Thankfully those service/access panels are relatively cheap. $20 for each side, and they are gloss black. They were not hard to find online. I purchased mine through Fox Powersports; and I received them about 10 days later.

All I had to do was to remove the twist lock from each panel and install them on the new panels.

Good to go now... $40 lesson learned. Be careful when fueling up.

 

[FrogmanDave]

Good to go now... $40 lesson learned. Be careful when fueling up.

That is good to hear. Hopefully some others won't have the problem you did after reading this.

 

[johnv50]

If this should happen to anyone else and you decide to paint it, the latches just pop out and back in again

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

If this should happen to anyone else and you decide to paint it, the latches just pop out and back in again

Cool thing to know the latches pop out for the next time, I wasn't trying to risk breaking them.

 

[spyderladyf3]

l always get at least three good sized pieces of the paper towels that are at the pumps before l start filling the tank and l keep them close and wipe the nozzle completely as l take it out of the tank. l haven't spilled any doing that..

 

[Cobranut]

I wrap the nozzle with a couple of the blue paper towels at the gas pumps before I start fueling.
That way any splash-back gets caught by the towel, and I use them when removing the nozzle to catch any drips.
It also keeps the nozzle off the edge of the aluminum flip open bezel.

I agree though, the paint should be more durable than that.
Ethanol in fuel is much harder on paint than pure gasoline, however.

 

[rjinaz86323]

The paint shouldn't be new since according to his profile it is a 2021. I would wonder what had been done to it before he bought it.

 

[Woodenfish]

To me it looks like a chemical reaction took place between the gasoline and whatever treatment products might have been applied to that plastic prior to the spill.

 

[Peter Aawen]

Juuust bear in mind people, that the original post in this thread was put up about a year ago...

Looking at post #10 from 28 April last year, where he stated that he had new panels and all he had to do was to swap the latches across, I really think that Les resolved this to his satisfaction back then and has moved on with his life & Spyder ryding.

 

[TheMariner]

To me it looks like a chemical reaction took place between the gasoline and whatever treatment products might have been applied to that plastic prior to the spill.

Close....

Those panels are manufactured from PC+ABS plastic. Look on the back & you'll see >PC+ABS< marked. The PC part is Polycarbonate... a strong material that is somewhat chemically resistant but can be scratched & is somewhat difficult to mold. Blending ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) with it reduces its strength a bit, adds a bit to it's toughness (due to the 'nitrile' bit which is a form of rubber), makes it easier to make a nice shiny surface finish and maker it easier to mold.

The downside is that ABS is extremely sensitive to degradation by alcohols & gasoline (amongst other solvents), which is what I think has happened here. I strongly believe those panels are 'molded in color' and not painted post-mold, so the gasoline has damaged the plastic itself by attacking the ABS.

This topic is old but I thought I'd post this to make people aware about the vulnerability of those highly visual body panels.