Polishing Motorcycle Plastic Tricks

[@Brettyification]

Thank you, i just used your methods to restore the tank on my It 250k and it worked very well, shiny as new again.

[@junkyardhemi]

Very nice. New plastics for my LT500R are almost $800. $15 in sandpaper and a buffer sound much better.

[@caseydecocker1]

junkyardhemi rite!!!

[@ZRR98]

By far the best video on how to restore old dirt bike plastics!

[@marcus828171325]

Thank you very much for this how to! I was wondering how to make my year 2000 Suzuki DRZ 400 look better, the plastics had gone all porous from the uv damage and this worked a treat! looks great already and I still havnt buffed them up with the polishing wheel. cant wait to see the final product. thanks again !

[@JMKady76]

Good video, the razor blade is what I've been missing! I spent 2-3 beers sanding on my Tri-moto plastic last night fighting with that chalky layer.

[@anthonybaltera6556]

You can actually hear in the shaving when you start to hit healthy, polish-able plastic. Thanks for the tips. Liked and Subbed

[@2stroke4me]

This is great, i wanted to restore my old MTX to it's former glory but the scratched plastics were holding me back. Thanks so much for sharing :)

[@brandonquenneville7330]

Being the asshole that i am online. I have to like this dude videos. He is helpful to us all.

[@groutaone]

Brandon Quenneville Thanks for being a nice guy here, I appreciate you watching

[@mikejones-qk2ou]

Good Job! I tried the sanding and didn't get good results! So after sanding I tried 000 extra fine STEEL WOOL with Johnsons past wax and rubbed off, then added more wax and buffed with the buffing wheel and got FANTASTIC results on my Honda XR200R!

[@liamobrien4487]

I have a xr80r

[@henrik7966]

If you have a look at my dirtbike on my channel you will see I have pretty bad plastics... I have some steel wool. I've heard this works pretty good. Any suggestions?

[@onewaywolf3530]

Thanks for sharing this technique! I also worked out, if you are moving along the plastic from left to right to have the drill spin in reverse or vice versa. You don't need to hold the buffing wheel at an angle either. Keep it 90 degree's. Just let the buffing cloth "kiss" the plastic whilst moving slowly down the piece giving it enough time to do it's job. Best to be in full sunlight to see better results! If you feel the buffing wheel grab slightly you're pushing too hard! Just lightly brush over it in one direction ONLY!! Not back and forth motion. If it grabs and leaves a mark hold the buffing wheel over the mark with very light pressure checking it until it's gone. To really make it shine, spray on Mequiars Ultimate Quik Wax - with hydrophobic polymer technology and let it soak in. Maybe a couple of coats. Then use a microfiber cloth ONLY to finish polishing! The end result will amaze you!! :)

[@danielcooper5767]

Very nice DIY, plastic can be a real difficult thing to work with and proper time and prep has amazing results!

[@gedionsamuel2256]

Extremely useful information on scratched plastics in general! Thanks

[@bobtaylor3281]

Great video. This is exactly what I have discovered as well. Just wish I had seen this video a couple months ago when I had tackled an ATV plastic project for my son.

[@jean-francoisbrousseau2485]

Thanks, I have quit a few wear and tear on my KLR 2009 and now I know exactly how to fix it over the winter. Thanks man.

[@DEEJAAY41]

Love youtube for stuff like this. All things considered, things like this help me to save a bunch on my rebuild.

[@OneBitStream]

Best demo video, on youtube, of this subject. I'm cleaning up my YZ125 fenders using this method. Nice work!

[@ryanmoses420]

I sanded the fenders on a IT 175 and they came out smooth, but i cant get a shine on them. I think ill try with a dry buffer like you did. Thanks for the idea and I cant wait to see your yz fully restored!

[@Sms68]

I did this to my 98 DS80. I had deep horizontal scratches across front fender. the razor blade leveled every scratch out to a level service. I polished it up after and the Fender looks brand new. Great Job....

[@groutaone]

Cool, love it when a plan comes together

[@Sms68]

I went to order Plastics and they were a fortune for this Bike. I'd end up spending about 500.00 for Plastics. Krazy... Great Job!

[@jeremyx3272]

By far the best channel I have subscribed to.

[@franciscoluna9596]

awesome video. There are curved card scrapers available to there used by woodworkers, can be very helpful at curved areas.

[@79gsonethousand]

Ive used just a medium grit emmory cloth and gradually going to a smaller grit untill the plastic turns into a clean smooth matte finish. then i took a propane torch and went across the sanded parts.It melts the face of the plastic very quickly and dries to a perfect gloss, a good wax after it cools makes it better even.Have to be very quick and even about it though, so you dont over do it, works well on black and coloured plastic. I found the heat gun takes too long. Your idea seams to work pretty nice.

[@jtbassgambler2594]

thanks groutaone the best ideas I've ever seen.... you're the man!!! appreciated the tips...keep the good work buddy.

[@groutaone]

+I vote for truth democrats tab Thanks for watching, I have found not all plastic responds as well as this fender, also sanding is better than the blade to keep from damaging the plastic, thanks again

[@DoosBarry]

Scraping the plastic looks like it'd feel real good

[@evanwalkerdesign]

Best vid like this out there. Thanks for the demo!

[@richardquebec5850]

You my friend is really a nice man to show us this. Thank you very much.

[@ncimson5318]

this is why I dig youtube...learn so many stuff on here...some good some bad but mostly good :D

[@DirtRider500R]

Dood! I wish you would've posted this before I went and bought new plastics! Haha. Definitely going to be trying that on the 86er's tank tonight. Might post up a video if I find a tripod.

[@harperjmichael]

It's amazing how UV rays will mess up some plastic. And that first part with the blade was nearly like fingernails on a chalk board! lol

[@Mr549er]

WOW good job , takes me back to early 80s raced that 250 a few years great bike love the motor :-) , cheers-

[@fnaguitarplayer9]

Definitely will remember this! Great trick!

[@ryanblanco5866]

Thanks for the vid! Gonna do this to my ‘84 yamaha XT250

[@watchmanonthewallcouk6498]

Love those old strokers... like everyone we all wish we never sold any of them !

[@MultiUnanimous]

haha thanks ,My step brother blew it up , but once I get her running again it sure will be a blast haha ,Been thinking about putting the 500 engine on my 250 frame kinda like you did with your Cr haha :D

[@madtater5948]

they make a plastic compound for polishing plastic it comes in a stick you apply it to the polishing wheel it helps to polish the plastic

[@liftedXmudXdigger]

Hey I have a couple of ATV"S I did that looked like that. What I did was 220 320 and 400. But after I did it in that step I took 1000 grit to it and it made it super smooth. you can find 1000 grit at any automotive place. ( all wet sand don't use to ruff of sand paper)

[@Cumminsmaniac16]

intresting. i enjoyed watching this and seeing the yz465

[@nikod3mr]

Thank You very much for tips, they will rly help me polishing my motorcycle plastics (also yellow) Good luck with rebuilding this bike ;)

[@groutaone]

Its got to be real smooth, 120 is going to be too rough to start with I think, also it seems not all plastic will respond well to polish, my gas tank doesnt work as well as my fender

[@jackjohnson65]

Thank you for the video, I have a Kawasaki kdx 200 that I am restoring which has good but faded plastic.

[@PadmaDorjee]

This was extremely helpful, THANK YOU.

[@groutaone]

Where you see this discoloration is likely around the edge of the area that got heated, try heating from one end of your fender and work your way to the other end without stopping, it will be a lot of heat on the entire piece in a short time so it may distort, maybe test on a junk one first

[@CurvedSlightly]

4:57 "Here's one I wasted my time with earlier..."

[@nicholashargraves7919]

Thanks im going to try it on my atc

[@groutaone]

The sanding block you could find in the paint secton at Home Depot or any store like it

[@groutaone]

I did in fact try some tooth paste on the polishing wheel, didnt work well on the fender but it smells nice ha ha

[@Stevechap69]

I think ima try this on my elsionore125 ! thanks for the very helpful info! and great explanations too!

[@nitrosport5]

Damn, wish i would have seen this when i was rebuilding my 89 FL400 Pilot. I used the plastic renew clear and it wasnt all that great. and like you said it easly wears off. Going to try this on an old plastic roof panel i have. it was white when i got it lol. supposed to be red. May post this video on a forum if you dont mind!

[@groutaone]

Post away my friend, your idea to try on a spare piece is a good idea, not all plastic responds to this procedure it seems

[@TheEZGZ]

she will be looking good for a while. Nice work

[@tonymontana2.037]

Does this work well on fenders that have been exposed to the sun for a long time? I can't get mine to get the gloss back.

[@groutaone]

Thanks for watching, will it work to sand the marks out of the plastic?

[@erlendse]

Not that I got some immediate need for fixing plastic, but this is clearly something to keep in mind for when needed :) b.t.w. I mostly like tricks and "how x works" videos.

[@robplotts9412]

Love the old yamahas. Quick technic nice

[@ParadoxdesignsOrg]

great tip. I'm trying to wonder what I could use this on now..

[@wayofthesamurai90]

Thanks!! Im gonna do this on my ktm

[@Daniel96sj]

Nice, turned out looking good.

[@McCozzy]

Awesome work again always better to fix it than buy it keep it original

[@TheSHERIE68]

The yellow is great, but the scrap, scrape, scrape reminded me of digging out the corner of one big toe.

[@HorsepowerGarageVideos]

I used to steel wool to restore my yz's plastic, it worked better than sand paper.

[@groutaone]

Funny guy lol, dont make me come over there, but if I do maybe I take the drum set with :)

[@trackrash]

Wow that was cool!!

[@bobalou808]

Good stuff, going to use my knowledge gained restoring my 80 KDX400

[@groutaone]

I would think its called a drywall sanding block, its got a soft foam centre

[@thomasgronek6469]

Great video, thanks.

[@KenyonPayne]

I can't get this to work, I tried 120 grit and it scratched it really bad, and I tried 300 and 400 grit wet sanding and it didn't seem to fix it up. I tried using the blade and it really messed it up. Then I tried using one of those 3m head light kits and it seemed to fix it up but now I can't get the shine into it

[@groutaone]

I did some testing on my gas tank and it didn't respond nearly as well to polishing, on my tank I may resort to a combination of heat gun and polishing with more pressure, so not all plastics will respond the same

[@n.o.b.s.8458]

groutaone how powerful is this drill? Ive used a 12 and 18 volt and I'm having a hell of a time polishing with either of those.

[@KenyonPayne]

I figured out that I was doing this all wrong, I didn't wet sand with 120 grit, so it really messed things up. I wet sanded with 220 for a while today and it actually turned out not too bad, gotta get some 320 and 400 grit waterproof sand paper soon, also I found the plastic on gas tanks is much harder than the fenders

[@MultiUnanimous]

the piston melted from being over heated ,I took it apart and looked down the cylinder wall and there are some pretty deep gouges ,and the crank doesn't operate as smoothly as it should ,So I'm gonna split the case and see if there ain't something getting caught down in the bottem end ,I just hope I don't have to replace the crank aswell as the top end haha

[@groutaone]

Thanks, yep more buggy build vids in the works

[@israeljack4452]

pro tip: watch series on Flixzone. Me and my gf have been using it for watching a lot of movies these days.

[@darcyklyne]

Thats brilliant! In more than one way sir!

[@aleksas53]

when i heat gun it leaves some traces that i don't like like white stains, like from dirty water and they don't clean up, what should i do then? Am i heating them bad? I need to polish my plastics..

[@taterwetzel]

nice work man! im trying to hide a huge crack in a tecate 4 front fender. there is one only one on ebay and its 899! i work at a custom paint/ motorcycle repair shop and sand ALL day it seems on harley tanks fenders but i couldnt figure out a way to clean up a shitty repair job an this tecate i have. your video was golden! now i need to figure out how to get the soldering iron marks off it where he kinda welded it together. nice work tho!!!

[@nachosplay-ground9017]

hey i did this trick to my old moto 4 and it was awsome what turned out i would love to send a pic to you its really cool

[@groutaone]

I wonder how a construction heater would work, would be like a giant heat gun

[@mastersletten]

Does this work on any type of plastic? I got an 2003 YZ 125 and it has pretty scratched up plastic, I might try it out in a place where it doesn't show, just to be sure it works on my type of plastic. Awesome video btw :)

[@giulianoMX]

Very nice done!!!

[@bobalou808]

Your right Uni trak did come in 81 on the KDX

[@seanjohnston848]

What's in the bucket? Just dish soap and water? Detergent?

[@AntiPlatitude]

Great technique! BTW has that kickstarter snapped off yet? Looks like it was cracked...

[@groutaone]

KX500, I salute you

[@groutaone]

I like those KX500 AF's, I may do a KX500 aluminum frame conversion yet, what kind of engine damage did you have to fix?

[@elmerfox6872]

Thanks for taking the time!

[@groutaone]

Thank you for watching

[@ryanb2369]

Good info here, Thanks!

[@fx1c333]

your actually scrapping of a lacquer they put on the plastic to hold the colour you can tell as your not scratching into the plastic. it's just a clear coat that's old car get it as well.

[@brittanydibattiste9094]

Great video. Have any tips starting a kick start 93 dr350 other that brute force? The carberautor fills up with gas and I believe it is flooding it if you kick like a mule it will start but im small....thanks

[@Soldier1287]

plastic can also be welded. Want to combine the two. to do this after welding and sanding

[@jackilling4921]

40% boiled linseed oil - 60% thinners does a very good job, just pour it on and rub off with a rag after 2-5 minutes does pretty much the same job to be honest

[@exeroo9728]

does not last

[@doi467]

@@exeroo9728 would it last if you added a coat of wax or something afterwards? i was about to try this method before i saw your comment.

[@JunkCCCP]

@@doi467 Wax likely won't stick to an oily surface. You're better off buffing the plastic itself because that actually permanently shines the plastic (until it fades from UV exposure or gets damaged again that is)

[@cammy840]

Thank you , my 95 cr 125 might be able to have a shine once again

[@leonardoabc1639]

really good!! thanks man

[@MultiUnanimous]

Very nice video ,I scraped the plastics on my kx500 with a razorblade to get all the faded stuff off , then I used the heatgun to try and bring out the shine ,but like you said that method wasn't 100% affective ,but still makes it look a whole lot better!:D

[@IntoTheDirtshop]

can you do a video on dirtbike chain tensioning

[@yukon2159]

Amazing !

[@skulledmonte84]

Damn it !!! why'd i have to watch this ,now i want to do my that to my 78 yamaha 125dt

[@scottphillips1056]

Nice! Thanks for making the video!!!

[@wtbm123]

Good Video

[@groutaone]

Cool bike, did Kawasaki already have the Uni trak in 1980? Somehow I think it was 81 but not sure

[@83PoWeRrAm]

nice that will be a fun bike

[@camwalt.4197]

It seems like u would get good results usingblike 150 to srart on realy bad places then 200 for not as bad then 300 then 400 then something crazy like 600 to make it smooth without a grinding wheel

[@tallyboy101]

Hey I have a 1989 yz 125 I will post an befor and after video on my old account. I have everything new but the. Frame and and forks but painted the frame what year is this bike

[@805ROADKING]

Brilliant Mate!! You're really gonna be pissed when you wipe out and snap that in half eh!!☺