Painting plastic seat pan -- C175 ???

[Brockport Bill 1,749]

What experience do members have painting the plastic seat fender pans that are on C175 ? What works best? Are there particualr techniques, or process or steps people use? The pan is in ok fair shape - but some scratches. Should I sand first? What about use of primer or not?  Will the Regal Red look essentially the same on the plastic as the metal ? What are your suggestions and experiences? Thanks

[Achto 27,983]

37 minutes ago, Brockport Bill said:

What experience do members have painting the plastic seat fender pans

 

I have not painted one of the C-series plastic pans, but I can offer up my knowledge from painting automotive plastic parts.

 

If you have to prime a spot to get rid of an imperfection, sand the area with 180 grit before priming.

The part must to be sanded before painting, paint will not stick to a smooth surface. Wet sanding it with 400 to 600 grit paper will give you a good surface to paint. 

Your paint should look the same over plastic as it does over metal.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Achto

[Brockport Bill 1,749]

great insight .. thanks

[SylvanLakeWH 26,205]

I’ve done several. @Achto hit it on the head.

[Brockport Bill 1,749]

5 minutes ago, Achto said:

 

I have not painted one of the C-series plastic pans, but I can offer up my knowledge from painting automotive plastic parts.

 

If you have to prime a spot to get rid of an imperfection, sand the area with 180 grit before priming.

The part must to be sanded before painting, paint will not stick to a smooth surface. Wet sanding it with 400 to 600 grit paper will give you a good surface to paint. 

Your paint should look the same over plastic as it does over metal.

 

can you tell me more specifically what is "wet sanding"Never done it?   is it just wetting the paper or what? Sorry for such a basic question -- but no sense me guessing so thought i'd ask based on your experience

[Achto 27,983]

1 minute ago, Brockport Bill said:

what is "wet sanding"

 

If you try to use fine sand paper dry it will continually plug up on you. If you keep your paper wet and flush the surface frequently with water, the paper will not plug up as easily. Make sure every surface to be painted is sanded, Pay close attention to crevasses and corners.  

[Jeff-C175 7,203]

7 minutes ago, Brockport Bill said:

can you tell me more specifically what is "wet sanding"Never done it?   is it just wetting the paper or what? Sorry for such a basic question -- but no sense me guessing so thought i'd ask based on your experience

 

There is a special paper called "Wet or Dry" that one would have to use.  Regular sandpaper falls apart.

 

https://www.rockler.com/wet-dry-sandpaper

 

Basically you keep the surface wet while sanding.  Keeps the paper from 'clogging' with the residue.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Jeff-C175

[Achto 27,983]

One other tip that I can offer is to spray a guide coat on the part before you sand. A guide coat would be a contrasting color to the part. (red part use gray paint or primer) Cheap spray cans work good for this. Mist a very light coat of paint on the part before you sand. When you're sanding you will sand until the guide coat is gone. This helps to ensure that you have sanded everything.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Achto

[Brockport Bill 1,749]

3 minutes ago, Achto said:

One other tip that I can offer is to spray a guide coat on the part before you sand. A guide coat would be a contrasting color to the part. (red part use gray paint or primer) Cheap spray cans work good for this. Mist a very light coat of paint on the part before you sand. When you're sanding you will sand until the guide coat is gone. This helps to ensure that you have sanded everything.

good info........... that really helps - they make a spray gray primer that has the word "filler" in its title - since i have some scratches and i will be sanding as you suggested  - should i use the Filler primer rather than regular primer?

[Achto 27,983]

The filler primer will work good for minor imperfections. Make sure you sand the surface with 180 to 220grit before priming.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Achto

[sjoemie himself 3,072]

Also could be useful to use a special plastic primer. Some plastics can be a little oily even after degreasing, and most plastics are a little flexible, the plastic primer should help on both fronts.

[ri702bill 8,592]

From past experience, red colors are somewhat translucent, and the final color can be affected by the color of the substrate, your primer in this case, under it. This day and age of lead-free and low VOC paints offer minimal color build compared to the stuff used in the 1960's and 70's.

You can test this - paint 2 small similar parts with different color primer, say one light gray, the other dark red or black. Spray them your red, the key here is to use the same number of coats. Let them dry, take them out in the sun - do they look different? Probably. If so, you need to use the same color primer if you are going to repaint the entire tractor.

Plastic is somewhat flexible (until it cracks) so keep the total number of coats to a minimum - 2 coats of primer, 2 or 3 of color - to reduce spider cracking of the finished paint.

A good auto body shop always uses a primer or primer-sealer on a new or used part like a fender or hood that closely matches the substrate on the rest of the vehicle before applying the finish coat.@DennisThornton would agree and can offer his insight on this.

Here's another thought - Wheel Horse did NOT prime the tractors, just used the finish color. 

Bill

Edited February 12, 2022 by ri702bill