how to plastic smooooth agin?

[Funkenfresh]

well ive chopped up a front fender out of a MX one... but its a little battered... how do i get it smoooooth again??? buff it out??? finely sand it??? whats best?? thanks

[chopiesel]

what bit is rough? i cut my stock one and used a dremel to make the edge smooth.

[scotty mac]

try using a hot air gun on the flat surfaces, it takes the furyness off the plastics. if that helps.

[Funkenfresh]

its on the surface not the edges.. theres gashes and all sorts.. impressions from rocks and sand....
its a shiney surface.... so would a hair drier work?

[scotty mac]

sand it first then hot air gun. a high powered hair dryer might work? but when you sand it, it will go fury like,thats when the gun comes in handy it melts the fur kinda. i know guys in car audio that use this on dashes to fix stuff ups.i'm no pro at this btw just a bit dodgey;)

[Funkenfresh]

so will a spray can of matt black have to be whipped out??

[scotty mac]

2 cans:D:Dna if it flexes alot you need a plastic primer of some sort cause the the paint might come off.

[Rocket]

I have a heat gun you can borrow if you want to give it a try Abel.

[Funkenfresh]

ill keep that in mind rocket thanx.... ill try hair drier first as i dont want it to become a puddle yet...
plastic primer... rocket which stores sell this??? and do you need "special" pastic paint??

[Rocket]

S&S Industries or a Dulux trade centre would od plastic primers.
Maybe Supercheap Auto's or similar would probably have it too.
You using a spraygun or are you looking for spray cans ?
S&S Ind etc are for the trade so you may not get spray packs of it from them.
Once you put the primer on, I'd say you'd just use normal paint over that.
Manhy years ago, there used to be agents that you could add to make the paint more flexible for plastic parts but with so much plastic around these days, it may not be necessary anymore.
You could call S&S and ask them for advice maybe.
If the guard is cut short, it probably won't flex that much to be a problem.

If you can't get that fender right, try Two Wheel Wreckers in Ossie Park, they do new non gen guards and plastics fairly cheap. I bought a KX500 style rear guard for $40 a few years back.

And don't worry about the heat gun mate, I took to a Gixer thou ductail with it and you have to go pretty hard and be pretty hamfisted to do any real damage. Just practice on the bits you've chopped off first.

[Funkenfresh]

wicked ill go after some spray cans tomorrow....
i bought the fender from 2 wheel wrekers for $25 today.... it is black plastic so that helps a bit, as i want black fenders..
im gonna be using the left over bits for a mini front visor and try to make a rear fender..... $25 is gonna save me some hungy!!

[TurboKat]

Yes you can sand a gouged up MX guard smooth again, it only takes patience & varying grades of sandpaper, you should sand it wet because the plastic clogs the paper up pretty quickly, just keep sanding it with a flexible rubbing block & getting finer with the 'paper until you've got all the gouges & scratches out then finish if off with ultrafine 1200 - 1500 grade to get it shiny. If you're planning to paint it you only need to go down to 600 - 800.
You will need to use a plastic primer before you paint it for sure, it's available in rattle can form at most auto accessory shops, I've had good results with the Motospray/Hichem brand.

[chopiesel]

get a random orbital and some 400 paper.

[Funkenfresh]

ok im gonna go the ruff look simply cause i dont have patiance... thanx fellas!