Bedliner on kart body

[basscat]

Shot this for the first time on a really cold (lower than freezing) night. Was soft and not hardening up until Barry advised me to sit them out in the sun for a few days.







Ran a huge race in Belton SC this past weekend which ended under caution. We needed about 2 more laps to get to the front; the boy was rolling! Ended up 7th but set the fastest lap times for the race. Sometimes, luck is not on your side. Still had a good time though.

 

[strum456]

That looks really nice. I was thinking of using in on the edges of my quad fenders where the branches scratch all the time. Would it stick?

 

[basscat]

I'd ask Barry for advice on that one since it is some type of plastic. After you talk to him, you may want to try rolling it on to lessen the cost of the gun as well as prep and clean-up time.

 

[Barry]

That looks really nice. I was thinking of using in on the edges of my quad fenders where the branches scratch all the time. Would it stick?
View attachment 1017

those plastics are TPO or polyethylene and really a very bad substrate for the bed liner, you would not be happy.

 

[strum456]

Thanks for saving me the trouble, Barry. I think it is PE.

 

[Bob Hollinshead]

If you can get epoxy to stick it would provide a good surface for the bedliner to adhere to. The best luck I've had painting atv plastic is by lightly scuffing and cleaning it well, then wave a propane torch flame over it followed by a coat of adhesion promoter, let set for 10 minutes then prime.

 

[strum456]

Have you used base clear on atvs before by doing that? Maybe I will try a small piece and see what happens.

 

[Bob Hollinshead]

I've used singlestage urethane and it worked fine. Find an old piece off of another machine to practice with, any ATV shop should have some old parts laying around. Some adhesion promoters work better on some types of plastics than others, 3M's aresol and Fusor's both designed for their repair systems work well, SEM, Bulldog, and SPI might also work but this is the most challenging type of plastic to paint. An I-Car instructor clued me in on the propane flame trick and I haven't seen it mentioned ever again.