Hi Upon removing a sticker I have found the bellow damage to a single seat unit. I'm not sure if the seat unit is worth that much and there is other damage although very hard to see and a bit of lacquer needs touching up, but I do like the look of it. Trying to decide if I should repair, just buy another single seat unit or put another sticker over it. What I'm after here is repair advise and what colour paint would I need for the white if I rub it down and paint it up? Thanks All
If you should repair it or not depends on how much time or money you want to spend on it and how good you want the result to be. Is this a GRP unit, or a poly-plastic one? If it's GRP it may just be that the gel-coat has cracked, which should be repairable without too much hassle. If it's plastic, and cracked all the way through, it is probably repairable by plastic welding... Either way it's definitely not scrap, unless you decide it's not worth spending time or cash on. I've no doubt that if you decide to get another one instead someone on here would buy that one from you...
Hi Excuse my ignorance but what is GRP and poly-plastic? How do I go about finding out what colour white it is to match?
You need to go to an auto paint suppliers.If you take the seat they will be able to match the paint easily enough.They will then put some in an spray can for you.I had some mixed up for mine last month,good match and cost £12 and a bit.
GRP is Glass Reinforced Plastic: a Thermoset Polymer with glass strands to strengthen. There is no such thing as Poly Plastic but I think he means some kind of Thermo Plastic such as ABS: Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
Have a look on YouTube for the q bond repair vids, there's plenty of help there. I recently repaired my nosecone with it and it's really good. Steve
The best thing to do would to paint both numberboards if you decide to repair it. Other than pure base white any other white will have a hint of some tinting agent in it which will be there to either amplify the white or to make it slightly less bright. Ideally you will need a motor factor who has a spectrum analysis machine if you want a totally perfect match. The crack looks like it is a GRP based seat. Ducati used to make a DP seat which was described as Aviofibre and they crack in a very similar way. They were primarily just meant to be a cheap racing type seat which was not carbonfibre based, although they made a road version as well (with rear lamp holes). They were quite costly at the time but cheaper than an OE all plastic one. Personally I would repair it but it needs to be done thoroughly otherwise it will crack again.
Looks a bugger to rub down and mask up just the white areas but I agree on the white matching, was hoping someone may know the unit and what shade it is. I guess hundreds were made back in the day. Probably easier to rub the whole thing down, spray red then put some number boards on but seems a shame. It looks an expensive unit, the corse sticker is lacquered over so not sure if that makes it genuine? How much is it worth as it is? There is some other damage too but not as easy to spot.
Additional, emailed a paint supplier last night to ask if ok for me to pop in. Hopefully they say yes.
Have you got a photo of the underside of the seat, if you can put that up it might help identify, type, make etc. and the best solution for repair. Genuine plastic moulded seats are best repaired using plastic welding, but there are two types of plastic used on the 748-9** series bikes and one is very brittle and much harder to repair.
Will do later. Guess there will be people out there who specializes in this kind of thing. I'd like to learn though, which means screwing a few up first.
Plastic welding is expensive as a cheap gun is £120 odd on it's own and then you will need the correct rods. Sealey do a nice plastic welding gun that doubles as a heat gun but it's not cheap. I use this (below) for all the plastic repairs that I undertake, it can return the outlay fairly quickly if you have enough use for it and can complete the repair. Sealey I have saved a fortune on whole sets of fairings etc. that I have repaired in the past. At one time I used to buy up damaged panels for my bikes on eBay and repair and repaint them, those days have somewhat gone now as even damaged panels for older bikes have gotten more expensive. I used to get panels for £0.99p at one point in time.
Hey Only marking on underside is "48310191A". The crack does not go all the way through, it is right up by the bolt holes for the rear lights. I don't think it it the bolts overturned though as the crack on top has a little chip out of it indicates something was dropped on it. I'm thinking of taking the lacquer off, do I just rub it down with some wet and dry or scuff pads? Cheers
I have similar damage to that on the fairing of my MV mine was caused by a pheasant flying into the side of the bike. Like you say it looks like something has been dropped on it. The paint isn't as flexible as the plastic and cracks It looks like it just needs reprinting rather than the base material (plastic or GRP) repairing. Most plastic items on the underside have a moulded stamp to tell you what kind of plastic it is which will enable you to purchase the correct filler rods. I bought one of the Seely hot air guns with the welding attachments
My apologies... GRP = Glass Reinforced Plastic. Commonly known as "fibreglass" or "glass fibre". Built up in layers with a smooth gel-coat as the outer layer. Poly-Plastic = Generic term for several types of plastic; polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, and a few variations on these. Usually injection moulded and not reinforced. It does look more like impact damage that has cracked the painted outer surface rather than a stress crack. Although the view from underneath would seem to indicate that it has been repaired ( in a different place ) before. As I said back in post #2, it really depends how much time and / or money you want to invest in it...
