Just wanted give everybody a heads up on some experiments I did with a badly faded body part. I was looking to revive the looks of my ski so I thought I would see what was out there for this task. The test piece was a purple steering cover from a 98 GSXL (I assume its stock so that would be 13 years of abuse). Below are pictures of the results.
I divided the part into three pieces to show the results of 2 methods of restoration I tried against the original. The left side was done by painting the part with Color Bond from overtons. I just cleaned the surface with household cleaner, let it dry and shot the part with 3 or 4 coats. In the picture you will see places where paint is missing and that was from my 'abuse testing'. Turns out it dries fairly quickly but doesnt fully cure for around 3 days (in my experience). After only 3 hours I tried to scuff it and and peeled off in strips, a day later and it kind of 'flaked' of, 3 days after painting it was bonded well enough that the only way to remove the paint was to scrape it off with a knife.
The middle section shows the original condition of the piece(after a cleaning). The far right section shows what happens with the 'heat gun' trick. This section is not nearly as vibrant as the painted section but only required a few minutes and a heat gun.
Have not tried the paint on the rubber or the seat yet but it seems quite promising as long as I let it sit for 3 days before use. Hope this helps some of you with your restoration projects.
I divided the part into three pieces to show the results of 2 methods of restoration I tried against the original. The left side was done by painting the part with Color Bond from overtons. I just cleaned the surface with household cleaner, let it dry and shot the part with 3 or 4 coats. In the picture you will see places where paint is missing and that was from my 'abuse testing'. Turns out it dries fairly quickly but doesnt fully cure for around 3 days (in my experience). After only 3 hours I tried to scuff it and and peeled off in strips, a day later and it kind of 'flaked' of, 3 days after painting it was bonded well enough that the only way to remove the paint was to scrape it off with a knife.
The middle section shows the original condition of the piece(after a cleaning). The far right section shows what happens with the 'heat gun' trick. This section is not nearly as vibrant as the painted section but only required a few minutes and a heat gun.
Have not tried the paint on the rubber or the seat yet but it seems quite promising as long as I let it sit for 3 days before use. Hope this helps some of you with your restoration projects.
