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little things that will make my quad look good?
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Posted by: mittimj

I want to dress up my 400ex with out spending more than 50$. I have polished the case covers, well kinda. I striped the paint from them, sanded with 400 grit paper, then buffed the parts that you can see, for now at least.

what I want to know is what some of the little things that you guys do to make your quads look so good. I dont want to paint the frame tho, to much work. and kinda want to stay away from polishing, takes to long.

I was thinking of painting my a-arms, maby the swing arm. just seems that when ever I paint stuf it looks like chit. no matter how much prep time I take.

so maby some pics and a description of what prosess you took.

THANKS. tim.

Posted by: Moto 4

ull probly need more than 50 bucks to really do anything

Posted by: mittimj

I dono, I think if I was smart enough to get the colors correct I could make it look nice.

Posted by: roostin_dale

Paint is gunna chip off and look like crap soon...if your gunna do it then do it right and get it powdercoated..

Posted by: rodenberg35

so how did the paint go? heard you had a bad day

Posted by: mittimj

ya, todays pait job was a nitemare. lol

Posted by: bigbadbrad

maybe paint the motor mounts, take them off and do a good job, thoose dont really get hit by dirt much. also look on ebay, you might be able to find a bumper or nerfs for under 50

Posted by: mittimj

is the a good place where I have stuff sent to and have it powdercoated. in a timly manner.

I was thinking of getting another set of stock arms to powder coat then swap them over when they got back so I can always have a set to go riding on. but then I rembered I am poor. lol

Posted by: 400ex28

Paint will hold up. But if you don't do it right it will suck.....prep work is key here....i painted my swingarm a while back and it still looks great!

Posted by: nosliw

quote:
Originally posted by mittimj
I want to dress up my 400ex with out spending more than 50$.

I dont want to paint the frame tho, to much work. and kinda want to stay away from polishing, takes to long.

if $50 is all you have to spend, your going to have to make up for that by doing some work. you can't have you cake and eat it too!

Posted by: mittimj

I said it worng, I would like to spend 50$. I have plenty of $ just dont want to spend it on looking good. would rathere spend it on going fast.

I was thinking some nerf bars would help on the look good factor. I might be able to sucker my dad into buying them if it is for safty. lol

Posted by: nosliw

quote:
Originally posted by mittimj

I was thinking some nerf bars would help on the look good factor. I might be able to sucker my dad into buying them if it is for safty. lol

lol yea. all i had to do was accidentally slip off the stock pegs, skin a little flesh off my calf, show my parents, then show them this-

http://img279.echo.cx/img279/8086/noheelgaurds8wn.jpg

and ac propegs were at my doorstep the next week! seems nice but that counted as my birthday AND christmas

Posted by: mittimj

that guy has nerfs tho. anyone know how much a set of wheels with beadlocks will run me, do they get beat up as bad as regular wheels. and if so can you just replace the ring? because my new wheels where trashed after 1 day of riding, makes me sad, because I was beeing carful of them to.

Posted by: mittimj

I just did a quick search and it seems that bead lock wheels are to much $$ for me. about 150 per wheel.

I am thinking shock covers, nerf bars. red a-arms ( not a rush job either, will probly have my dad paint them.)

anyone feel like poasting what luck they have had with krylon fusion.

Posted by: bwamos

Krylon Fusion is for Plastic. It wont work well on metals.

Need to get a good chip resistant paint for metal applications.

Posted by: Warnerade

its all about trophy's my main dood

Posted by: wantablaster

you should use automitive paint that should work good but make sure you primer it and cleracoat it everything like that just paint the way you would paint on a car for the aarms and if you paint the frame or anything like that

Posted by: awsomeaussies

Maybe cut the fenders

Posted by: awsomeaussies

Or.... get a graphic kit, there new one's on ebay all the time, that go for cheap.

Posted by: bwamos

quote:
Originally posted by NacsRacer027
its all about trophy's my main dood

Good point

A hot ATV chick in Riding Pants and a Bikini top in the picture never hurts either.

Posted by: Robin Hood

quote:
Originally posted by nosliw
lol yea. all i had to do was accidentally slip off the stock pegs, skin a little flesh off my calf, show my parents, then show them this-

http://img279.echo.cx/img279/8086/noheelgaurds8wn.jpg

and ac propegs were at my doorstep the next week! seems nice but that counted as my birthday AND christmas

....Ow?

Posted by: DeerNuts

Why not polish a little stuff? I did that on my quad. You can polish side cases (like you did but it sounds like you didnt put any real effort into it) the throttle cover, starter cover, oil filter cover, motor mounts, etc... Just clearcoat non-aluminum surfaces.

This stuff takes time, but since you are still young, you have plenty of that. Make sure after the sanding to use lots of steel wool, stepping down in grades, then a generous dose of Mother's. Itll look good IF you do a good job and take your time.

Posted by: mittimj

I did a dicent job on polishing the side covers. Takes to long. lol

Posted by: blue416ex

did you even unbolt it to polish it??

it looks like you just used paint stripper and steel wool on it

try going up to like 1500 grit paper from the auto parts store i went to 900 on mine and it looks ALOT better still need to go higher on mine though

Posted by: mittimj

I used paint stripper. 400 grit, then 600 grit. then a die grinder with buffing wheel. the picture doesnet do it justice. it looks 10x better in person. and ya, I left it on the bike to polish it.

Posted by: 400ex28

Polish the motor mounts

Posted by: mittimj

quote:
Originally posted by 400ex28
Polish the motor mounts

thanks, This is the kind of stuff I am looking for.

Posted by: T.Hopp

One of the easiest things that I did! Battery box w/ bling! To some it may be a little hard to come by. I took the reflector(highly polished aluminum) out of a 2'x2' flourescent light fixture and scoured it w/ a utility knife and bend to break. Fold each end over and install. It has a coating already on it so just wipe it off. NO Polishing needed! In this picture you can see the reflection of the tire.

Posted by: Quiksilver01

put on a 250r smothie hood theyre only like 35 bucks and they look really good if you do it right

Posted by: 44oEX

well I guess I'll help you out.

first thing clean those bars. take the switchs out and put in a dirtbike kill switch or you can do like I did and put the stock start botton in the end of the bar. it's free and really gives the bars a clean look.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid159/pcee35bdbb5490c1ec1db4e0e3adb1a01/f5083964.jpg
get a clutch lever for like 10$ to make it look better then the stock bulky one.

if your any good at making stuff, make some shroud
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid163/pdaf0efe17f4b58bc559d6630e7eca5e8/f48f431c.jpg
you can make scoops in the fender and paint them
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid166/pd161e932d4ffc949748a5144c17ec9e8/f44bcca1.jpg
and if your really good at making stuff make a clear air box
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid154/pee52fdfab0fd0b0ae86ab8041ac8ed3b/f58131be.jpg

Posted by: mittimj

what did you use to bond the lexan. I have got some, I use windshield urithane normally. ( stuff to hold windshield on, on a car) it works alright but is black. what did you use. I am in the prosess of making some shrouds for cooling up front. what guage aluminum did you use? thanks. oh and can you go over the starter thing a little better. looks like you have the button mounted in the end. does it get hit when you role it or anything? thanks.

Posted by: 44oEX

well for the lexan I used stuff that is made specific for it. Now I don't know the name for sure. it might be metal hydrate but I am not sure. it's a clear liquid, it only takes a couple drops to make it bond, it sort of melts the piece together.

as for the scoops I don't know the guage, but I just went to check and it's 1mm so I don't know how much that is in inch or the guage. I pretty much just use what I have around the garage

. But I had some before that where lighter guage and they riped. so don't go much smaller the 1mm.

Yeah I put the start botton in the end of the bar. I used the stock botton and just cut it up to fit in there. At first I wanted to glue it in, but then I figure if I bend the bars i'll have to make another one. so to make it removable I just made a very small hole in the bar like 1 inch from the end. and I slided a small finish nail in there, then put the grip back on. is stays in pretty good. and the hole will not weaken the bars cause it's way at the end. and it's very small. I passed the wires in the bar and they come back out right after the left bar clamp. in another small hole. put extra electrical tape or a rubber to keep the wires from braking or grounding on the bars.
So far I didn't have any problem with this setup and I really like the super clean bar look.

As for the crashing thing well so far I didn't wreck

I was kind of worried at first about that thing turning the motor over if I crash, but if you crash normaly the bars won't stay straight, they will go to the side so it shouldn't hit.

here I got a couple more pics

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid170/p56fa585c8958c857b7fb3c98d6b70e29/f3fba104.jpg
one of the wire is for the tether and one goes in the bar for the starter
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid170/pff68bfebc8e0cb156b59929b59ee5b6c/f3fba0fd.jpg