anyone with experience on repairing a crack like this in my fairing? I'm thinking some fiberglass matting with resin on the inside to strenghten it, then bondo and paint on the outside. Am I on the right track?
thanks,
wayne
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Wayne, your'e on the right track there, i would drill a small hole at the end of the crack to prevent further travel, then use a dremel all along the crack on the outside to a depth of 1 mm, thats your preparation done, you can now start you repair. the hardest part may be the colour match

sand off the paint work on the inside about 1&1/2 inch each side of the crack and take a little off the depth of the faring,dremmel is a good tool for this and use fibre glass matting & resin to take up the depth then finish with bondo on the top to make it flush then do the same on the outside . . make sure you ware a mask when sanding ,the stuff they use for the faring is pretty fine and not the best for your lungs . . i did mine and it came out nice . . be prepared for a lot of sanding and refilling if your going to want a professional finnish . . good luuk and take some photos of the job and stick em on here

If you check the download section, you will find a document on repairing a fairing. This document is in Italian but has few pictures of the process.
The K100 fairing is made of compressed fiberglass.

Thanks guys, very helpful info.
Now, lets start talking about the paint. I've found that it is called "Royal Blue #608". My understanding is that I can bring that info to a auto paint supply store and order as such? I have no professional paint tools so I'm thinking of having them put it in a rattle can. Is that a big mistake? I know where I can borrow an airless painter that painters use on houses but don't know about the air painters that auto body places use. Would an airless paint sprayer work?

Honestly, I'd like the finish product to look nice but don't care much that it be showroom perfect. I'd rather not bring it in to a professional because of the cost.

thanks again,
wayne

airless sprayer is no good keep that for painting the golden gate bridge or what ever . . rattle can will be better for you . . prime, rub down ,paint then laquer . . i got a rattle can paint matched to the code but it wasnt a good match ,too dark and it shows up ,so next spring i will buy enough paint to do all the panels the same colour . .

bobbiebongo said to post process pictures, so here goes:
Last night I did the fiberglass work on the inside.
I had bought a fiberglass repair kit that had everything I needed including a little brush and vinyl gloves:
[img][/img]

First I sanded the area down, also drilled a couple small holes as suggested to keept the cracks from growing:
[img][/img]

I cut the fiberglass mesh to fit around the tabs:
[img][/img]

Mixed up the resin and hardner and painted it on the area and between and over the two layers of mesh:
[img][/img]

The next morning the area is very hard and very strong:
[img][/img]

Next, I will sand down the new fiberglass area a bit and then work on the outside of the fairing, opening and filling the crack with bondo, etc. More to come...

Also, about the paint, everyone pointed me to Color Rite to find the paint "Royal Blue #680". Here is what they said to my query:

"Hello Wayne,

Unfortunately we do not have this color available and I’m not sure of anyone that does. You’ll have to find out who made the paint for BMW back then and see if you can still get some. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank-you.



Steve

ColorRite Dist West Inc"


I guess I will bring a sample into an autopaint store and have them scan it and try to match it. Unless someone has another source? ...

Nice job Wayne - nothing to add, this used to be part of my day job [ GRP ]!

Re: paint - most good paint stores will match colour either from formulas or the experienced will do it by eye. That's bulk of course for spraying - I'm guessing a rattle can would be more practical. Some paint shops [ UK anyway ] will make up a paint code in a can for you. Either way make certain you have a good suface / primer paint as a base.

Remember GRP "moves" throughout it's life, especially in extremes of heat - use plenty of the matting material that Wayne suggested before the final surface repair.

Hi Wayne. Have you tried rsbikepaint.com?
They have been around for 30 years and claim to have 25,000 colours to match.
They can supply touch ups, rattle cans and loose quantities.
Might be worth an email.

Glasurit was, and perhaps still is, BMW's paint supplier for a dog's age.

rsbikepaint.com does have the paint.
thanks so much.
Wayne

keep going . . looks good

Here is my weekly progress report. Again, I am an amateur at all of this and am only posting to perhaps be of help to others in my predicament.

First I dug out and slightly enlarged the crack with a small paint scraper:
/

Then I did some more sanding around the area as preparation for the Bondo,
Here is the bondo applied:


Bondo sanded smooth and also some finish cracks I found northeast of there:
/

Fairing taped off and primer applied:
/

Primer lightly sanded with 400 grit, then a primer sealer sprayed on:


Now I'm waiting for the paint. RSbikepaint in Great Britain has the color but currently doesn't ship out of the country. They say that will be remedied in the near future so I will be patient. Can't ride with all the snow outside anyhow!

So far, so good!
When you spray the paint, start with the area that you repaired. As careful as you can be there will always be some bondo touch up required.
It doesn't make any sense to paint the full fairing to start touching it up after.
One advice that my painter gave me:
"Don't try to correct small imperfections with filler. In stead, sand the fairing to blend the defect".

Bert

Crazy Frog wrote:So far, so good!
When you spray the paint, start with the area that you repaired. As careful as you can be there will always be some bondo touch up required.
It doesn't make any sense to paint the full fairing to start touching it up after.
One advice that my painter gave me:
"Don't try to correct small imperfections with filler. In stead, sand the fairing to blend the defect".

Bert

Thanks for the tips, Bert. I did already find a couple defects that you can see in my first primed picture. I sanded those down and re-primed before the primer sealer picture. It seems nice and smooth now, I'm hoping it will finish nicely.

Wayne.

[img:1f21]http://k100rt.aforumfree.com/[/img]
Update. I finally got the paint from RS Motorbike Paints in England. The painting went OK and looks pretty good. If I had it to do over again, I'd sand the whole side of the fairing down and re-paint the whole side. There is a line of color change where I had put the masking tape during the priming.

I have decided to live with that problem but I have another question:
I put an acrylic lacquer clear coat on the fairing and it has dried satin and I need to make it gloss. I've tried buffing it with a pad on a drill but it isn't doing the trick. Did I use the wrong clear coat or is there something else I can do to make it shine? Maybe just polish?

thanks so much.

I have used the techniques described here
http://www.motorcyclepartsx.com/cheap-motorcycle-painting.htm
They have worked well. The deep shine appears like magic after the final wet sanding and 4-5 cycles with rubbing compound.

sgmayhew wrote:I have used the techniques described here
http://www.motorcyclepartsx.com/cheap-motorcycle-painting.htm
They have worked well. The deep shine appears like magic after the final wet sanding and 4-5 cycles with rubbing compound.

That's a great link.
Thanks.

A car DIY program said that the lacquer can dry to a satin finish if the room temperature is too warm. Seems it partly drys before it hits the surface.
Apart from your lacquer problem, how did you find using the aerosols from RS Paints? I need to redo a fairing panel and front guard.
Good article on painting SG. Was passing Dublin today on my way to Cork to pick up a set of wheels and forks.

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nice job wayne .....i have had to do a similar repair .....but didnt get the finish i was hoping for also .......i guess the spray cans cant lay as fine paint as a gun ....i will be revisiting the job as soon as i can get some moneyy together.....i have been told that many layers of clear over acrylic will deepen the look and hopefully the shine

i was able to get a colour match from a good supplier ...who scanned the paint and came up with bmw 605 paint code (my bike is a 616 colour scheme) that sounded about right to me ...and from a formular was able to generate the right mix ....boy .was i impressed..... so i guess ill be visiting them again ....they even gave me the formular for the mix to add to my files

Comberjohn wrote:Apart from your lacquer problem, how did you find using the aerosols from RS Paints? I need to redo a fairing panel and front guard.
.

I was very impressed with RS Paints. Both their customer service and their paint. They really had to go through a ton of paper work to send an aerosol can across to the U.S. It was classified as hazardous. No one over here had the paint code for the '92 Royal Blue. They also sent a helpful pointer sheet on painting with aerosols.

you should be able to get clear coat off the shelf over there . . spray it on in heavier coats and leave it to dry a bit between coats, you have to leave the solvents to come out of the coat before the next coat ,dont do it in a damp cold enviroment . .

Wayne,
The repairs look well and some very good advice here, I must try and get some grey for my K100.

Regards

BIG D