I'm so a newbie, so please don't laugh at me.[:'(] (Ok, laugh at me, rib me, just not too much.) I'm getting a yellow Ninja250 soon, and well, yellow's not my color. I've been researching the cost of re-painting, and it's... crazy. Like, $1200. For a blue-collar chick living on her own... that's serious financial pain. I'm going to be paying back my boss for the bike for a while to come. It almost seems cheaper just to replace the fairings, and as it is, the bike I'm getting has some cosmetic damage... though that's nothing I couldn't fix in the shop where I work with some bondo and TLC. All of the DIY information I've read is just about as intensive. Y'see, I'm currently paying a friend $40 a month plus cost of gas (including the gas he uses) to borrow his car, as I don't have a vehicle of my own. My schedule is severely limited by his, and I'm fortunate enough to be on salary, but in order to get things done at work, I sometimes have to spend my weekends here, and I prefer having my 7-3 schedule so that my late afternoons/evenings, and weekends are free. I also have a 30 mile round-trip trek to work everyday, plus errands and crap to run. My bike is going to be my primary mode of transport once I have her, and have her up and running (legally, she can run right now --tires aside-- but the front blinkers are out). As it is, I can't really afford having her out of commission for several weeks/months while re-doing the paint. I read somewhere (I'll dig up the link later) that you can, quite simply, spray truck-bed liner on the fairings and be done with it. I know that might cause issues with visibility in the dark, but I figured some neon decals and whatnot could fix that. What are your thoughts, KFers? Does it sound feasible, or like a crock of bull?
[align=right]Thanks for any input!
~Leena
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I personally would stay away from the bed liner, although it would be very tough. As long as your plastics are not cracked or broken removing them and making minor repair, prep for paint and painting is not to bad. If the fairings are fiberglass even better, I think it is an easier material to work with.

Bottom line is if you can put some time in and apply some reasonable effort you should no problem. Post pics of your project with the details of you problems and there are people here to help. Sounds like you work in a shop so you probably have a good place to some after hours work, my even have air compressors and tools to help do the job.

Go for it!

 

I am lucky enough to have a shop at my disposal, and a very liberal boss. From what I've read it sounds like the paint job would take weeks, which is what makes my head squik. I can devote a weekend at the shop to repainting the bike, but anything beyond that is iffy. If I decide to repaint myself I will definitely be posting pics, as I'll probably need help/input and I'm a little bit vain, and an artist.
Thanks for the input! And yes, we have air compressors, but nothing for painting aside from canned finishes and primer. I'll probably have to borrow my roomate's airbrush.

 

Painting that takes weeks would be custom pearl and painted graphics, for just making her look good and be getting her out on the road would be a week end.

You can rent paint sprayers and water filter that will work on the shops compressor for about 20.00.

Good luck and post them pics.

 

Sweet! Thanks for the info. I don't plan on doing anything drastic, for the time being at least. Just on making her... not yellow.

 

average cosmetic damage, and new paint with nothing special, would be no more than a weekend like NOTSTOCK said. Hell, I used to refinish whole cars in that time frame. But, I have every air tool known to man and a serious history of movin my *** to get things done.....TIME IS MONEY!

 

Every once in a while, somebody will be parting out their 250 on eBay. It would be less of ahassle, and possibly a lot cheaper by going the eBay route.

 

I am no expert but since you already have a base to start off of all you should need to do is remove all the parts you want to spray wet sand them a little to rough em up and spray away the big time killers would be drying and disassembly/assembly. the reason it takes weeks is because the pro's let your bike sit out in the lot for weeks until they get around to painting them.

As someone who is vain, you may want to take the time to have someone at least help you with mixing the paint and spraying and a newbie would be prone to under/over spraying and improper mixes could lead to orange peel and other issues. If it was me andI needed a ride that wasnt yellow I would just break it down and spray paint it white until i get the time and money to do it right. White usually doesnt show imperfections as easily as other colors. but you get what you pay for, and I've seen brand new corvettes in the dealership with orange peel, so dont feel bad if you dont get it just right.

 

Leena,

I am wanting a yellow bike, I have 1 blue 2004, maybe we could work out a plastic/tank swap....

 

I'll keep that in mind! I've been pilfering Ebay and Craigslist... I did manage to find a site with raw white fairings, but it's still going to be upwards of 600 bucks if I go that route.
...and OMG I should so be asleep right now.