Painting a plastic windshield

[Liberator*21]

I've got a plastic windshield on my Liberator that the sun and age has gotten the better of. Has anybody painted there plastic windshield and if so what steps & paint was used ? Were numerous coats of clear applied afterwards ?
Thx,

[yachter55]

have you tried to polish it first? I use 210 plus plastic and scratch remover on my hatches that sit in the sun year round.They also make a kit that has ultra fine grades of wet sand paper starting at 1500 to10,000 that will bring back the worst plastic. hope it helps

[Liberator*21]

Yep, been down that road already. It's in the plastic, not surface related. Short of a new windshield I'd prefer to paint it but I'm at a loss to know how or even if it's recommended............Thx for your input.

[opsdave]

Gary

Have you ever used Krylon Fusion paint? I have not used it myself, but have heard it works well on plastic. You might be limited in color selection though. Another option would be to talk to a body shop. PPG makes an interior paint that adheres to plastic pretty well. You can get it mixed in any color or sheen that you want. I have painted some dashboards and plastic door panels with it. It seems to hold up pretty well.

Dave

[Liberator*21]

Dave,
I've searched around a little but haven't committed to anything as of yet, still looking for someones experience in doing the same thing. Windshield get's more crap on it from towing than it does boating so I'm looking for something that's very, very durable............

[sho305]

I've painted plastic many times, the big problem is how much it flexes which can be more than the paint. In general treat it like a plastic bumper on a car. If it is plexi or lexan that is easier because it is fairly rigid. I just wet sand it with 600 or finer usually, use the plastic adhesion promoter (clear sealer kind of stuff, walmart even had it in spray cans last time I used it), then paint like a car. With plastic it is better to limit coats/thickness so it has less chance of cracking. You may have to use an undercoat of primer or color to combat transparency issues, make sure you shine a light through it before you clear or finish painting to check that if it could be an issue. If you use a solid color like white they typically cover a lot better than metallics, if you use a white/black under your color that can change the shade lighter or darker. Sometimes I used up other paints for base coats like that. You may also want to test spray a small area as a few plastics the solvents can attack and you have to be careful what primer/sealers you use on them, or may have to use a primer/sealer to seal it (as I typically use as little as I can under the paint), always spray the first coats on light and give ample time between coats. Also wash it and then solvent wash it before you start, naptha or mineral spirits usually don't bother most plastic, but I had a golfcart body it softened up. I also sprayed some RC car clear bodies, those you do backwards from the inside so I put stripes and such on it then put a white cover coat over it all to get rid of the transparency. I wanted the colors to stay light/bright and they did. That was various spraycan paint instead of auto paint. Randy might also give some tips, the one that sells the Liberators and Checkmates he is very talented with painting but his screen name...is WILDMAN.

[Liberator*21]

Thanks, I'll give Randy a shout...........

[Ronny Jetmore]

one little thing that i learned from the guys at meade and jan's shoppe; after the plastic is prepped to paint, right before you paint, quickly, and not too closely, flash a little propane torch in front of the substrate, just for a split second. not always, but often, that procedure will make all the difference in foreign objects (namely, paint, in this case) bonding well. i don't know the physics behind it, but as it has been explained to me, it "wakes up" a stubborn and dead surface to create a better "bite". my 2 cents

[Liberator*21]

Just an update as this is the way I went.........

http://www.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?269700-Liberator-gets-Carbon-Fiber-Windshield