Painting the Drive Cover

Whilst staring at my pride and joy the other day I perceived that the final drive cover looks rather boring compared to the rest of the 'lines and colours' of the bike..

Can this plastic be painted? I fancy some kind of trimming to enhance it's appearance. The other side has all the glamour of the chrome exhaust covers.

Bearing in mind that the plastic drive cover takes a lot of scuffing from using both the side and centre stand, I wondered if some durable trimming or painting could be applied in places where it doesn't get any punishment?

I'm going to look at the possibilities and maybe design something. Ideas?

In the past I've wondered about some pin-striping on the cover but have never got further than that for the reasons you say.

Pin striping sounds cool, I hadn't considered that. There are parts of the covers which should be out of harm's way. Mmmmmm......

Loosebearing wrote:

I fancy some kind of trimming to enhance it's appearance. The other side has all the glamour of the chrome exhaust covers.

Bearing in mind that the plastic drive cover takes a lot of scuffing from using both the side and centre stand, I wondered if some durable trimming or painting could be applied in places where it doesn't get any punishment?

Ideas?  

Never thought about that part of the body work to mod' before but how durable is vinyl wrap?.

In the past used a Mitsubishi pajero 'solid' rear wheel cover to make mudguards for a small 125cc

A guy at work has a Honda Element and many of the panels are plastic they were faded and ugly.
He covered it in some kind of Wrinkled black coating looks very nice. Not sure what it was I'll ask him tomorrow. It's nice gloss black and a tough coating. It would be great for the tunnel or other bits.
I''ll post again.

I am thinking a dark camo type paint job. Any new scratches or fading will look natural.

Jay.

Mech 1 twa wrote:

A guy at work has a Honda Element and many of the panels are plastic they were faded and ugly.
He covered it in some kind of Wrinkled black coating looks very nice.  Not sure what it was I'll ask him tomorrow. It's nice gloss black and a tough coating.  It would be great for the tunnel or other bits.
I''ll post again.

The tough wrinkled coating just might be truck bed liner epoxy paint, very tough stuff properly applied.

IIRC I've seen some pix of Japanese custom Helixs which had "chrome" belt case cover. So it that's possible then why not a custom paint of your own choosing.

I always fancied having the belt case "engine turned" (guilloche?) and then just installing the front half of the belt case cover. Or having the larger cover sculpted cut to partially expose that engine-turned case.

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

IIRC I've seen some pix of Japanese custom Helixs which had "chrome" belt case cover. So it that's possible then why not a custom paint of your own choosing.

I always fancied having the belt case "engine turned" (guilloche?) and then just installing the front half of the belt case cover. Or having the larger cover sculpted cut to partially expose that engine-turned case.

Would that process be the one we learned in shop class manyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy years ago using various wood dowel rods and an abrasive compound, some nice effects were achieved doing this.

oldwingguy wrote:

Mech 1 twa wrote:

A guy at work has a Honda Element and many of the panels are plastic they were faded and ugly.
He covered it in some kind of Wrinkled black coating looks very nice.  Not sure what it was I'll ask him tomorrow. It's nice gloss black and a tough coating.  It would be great for the tunnel or other bits.
I''ll post again.

The tough wrinkled coating just might be truck bed liner epoxy paint, very tough stuff properly applied.

Halfords used to sell that online but it disappeared from their website,might still be available in the larger stores (though their stock is a bit hit n miss nowadays)

So many good answers. It is a truck bed liner-coating. Raptor bed liner.
Not cheap either 4 liters with a spray gun $110 . More than enough for about 15-20 SW's

I'm sure there are many other options that would be cheaper.

Chrome don't get you home HD quote. To each his own.

Or you can be lazy like me LOL.  I put these on there to break up the monotony. The Monument Valley sticker has been on since 2013 so seems to hold up well. And yes I have been both places on my scoot!

HERCULINER Truck Bed Liner, Black, 15 oz spray can.This can be purchased at Wal-Mart I'm thinking if not the same name brand others similar can be had at auto supply stores.