How To Restore ATV Plastic? 5 Ways You Should To Know

Since ATVs invest the majority of their time outdoors, their plastic body ends up being discolored from the sunlight's rays, as well as surging around in dirt, mud, snow, and also water does not help. Plastics get messed up by boots or passing particles, and also splits can appear in the body or windshield.

There are a few choices for restoring your ATV's faded plastic so it appears like a showroom model once more. These alternatives differ in price as well as problem.

In this guide, we clarify exactly how to make your ATV resemble new. We provide you with some suggestions on exactly how to restore ATV plastic.

How To Restore Faded Plastic

Now that you understand what creates your ATV plastic to fade allow's take a look at the various ways you can recover your vehicle to its previous glory.

When it concerns restoring your ATV, there are many methods that can be made use of to take on discolored plastic, with everyone delivering different outcomes. So to help you at the same time, we have actually detailed the various techniques down below.

Before you restore your ATV plastic, you should keep your ATV clear. Wash the ATV completely using Dawn dishwashing fluid. Dawn helps get rid of oils and grease from the surface area. And afterward, completely dry the maker totally. If there are scratches, you will also require to sand its plastic surface.

1. Boiled Linseed Oil For Faded Plastic

Linseed oil can recover discolored plastic, however, it takes ages to dry. You need boiled linseed oil, rather. Note-- this does not imply you steam the linseed oil on your own! It implies that the linseed oil has actually been pre-treated to completely dry faster.

To speed up points along, choose boiled linseed oil and mix it with paint thinner. We advise a 40/60 proportion of linseed oil as well as paint thinner.

Begin by cleaning your ATV extensively. For best results, you'll intend to eliminate the rack as well as any other parts of the device that are covering the plastics.

Apply the mix to your plastics using a completely dry cloth. You'll discover the linseed oil will remove the oxidization that's causing fading. After you have actually used the blend to all the plastic, allow it a full day to dry.

If you maintain your ATV covered and do not use it on a daily basis, this restore will certainly last for a couple of months. If you continuously use your ATV outdoors, this treatment might be called for to be done again in 4-6 weeks.

The following video shows you how to restore ATV plastic with boiled linseed oil.

2. Using Plastic Restore

There are plenty of products in stores that declare to recover plastic. One of the most preferred is Solution Finish and CAR GUYS Plastic Restorer.

A look through customer testimonials shows that they work. How much time the remediation lasts differs from item to item, and just how well you protect your ATV. Yet most appear to last for a number of months.

When using a certain restorer, inspect the instructions of the application on the label. Also, the majority of these items are likewise helpful for plastic. If your ATV seat has a plastic cover, you can make use of these restorers to reverse fading.

3. Using Liquid Wax To Restore Faded ATV Plastic

First, you should remove the skid plates and racks. If they are drastically damaged whatsoever, you might intend to replace them totally. To enhance your better-looking new plastics, you may intend to strip or sand your racks and repaint them with a spray-on bed liner.

Next up, offer the ATV a good clean overall. Now, it's time to prepare the plastic for waxing. This means fining sand the plastic with fine sandpaper, working your way up from the lowest amount of sandpaper to the highest. You can also use an oscillating device to quicken the process. Make certain you're wearing risk-free gloves, and finish up by fining sand with steel wool.

Use a vinyl flooring liquid wax to the plastic using a car and truck wax applicator. Using thin layers, you can service one area of the plastic while one more section dries. You will need to apply a number of coats, and polish the plastic after each application.

After the last layer is full and also bone dry, end up with an automotive wax for an added layer of luster.

This process is more complex than linseed oil and paints thinner restoration, but it usually has longer-lasting results.

4. Using A Heat Gun To Restore ATV Plastics

This is the debatable one that we don't advise. It works such as this: you set the heat gun to the lowest setting and blow it a few inches away from the plastic, moving slowly over the discolored areas.

This approach generates instant outcomes. The faded plastic instantly appears new and also glossy.

While it functions, how it works is the issue. The heat partially thaws the top layer of the plastic, making it show up new.

Comparable to various other plastic restore methods, the heat gun method does not last forever. Oxidation as well as fading will certainly return after a number of weeks or months. So you need to duplicate the treatment.

The trouble is that every time you use a heat gun, the plastic gets more brittle as well as more probable to crack as you set about your riding.

So we do not suggest making use of a heat gun. Use linseed oil or a plastic restorer. If you want long-term remediation, see the last method below. You can watch the following video to learn how to restore ATV plastic with the heat gun.

5. Paint

For the last approach, we are going to go over; we have selected an option that is arguably one of the most efficient when it comes to restoring ATV plastic. If you see that your ATV has actually begun to discolor, you can constantly battle the issue by repainting it.

You can do this by using spray paints ideal for ATV plastic, although you will need to apply a primer coat and a safety top layer for the best outcomes.

Like the majority of recovering approaches, paint is not permanent as well as will certainly start to fade with time. Nevertheless, it can last much longer than various other repair choices and can be quickly reapplied whenever the plastic begins to discolor.

If you want to learn more about paint, you can click here to get a guide for painting your ATV step-by-step.

How To Fix Cracks On Plastic And Windshields

Broken plastic is a little bit a lot more challenging to fix. If a piece of the plastic has come off, not simply a basic fracture, you may be much better off changing the whole plastic part.

However, if it's just a crack, there's hope. We discovered numerous feasible means to repair broken ATV plastic. Nonetheless, most of them, such as using epoxy or superglue do not work well. As quickly as you go out with the ATV once again, the sealed cracks are then loosened

The solution that appears to work ideal is melting the plastic. You can use a plastic welder, heat gun, soldering iron, or some other source of heat to melt the plastic along the crack. You'll require to apply stress on both sides of the plastic up until the melted plastic remedies and holds.

For larger fractures, you may need to thaw an exterior plastic to fill the fracture. You can also get plastic welding rods or reinforcement plastic mesh.

When it comes to the windshield, because it is likely acrylic, an acrylic solvent concrete or an acrylic adhesive is the best option.

Adhere to the directions on the label. Keep in mind to clean the windshield before using any item.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Sand And Also Polish An ATV Plastic?

Plastic burs very easy as well as wet fining sand will prevent that. With the 180 grit just sand the actually bad areas as well as get the deep scratches, nothing even more. After they have gone away, Use 220 on the overall vehicle. Sand up until the shade is also all over and the scratches are gone.

What Can I Use To Brighten Plastic?

Brightening with Toothpaste or Sodium Bicarbonate Toothpaste and baking soda are both light abrasives that you can make use of to brighten plastic. For deeply etched or blemished plastic, capture non-gel toothpaste straight onto the surface and also buff it in a circular movement with a microfiber or cotton cloth.

Can I Use WD 40 On Plastic?

WD-40 Multi-use product is excellent for most plastic surfaces that have actually had a great deal of exterior direct exposure, so it's great for garden furniture. It is very important to note that Polycarbonate and clear polystyrene plastics are among the very few surfaces where WD-40 multi-purpose products can be avoided.

Can You Buff Scratch Out Of ATV Plastic?

The very best method I have actually located for removing light scrapes is to choose some 1500 Grit Wet Sandpaper. Just utilize the sandpaper over the locations with scrapes and also enthusiast it out when you're done. You can end up with a coat of the plastic restorer I discussed above to make it look new.

Can You Use Polishing Substances On Plastic?

To restore the shine, apply a small amount of plastic or metal polish just enough to cover the dull areas, then apply it in a circular motion with a clean, dry cloth. You may need to repeat the process a few times, but eventually, the plastic will shine like new again.

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Rodney L Herron

Rodney L is a technical writer and product consultant with over a decade of experience in the motor industry. Rodney is a fan of performance machines that run fast and loud and an expert in all things custom. His numerous articles and write-ups are available at our knowledge base. Whether it’s something wrong with your motorcycle or you are building a custom bike, you can trust Rodney’s experience.