Joined
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3 Posts
Polishing/Buffing Trx 420 FA 2010 on up
Hey everybody,
I am new to the forum, bur I wanted to share an experience that may help others in the future. For a little background: I have owned several Honda ATVs and have never had anything bad to say about them... until now. For credentials, I have been operating an automotive custom shop for years that does everything from complete electrical harness fabrications, to engine and transmission overhauls, to custom paint and body work.
With that said, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BUFF OR POLISH THE LATE MODEL HONDA ATV PLASTICS. You will be met with much anger and ultimately will likely have to spend hundreds of dollars replacing them, as I did this morning.
Where it begins: I parked the Rancher for the winter (indoors) and mind you it was bright red, shiny, and nice, as it had next to zero scratches and under 400 miles on it (bought new). With that said, I pulled it out for the summer (last week 5/10/18) and was amazed to see that most of the plastic had turned pink over the winter. Moving forward, I have been doing show car-paints jobs for about 20 years-- so today, given my expertise in this area, I decided that it would be a good idea to shine the 2014 Rancher. So I thought well, a little elbow grease and some high end compound will do the trick ($50 a quart stuff). Well after doing a small test area I was amazed to see that it had zero effect even after several passes. From there I thought... hmm, well maybe a mild buff (mind you I have logged at least 1000 hours on a buffer) and this is where the anger began.
Without even barely touching the front fender (never got warm) within 15 seconds (never hovering) the plastic immediately raised in some spots and sank in others (just on the surface, not the actual fender). Needless to say, I about lost it. From there, given that I have wet sanded and buffed several varieties of plastic with great results, I decided to to wet sand out the freshly made unevenness as to at least get back to where I started. From there it gets worse. I was able to smooth the plastic out, but was unable to achieve any level of shine regardless of how many passes I made hand rubbing the fender, post wet-sand. At which point I was on the verge of a full on rage.
So I decided to fall back to a trick that worked on older plastics and this is where it got really really really bad. Using a heat gun, it had zero effect. So the next option is to use a small torch. While not hovering and constantly moving as to make sure the panel didn't overheat, within moments the section in question bubbled/raised like crazy (the look was similar to the effect that a lacquer-based paint has when applied over enamel -- it is called crazing).
Needless to say, a slightly faded pane, with no oxidation, that had zero scratches is now utterly and completely ruined. Given that I am so fussy and meticulous about my equipment I was not having it. So I called the local dealer, where I purchased the machine, and they wanted $500 for the front plastic. Fortunately, seeing as though I just bought a plow and winch kit yesterday, and have also bought several machines through them... I was able to negotiate them down to $300. Which is where the nightmare ends (at least until I get the credit card bill) given that I will have the replacement plastic in few days.
On a side note, I have seen similar issues when repairing late model car bumpers as they are now molded/impregnated with wax (why I don't know) and making paint stick to them is quite difficult and requires a multi-stage process involving chemicals and coatings and also when prepping and scuffing one must be very careful as to not bring the wax to the surface (heat). With that said, I never would have thought that an unpainted ATV plastic would use this same type of material... I was wrong.
Now the issue is that I will have a shiny red front fender on machine that is about 60% pink. The solution that I have now devised is to get a custom wrap, and wrap the whole damn thing and move on with my life.
Moral of story: Do not attempt to machine buff the late model Hondas. Do not attempt to heat gun, or torch the fenders. You will regret it!!!!
Hey everybody,
I am new to the forum, bur I wanted to share an experience that may help others in the future. For a little background: I have owned several Honda ATVs and have never had anything bad to say about them... until now. For credentials, I have been operating an automotive custom shop for years that does everything from complete electrical harness fabrications, to engine and transmission overhauls, to custom paint and body work.
With that said, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BUFF OR POLISH THE LATE MODEL HONDA ATV PLASTICS. You will be met with much anger and ultimately will likely have to spend hundreds of dollars replacing them, as I did this morning.
Where it begins: I parked the Rancher for the winter (indoors) and mind you it was bright red, shiny, and nice, as it had next to zero scratches and under 400 miles on it (bought new). With that said, I pulled it out for the summer (last week 5/10/18) and was amazed to see that most of the plastic had turned pink over the winter. Moving forward, I have been doing show car-paints jobs for about 20 years-- so today, given my expertise in this area, I decided that it would be a good idea to shine the 2014 Rancher. So I thought well, a little elbow grease and some high end compound will do the trick ($50 a quart stuff). Well after doing a small test area I was amazed to see that it had zero effect even after several passes. From there I thought... hmm, well maybe a mild buff (mind you I have logged at least 1000 hours on a buffer) and this is where the anger began.
Without even barely touching the front fender (never got warm) within 15 seconds (never hovering) the plastic immediately raised in some spots and sank in others (just on the surface, not the actual fender). Needless to say, I about lost it. From there, given that I have wet sanded and buffed several varieties of plastic with great results, I decided to to wet sand out the freshly made unevenness as to at least get back to where I started. From there it gets worse. I was able to smooth the plastic out, but was unable to achieve any level of shine regardless of how many passes I made hand rubbing the fender, post wet-sand. At which point I was on the verge of a full on rage.
So I decided to fall back to a trick that worked on older plastics and this is where it got really really really bad. Using a heat gun, it had zero effect. So the next option is to use a small torch. While not hovering and constantly moving as to make sure the panel didn't overheat, within moments the section in question bubbled/raised like crazy (the look was similar to the effect that a lacquer-based paint has when applied over enamel -- it is called crazing).
Needless to say, a slightly faded pane, with no oxidation, that had zero scratches is now utterly and completely ruined. Given that I am so fussy and meticulous about my equipment I was not having it. So I called the local dealer, where I purchased the machine, and they wanted $500 for the front plastic. Fortunately, seeing as though I just bought a plow and winch kit yesterday, and have also bought several machines through them... I was able to negotiate them down to $300. Which is where the nightmare ends (at least until I get the credit card bill) given that I will have the replacement plastic in few days.
On a side note, I have seen similar issues when repairing late model car bumpers as they are now molded/impregnated with wax (why I don't know) and making paint stick to them is quite difficult and requires a multi-stage process involving chemicals and coatings and also when prepping and scuffing one must be very careful as to not bring the wax to the surface (heat). With that said, I never would have thought that an unpainted ATV plastic would use this same type of material... I was wrong.
Now the issue is that I will have a shiny red front fender on machine that is about 60% pink. The solution that I have now devised is to get a custom wrap, and wrap the whole damn thing and move on with my life.
Moral of story: Do not attempt to machine buff the late model Hondas. Do not attempt to heat gun, or torch the fenders. You will regret it!!!!
