FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

so the last couple weekend, i've started sanding my plastics down ready to paint them. i am stuck on the tank cover. i managed to get the stickers off the bottom on the left and right side, but i'm stuck on the ones at the top. the stickers go into the little indents on either side. i've been struggling with a blow dryer and a razor blade (neither work too well). unfortunately the razor blade is not going to fit in the indents, so i'm trying to figure out how the hell i'm gonna get the stickers outta there. anyone got any ideas?

oh here's a link to the paint style my bike is (not my bike, but a good example). i think dr. rockso has the same paint scheme as well.

Pretty pic in the link....

last year i had a lot of trouble with the tank cover. Even after i got all the stickers off, my new paint kept peeling in the same spot of the old stickers. Ended up covering the spots with glazing putty, then a little filler primer and sweet black paint......

DEMO...........

You've done everything I can think of. Although, have you tried one of those flexible sanding pads? You could just sand the sticker away.

demon_knight69 wrote:i'm stuck on the ones at the top. the stickers go into the little indents on either side. i've been struggling with a blow dryer and a razor blade (neither work too well). unfortunately the razor blade is not going to fit in the indents, so i'm trying to figure out how the hell i'm gonna get the stickers outta there. anyone got any ideas?

The hottest setting for the heat and possibly an old spoon to fit into the indention. If it's a spoon you don't particularly care about, then you could even use a file and/or whetstone to sharpen it to a pretty good edge. Just make sure it's stainless, not silver or aluminum. Silver and aluminum can't hold an edge worth crap, and while stainless can, it's a PITA to sharpen.

After scraping it'd be sanding time.

hmm.. i didn't think the tank had indents for stickers? I know my stock tank stickers are clearcoated over.
Anyway if the razor blade doesnt fit, I say get some hobby knives. Harbor freight has a large kit of them for only a few bones, so if you have a store near you go pick it up. I have one and it comes with some flat scraper type blades that will probably work well for you.

Sand it off for sure!

Go for the spining soft wire wheel on your battery drill.Then start the bare tank paint job.
If you think thats harsh its the sandpaper.

thanks for the suggestions guys! the tank has a red and white stick that goes right through the indents, and then it seems like it had a clear coat over that. i used 400 grit sandpaper on the whole tank cover and what i thought was paint (ended up being stickers). after i got it all sanded, i started picking at it again and found out they were stickers. shoulda left them them sanded and just painted over them . oh well, i've got a harbor freight pretty close by so i may pick up a set of hobby knives. the drill bit sandjob may be another good bet. my fingers are SHOT. i've sanded half my thumb down, sliced my fingers in a few spots, and the tips of my fingers are tender as hell from using the razor blade. hopefully it'll be worth it once i have a black bike with all the plastics

40grit on a belt sander....

The ones on the tank do seem to be the hardest to get off I'd say that do that at the factory due to petrol spills. I used this thing called a caramel wheel, not sure of the correct name but it smells like caramel when you use it. It's like a big eraser that you put in a drill. That and some good old chemicals. Still was a PITA to get of so I just sanded the crap out of the tank with 120grit on an random orbital.

yzf tank swap

megaloxana wrote:yzf tank swap

sand blaster?

shredex wrote:sand blaster?

unfortunately sand blasting plastics can be very harmful to the plastic, otherwise i'd have taken the whole lot of plastics and had them blasted. woulda been done with my prep work in less than an hour

megaloxana wrote:yzf tank swap

very tempting, but at this point, i've done too much work to not see it through to the end. i might heads over to harbor freight today, they've got some nice sets of hobby knives that might do the trick.

13 pice
56 piece
33 piece

if the hobby knife trick doesn't work, guess i'll break out some kinda sander and throw it in the drill.

I had the same 96 FZR. I sanded the crap out of the tank cover with my orbital sander. It is surely no fun. The side fairings were worse!

darrin

ragedigital wrote:I had the same 96 FZR. I sanded the crap out of the tank cover with my orbital sander. It is surely no fun. The side fairings were worse!

darrin

luckily the side fairings i've got are already sticker free . i picked up the deluxe hobby knife set at harbor freight today, i was very tempted to grab an orbital sander while i was in there. the knives will come in handy anyway, so im not too worried about wasted money, but if all else fails i think i'll go back for the sander