Painting techniques on Quad: Specificities and tips

In our series of articles concerning the specificities of the techniques applied to painting, here is a chapter dedicated to the specificities of quad painting. Many Quad owners and enthusiasts want to personalize their machine with the colors of their choice, and sometimes even freehand designs with airbrushes or Custom paint type graphics. Below, we present the summarized technique for preparing fairings and painting (all types of decoration) on a quad, with detailed information at the bottom of the page.

How to paint a quad: the technique summarized in a few steps

Step 1 ► remove the plastic fairings

Step 2 ► remove the stickers using a dryer or heat gun

Step 3 ► Flame the Quad fairing with a gas flame

Step 4 ► Scrub the Quad fairings with a green abrasive sponge and thinner

Step 5 ► Apply a coat of P230 plastic adhesion primer

Step 6 ► Follow before 2 minutes, with the base coat of paint

Step 7 ► Let dry and sand with P500

Step 8 ► Make the decorations according to the rules of the art of painting and according to the instructions for the specific paint

Step 9 ► varnish with 2 coats of flexible varnish

How to paint on a Quad?

Once you know the specifics of painting on Quads, it is actually possible to apply any paint or personalized decoration (gold leaf, hydrographic transfer, Candy paint, glitter, chrome... ).

The main specificities of painting on Quad are first of all the type of support. These are mainly small plastic fairings. And not just any plastic, since it is thick polypropylene or polyethylene. These are particularly resistant and flexible plastics. This is the same type of plastic that car bumpers are made of. Those who have ever tried painting on PP or ST have quickly realized that it is very difficult to get adhesion on this type of Quad fairing.

Fortunately, there are techniques for preparing plastic, which, coupled with a specialized primer for PP and PE, can give an excellent level of adhesion, which will allow the decorative painter to give his client a guarantee of good performance of the painting and its decor.

The application and use of an adhesion promoter for general and even specialized plastics cannot claim to give rise to a guarantee of adhesion. This simply isn't enough because these types of plastic are exceptionally difficult for solvents and paints to penetrate. The preparation which consists of flaming then rubbing with solvent is the only valid technique to obtain quality adhesion. In addition to this, Stardust is the only company that offers a specific adhesion promoter for polypropylene (PP plastic primer: P230).

Other specificities of quad paintings

All Quad fairings generally include 3 or 4 pieces with the front part, which includes 2 large mudguards and a tank protector, the rear part which is essentially made up of 2 large mudguards and finally, a small part which usually covers the flywheel and starter.

It is possible on this type of surface to use any paint, because the budget will never be very high even for the most expensive paint in the world, due to the limited amount of surface to cover. On the other hand, there is no restrictive law on Quad paintings, the practice of which is mainly done in the wilderness or in the desert.
Quad riding obviously implies off-road riding, and of course the paints are put to the test. Moreover, the fairings are very flexible (hard fairings would inevitably be broken), since they can be folded up to 90°.

Both to resist shocks and chips, but also the significant bending of the different parts, it is important and even imperative to use flexible paints. This poses absolutely no problem for single-component paints, both for water-based paints, which are naturally very flexible even after several months or years, and for solvent-based paints which are very thin and very flexible throughout their entire lifespan. lifetime. The problem of cracks or broken paintwork when twisting the fairings is one of the possible defects and represents a specificity of the techniques applied to the Quad.

To protect the paintwork, we use a bodywork varnish, and sometimes some use “direct gloss” polyurethane finishing lacquers. All of these two-component products are susceptible to cracking or breaking, as they become harder and more brittle over time. Even if a varnish is flexible during the first weeks, it will break and separate from its background paint, after a few months, with a simple twist or fold of more than 15 or 20° only. We therefore use a well-known additive specific to the techniques applied to Quad, it is the softener. It is only useful in two-component paints and two-component varnishes.

The total dry thickness to monitor!

In order to avoid peeling or breakage which can occur at any level in the different layers of paint, it is important to have flexible paint. The use of our softening additive not only allows the paint to remain flexible, but also to be able to better resist impacts.
In the field of automobiles and trucks, all painting professionals know it well: to resist stone chips, a flexibilizing additive must be added to the varnish. On the contrary, all very hard paints are very likely to break.

There is another parameter that is very important to know: the more layers there are and the greater the total dry thickness, the more likely the entire paint is to peel off or crack upon impact. or a fold.

Therefore, when designing your painting project, you must limit the application of layers as much as possible and remove unnecessary products to achieve a maximum thickness of 60 to 80 dry microns. For example, we do not recommend applying many primer coats and we do not recommend applying more than 2 coats of varnish.

Some flame-based decoration ideas

Flames are an easy decoration for the airbrush artist to create. For the client, it is the assurance of a unique and very visually attractive decor, while guaranteeing a light budget, since flame decorations, also called “true fire” are relatively quick and easy. This decoration is composed of a base coat, a few flames, then a colored varnish. This has the advantage of a relatively low total thickness.
The technique is likely to please everyone, since it is easy to personalize the flames with the customer's favorite color. It is in fact possible to make blue flames, purple flames, green flames, and of course red or orange-yellow...
It is always interesting to mix the theme of flames with another design, such as an animal or a face for example.

Graphic decorations on the Quads

Here is a personalized decoration theme, for which the painter does not need to have any drawing talent. Custom graphics allow a lot of freedom and creativity on the part of the Custom painter. This type of decor comes from California, the cradle of personalized painting since 1950.

From simple lines, to stylized flames, through intertwined areas of color, with shading or textures... we advise all those who have a project to decorate their Quad to take the time to research on the Internet to get ideas and inspiration. It is often by drawing inspiration from professional painters that we learn a lot about techniques and tips.

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