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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> How would you restore sun damage of the speedomete
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Message started by Kaffe on 06/25/25 at 10:18:44

Title: How would you restore sun damage of the speedomete
Post by Kaffe on 06/25/25 at 10:18:44

trying to figure out the best and cheapest way to restore the plastic around the speedometer, any ideas/tips/directions are welcome

Title: Re: How would you restore sun damage of the speedo
Post by Dave on 06/25/25 at 11:06:38

Sun damage to plastic is pretty permanent - the color is bleached out and wipe on chemicals really won't bring it back.

Take is apart and paint it with a satin black paint that is compatible with plastic.

Title: Re: How would you restore sun damage of the speedo
Post by Axman88 on 06/25/25 at 11:51:25

The problem with plastics and long term sun exposure is that damage is not just cosmetic, UV breaks down polymer chains, and material becomes more brittle, less impact resistant, and weaker.

Of course, this depends on what kind of plastic it is. ABS, which would be my first guess of material, is not great in surviving long term UV exposure.

If I thought a part was heading towards becoming dust, I'd shop for a more youthful replacement, while the model had was still relatively recently out of production. Steel parts can survive centuries if maintained. Most plastics in common use today were only invented after WW2. It's unusual for anything made of thermoplastic to survive more than a few decades.

Title: Re: How would you restore sun damage of the speedo
Post by Kaffe on 06/25/25 at 20:22:51

So paint! Thanks family! :)

Title: Re: How would you restore sun damage of the speedo
Post by Dave on 06/26/25 at 03:48:56

152C39353A6C6C540 wrote:

Of course, this depends on what kind of plastic it is. ABS, which would be my first guess of material, is not great in surviving long term UV exposure.

I would guess that there are plenty of "spares" out there from folks who have torn bikes down or replaced their tanks with somethings else. I will look and see if I have one. I really like the Rustoleum 2X spray paint - it works well. I believe the Satin Black will be the closest match.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum-2X-Ultra-Cover-Satin-Canyon-Black-Spray-Paint-and-Primer-In-One-NET-WT-12-oz/5014069661?gStoreCode=1160&gQT=2

I do believe a lot of the motorcycles (and other vehicles) with plastic parts will not be around or capable of being re-stored in the same way we can restore older vehicles with metal parts. I see the ATV and SidexSide vehicles with plastic parts all sun faded and eventually the plastic gets a white look and the parts begin to crumble. On vintage motorcycles the most difficult thing to restore is the chrome, while the painted metal parts can be repaired nicely - in not too many years modern motorcycles are going to have a lot of brittle plastic parts that cannot be repaired.