Updating faded plastic parts

Brian talks about one of his specialties: neglected motorcycle restoration.

As bikes get older and spend more time in the sun, the unpainted plastics (rear fender, handlebar switches, etc...) start fading to grey. Wait long enough and they become this almost Ash grey color.... Well, there are 2 products on the market that can help this. Krylon Fusion (for plastics) paint and PlastiKote Vinyl Dye. I've used the PlastiKote stuff extensively in the past, but decided to try the unknown and see how the Krylon stuff stood up. In the end, I found out that it doesn't..... so if you plan on doing this, take the effort to find the PlastiKote product.

Anyway, both products are found in rattle-can form, typically right next to all the spray paints. Directions are straight-forward on how to prep the surfaces (clean with lacquer thinner or acetone; I washed mine with dish soap to knock off all the big chunks and degrease it a little before the acetone rub down). You should be doing this outside and with temps between 50 and 80 F. You just apply, rather like paint... but these products are Dyes... meaning there's no real 'film' that covers up scratches and nicks. It also won't crack or peel, because it actually Dyes the plastic instead of covering it up. 15 minites of time and I took a hugger from the first picture to the 2nd:

And the bike from this:

To this:

As you can tell, it makes quite the difference. Next up is my switchgear:

Also, they make more than just black, so I'll be able to turn my pink stop/run button back to red.