New member, old questions :)

Hi everybody.

I recently switched (upgraded) from a GSXR 750 to a Interceptor. So I am a Honda guy now
Just wondering if you can give me some directions please.

1. How do I find out the color code of my bike. I checked a few sites, there are two colors, NH-2M and NHA95M, not sure which is it. That should be easy, 2008 has only Silver or Red, I hear.
2. Where do you guys buy fairings? OEM are overpriced. Any of you had a good experience with EBay or iOffer? This sound like a good deal. 8HJG VFR800 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 for sale

I am considering both options: paint or replace fairings. whatever is better. I appreciate all your inputs from people with the same bike.

My ride: 2008 VFR800 VTEC ABS (US model)
color: OEM Metalic Grey or Silver, dont even know what they call it.

Thank you

 

:welcome: to the zoo mate :wave:
The color code can be found under the seat on the frame. Your 2008 is called sword silver.
OEM Fairing can be expensive and eBay Chinese replacement is not worth it. I am sure Toe and zoom zoom can give you more details so what wrong with the fairing and where is the bike? Could not see on your post.......Maybe you need flash for the photo

 

Thanks for replying Scubalong,

You mean beneath the seat, so remove the seat or below on the frame? Because under there are only two stickers, one with VIN and model and another one with the tires info. But I will check again.
I am also waiting for Toe or Zoom Zoom to give me their thought in this matter.
Bike is in the garage. I dropped it, stupid accident, when pulling out of the driveway. Cold tires, leaned too much, maybe a little dew, vizor foggy......dont exactly know how happened. I am not a new rider, I had all kinds of bikes before, I am so pissed..

see pictures.

 

Remove the seat. There should be a sticker on the frame under there with the colour code on it. Or Google it. You will find somewhere that has it posted up.

 

I feel your pain Brother, makes you sick to your stomach doesn't it? I hear Randy might know something about this too. Happens to the best of us, but still doesn't make you feel any better.
John

 

Don't be to hard on yourself, many of us including myself have done worse. Take your time and hunt on fleebay you might find the right side fairing. Repaint would cost about the same or more for the price of the fairing and it might not match.

 

How deep are those gouges in the front fairing? That might require a little more than paint. Looks like the other scratches can be feathered out and bike painted though. I haven't fixed mine from the last two drops yet. My fix has damage pretty much the same spots but not quite as deep. Only the cost of the graphics is a little on the high side.

 

I think the colour is called Sword Silver.
I went the china route when I bought replacements for my 07 and I'm not happy with the fit or finish but they did hide her naked bones so I got what I paid for especially since they gave me $200 back after I complained.

Since then I have collected a complete set of OEM plastics which I will have professionally painted...

 

It does. plus embarrassment. you ride safe on the fast highways and busy streets surrounded by stupid drivers and drop like a rookie in front of your own driveway. yeah, it did make me sick.

Where do I get good cheap fairings?

Thanks

 

pretty deep. new new one. I was thinking to get a set on aftermarkets. cheaper but I am just afraid of fit. I hate lose and improvised plastic. It needs to be perfect like before. Cant match this paint. it's metallic, either new fairings or new paint job.
I just need some input from someone that went with Chinese aftermarkets.

 

Be patient do google search, Craig list and ebay

 

You can get the paint matched. They matched my Pearl White at a body shop. If the shop you are dealing with does not have the paint charts, then move on. From what I can see in those photos, the only fairing that may need replacing is the front fairing. Those are deep enough scratched that a lot of black plastic is showing. Those may be able to be repaired but I don't have confidence in that deep of a repair. The other scratches should be able to be feathered out and re-painted.

Did you find that paint code beneath the seat. It is big enough that it will jump out and just slap you silly across the face.

Personally, I would stay away from the made in China stuff. No one here has come out and said they thought the fairings from China are good products.

 

Since your bike is a 6 th gen you may be able to get new OEM panels from a place like Motorcycle Parts, Motorcycle Accessories by BikeBandit.com or maybe Ronayers.com Ron Ayers Motorsports RonAyers.com or Honda Motorcycle,Honda ATV Parts Up To 40% Off, Accessories

Personally I have used HondaPartsNation and Bike Bandit and the service from both was excellent and their prices are far lower than from the dealer.

As as for body shops being able to match the color, I would venture that any good body shop should be able to match the color but they will have to blend any panel that butts directly with a damaged panel. You are correct in assuming that it is very difficult to match metallic paints and especially when you paint one panel that butts directly up against another. Since you upper and lower cowl are damaged they would have to paint both panels. Since the upper cowl is one piece (I am assuming this because my 5th gen upper cowl is one piece) the body shop would apply color to only the damaged side and then blend around the front so that by the time you get to the other side all they will have done is apply new clear coat. That way there will be no difference between the upper and lower cowl on the other side.

I had had a local body shop paint the lower cowls on my bike to repair some badly chipped and pitted areas and they did a fantastic job and I have a very hard time telling the difference. Only if I hold the solo seat cover up against the lower cowl can I see a very slight difference, but since the two do not butt up against one another, it makes no real difference.

 

Very educated and informative reply. Thank you.
I am not sure if I want to go that route, painting the new fairings and blend in with the existing ones and the tank. hard to match.
I was considering replacing all plastic, but there will still be the tank issue.
I think I will have to get OEMs with original paint, if I find it. Would ? I dont know, never replaced plastic on my previous bikes, so stupid, I still cant get over it! I will have to start shopping around. I hate the look of damaged bike. The sooner I fix it the bettter.
Thank you for the references, I will check into those sites right away.

 

You do not want Chinese...I ordered an Upper Cowl (the nose) and promptly sent it back it was so nasty on the inside, tabs were not the same as OEM the cutouts for the turn signals and the like looked like crap. I do not recommend china plastic.

I have found Partzilla.com - OEM Powersports Parts from Honda, Kawasaki Polaris, Suzuki and Yamaha at discounts up to 80% off MSRP to be the cheapest for OEM parts.

 

Hey Aqua

Though I can't quite tell from the original pictures, I can't see any damage to the tank, though I'm not sure you mean the tank is damaged. If there is no tank damage then I think the blend would be fine. My guess would be that the body shop would choose to paint color only on the side of the damaged side cowl and upper cowl area and would only carry clear paint over the top surfaces that butt up to your tank. This way you still have factory color (with new clear coat only) paint matching up with the tank surface. As for the lower part of the side cowl that butts against the frame, there is enough of a gap between the side cowl and tank that it is highly doubtful that you would ever see the difference. Similarly with the side profile of the upper cowl, the color portion of the new paint would probably stop just above the contour line where the damage is on the edge. The body shop would have to re-clear the whole upper fairing cowl so that there would be no issues with the clear coat peeling but again, the front of the upper cowl and around the other side would only have new clear coat so the color match to the fairings on the left side of the bike would remain unchanged.

As food for thought I might offer up a personal experience. On my last bike (a 97 VFR750) I had to replace the left upper cowl section of the front fairing because the side stand sank in to the hot asphalt and the bike fell over on the left side. I ordered a new piece from Honda directly as I did not want to have to worry about matching issues with the red paint (factory color was a tri-coat pearl red so very hard to match) and when I installed the new part I noticed that was an actual color difference. The dealer said that even though the paint code was correct, the factory paint on the rest of the bike will fade and change slightly over time. The other thing they mentioned is that a new panel of the exact same code may be slightly different in color because the part may have been painted at a different time with a different batch of paint and there can be variations in the hue of the paint from batch to batch. This can mean that even a new part, direct from the dealer, may not be a perfect match either.

My suggestion, first and foremost, would be to talk to a couple of body shops and see what they say about cost and weigh that against the cost of getting some new panels. You may find the cost of going with a re-paint to be less than the cost of new panels, or vice-versa. I have a local painter here that did my last bike after an incident (aargh) and he only charged me $750 to re-paint the whole bike (on a 97 VFR750 the fairing splits down in to about 30 separate pieces so getting them all in the booth at the same time was a challenge) and the job was amazing. Keep in mind that as I do Paintless Dent Repair for a living I deal with a lot of the local auto body shops on a regular basis and hence would get a better deal on price than most off-the-street customers.

 

Thank you very much. I will check that too. I am educating myself into getting fairings now, never needed other accessories, brakes and common engine and maintenance parts.
Yes, turns out that Chinese is out of discussion. I dont need complications. I am mature enough to know that it is not worth compromising quality for money. I will get OEMs whether will be primed or painted, to be decided.

Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it. So glad I found you guys, you are a fine bunch in here

 

Yes good to know. Did you have to paint the tank too? What did you do? did you remove it or brought the bike in the shop?
No, my tank is fine. Just the upper cowl is scratched on the right side and the lower cowl. Brake pedal and the passenger foot rest. By the way, whats a good place to get those?
The left side is still mint. So I am debating if getting primed cowls and painting the whole thing would be a better option versus getting painted OEM panels. I gues I will have to check with a couple of paint shops around, preferably specialized in bikes. Dont know any around though.
Like I said, I have to educate myself in fairings suppliers and paint shops, never needed before.

Thank you again.

 

When I had the bike painted as a whole I removed the tank and brought all the pieces to the shop. If you do decide to have the bike painted be sure to bring with you any pieces that butt directly to the parts you are having painted. I have yet to run into a body shop where I live that wants to remove motorcycle panels and honestly I would rather remove the panels myself so as to prevent them being broken.

As for which shop to use, I would check around with a few motorcycle dealers and ask which shops they either use or would recommend. Another option would be to ask around at your local Harley Davidson dealer. If I were to make an observation only, a lot of HD owners tend to personalize their bikes a bit more than most sport bike owners by painting them so FWIW check with someone who has a custom painted bike and see if they have a recommendation.

If you wanted to replace the brake lever and passenger foot rest you could try Bike Bandit or Honda parts nation as well. I think both sites offer both OEM parts and aftermarket stuff as well. Another site you may want to check out and bookmark is www.aviciouscycle.ca They sell all manner of bike goodies and they are located in eastern Canada so shipping might be cheaper. They won't sell fairing pieces or OEM parts but they do carry a lot of aftermarket farkles. I bought the GIVI luggage for my 5th gen from them and they were great guys to deal with.

i have a best friend of 30 years who lives in Calgary that got me into bikes in the first place and one of the first things he ever told me was "The first rule of motorcycling is that sooner or later your bike WILL fall over. With any luck, you won't be moving very fast, if at all, when it goes down."

Thankfully the only thing YOU damaged was your pride. I have only ever suffered one crash and it was not an experience I would wish to repeat. Body panels and parts of the bike are relatively easy to fix compared to human body parts.

Good luck with the repairs.

 

You seem to be hell bent on spending money that need not be spent. Zoom-zoom's paint issues will not be even close to yours. His bike is red. One of the worst colours for paint fading. Yours will not fade much unless it is left out in the Arizona sun constantly. You bike is 5 years old at best. Most people keep their bikes in the garage so I really doubt that fading will be an issue. I am sure you could sand and paint up those side fairings for a hell of a lot cheaper that buying OEM or even after market. A good body shop may even be able to fix those gouges in the front panel and paint it up too.

Did you ever locate that paint code? It is so out there to see, it will slap you right in the kisser soon as you remove the seat.