Painting damaged fairings vs. Replacing

After a recent accident I am researching whether it would be more cost-effective to have my scratched but not broken right side fairings repainted or replaced. i want to keep the metallic black 06 stock color, would a paint shop be able to make it look like it hasn't been repainted? Or is it easier to just replace the fairings altogether, and if so where would I look for stock or pre-painted fairing pieces for a 6th gen? Thanks in advance for the help

 

well... a body shop worth anything can match the paint up. replacing with the right color your probably looking at just under a grand. for OEM... there are cheap knock off brands.... but you are risking a lot with them.. I would say that if it is not broken and just has some scratches in the paint pull the fairing off.... take it to a body shop.... get an estimate. and go from there....

Good luck..

 

A dead on match is not in the cards. Your bike is five years old and paint changes. A top quality body shop can acess the paint codes but a match? Nope. Even replacing the damaged fairing pieces will show.

Body and paint shops vary and there are levels of expertise and training. Ya got MAACO et al at the bottom and the dudes that do bikes exclusively at the top.

IMO, bite the bullet and have the whole bike done.

Maybe if you are lucky your bike will not come out looking like Crusty's POS...

Sacramento? Wait for info from The TC.. on who to see.

 

No body has even mentioned blending color...if the scratches are on the lower section you don't have to put color all the way to the top you just clear it...and like magic your color still matches..a lot of guys will say you can't blend color on such a small panel but depends on where damage is and where adjacent panels meet up verses repair area...hell ship it to Michigan and i'll start a vfr world discount...lol

 

Try the big online stores for new OEM fairings. Do you need just the upper and lower? I did a quick search in the US. Upper $342, Lower $332 and rear if you really need it is $338. All OEM in pearl black. That's close to what Crusty said. If you just need the upper and lower it might be a toss up as to new paint or replace. There are far more varibles in getting them painted as opposed to selecing NIB. You can factor in the shipping and taxes. If your existing fairings and not too bad you should be able to get from $50 to $100 each from someone in a similar or worse scenario. That's not a bad return in making your decision. Better pull them off and check the stays and inspect for other damage before you decide which way to go. I have both lowers in OEM Force Silver NIB for $220 each and the upper for $200 if you want to change color. No, I thought not. But maybe someone else is looking. Good luck on your repair.

 

Thanks for the input everybody. The worst damage right now on the right is right at the seam where the right side fairing meets the front fairing. I'll try to throw up some pics tomorrow if I can get a chance, bike should be out of the shop by the afternoon but who knows. Geez this is crazy, maybe next time I should just sue the CHP for the repair bill... : |

 

Wow. I was quoted (salesmans estimate) A$1800 a side for 6th gen here in Oz. I may have to emigrate.

 

I have had experience with getting two VFR's painted. My first bike (a 97 VFR) suffered a low side after some squid decided to change lanes without checking to see if anyone (namely me) was coming the other way. I checked around with a couple of local body shops to find out who did some good work on motorcycles. The local Honda dealer gave me the name of a couple of local shops that they used and asked if I could contact some of the people they had painted bikes for. All of them were happy to give me some names of people I could talk to (after checking with the owners of course due to modern privacy laws and to be polite).

The guy that painted my 97 worked at a body shop that let him do jobs on the side. He scanned the parts with a digital camera that takes a picture of the painted surface and determines a paint code and mix to best match the color being scanned. The painter was able to find a close match but the stock color on the bikes is very hard to match perfectly he said. When I had the 97 painted I had ordered factory body panels from Honda and the color match from panel to panel was terrible. I decided to change the color and have one piece repaired (the left rear cowl) because it had cracked in half. The body shop repaired the piece and then painted the whole bike for less than $500. I paid the painter directly for the job and he did it on his own time after hours. The paint job was flawless, with no dust, no runs, or any other blemishes. I was amazed, and could not tell by looking at the cowl where it had been repaired.

My second kick at the cat as it were was with my new to me 2000. The lower cowls and rear tail section needed some TLC since the previous owner had let the bike fall off the kick stand at some point and there was a lot of road rash since the bike has 60,000 km's. The previous owner, by his own admission, said he got his joy from riding the bike and never had time to get around to cleaning it. He admitted to washing the bike twice a year during the 8 years he owned it. Any way, getting back to the topic of painting, I returned to the same guy who painted the first bike. I mentioned that I did not want to paint the whole bike this time as the tank and upper fairing section were in great shape after doing a little wet sanding and polishing. The guy at the body shop scanned the color on the upper section of the fairing and then blended the paint into the lower cowls and then used the new color only on the tail section. The color match at the join between the upper and lower cowl was perfect and the only way to see the slight difference in color is if you hold the front fender (original color) up against the rear tail section (new paint). The tank is still the factory color as well but there is enough of a gap between the lower cowl and the tank that you can't see the difference. Once again the paint job is flawless with no, and I do mean no visible blemishes to the painted parts.

The moral of this long winded story is that if you do some leg work and ask around a bit then you can find the right guy to do the job. The guy that painted both of my bikes has been painting cars and bikes for over 25 years and he does all his own prep work. He says that the key to a good paint job is flawless prep work. A paint job will only look good if you take as much care in preparing the part to be painted as you do in painting the parts.