looking for a primer, preferably a spray, for scooter plastic. Will be using “Acrylic polymer emulsion” paint over top followed by a spray on clear coat.
The brand and name in Chinese would be plenty, I’m sure i can find it once i know the specific name.
If you keep your eye peeled for an auto paint shop where they mix colors, they’ll be able to set you up with a plastic primer that would be used for auto bumpers, etc. I used to paint scooters a few years back and got my supplies from such a shop near the SongShan airport in Taipei selling the Glasurit brand (now a subsidiary of BASF).
A product like this: glasurit.com/uk/glasurit-285 … ing-filler
But it doesn’t come in aerosol cans, so a compressed air w/sprayer setup is required, or otherwise have it primed by a local scooter paint shop.
Be very careful spraying any 2 part urethanes… they contain isocyanates and therefore very bad for you! You must be protected and make sure that paint fume doesn’t harm your neighbor. This is the reason why I only spray nitrocellulose lacquer, because while that’s still bad it’s nowhere near as bad as isocyanates.
good to know, thanks! any chance you have these names in Chinese? using English names as these is about as useful as using Latin or Arabic around here. That said i have yet to even find a body shop that paints around here yet 
i bought some $70nt “black spray paint that works on plastic” but am not willing to test it out on much more than my helmet.
its a white can with 2 chinese characters, first being “white” (bai) and a rainbow pattern on it. in english it says “Colorful & life time” is this OK to use?
You need to look at the ingredient… 2 part paint obviously comes in two cans and you mix them before you spray it.
Most plastics are paintable but you need to find out what kind of plastic your helmet is made of. PVC in particular can’t be painted on (not even epoxy will stick to PVC). Some plastics like polystyrene in particular will be melted by most paint… probably fine with thick sheets but if it’s thin then don’t try to paint it. PE is also not all that paint friendly…
What are you trying to do? Are you trying to customize your own helmet? Unfortunately I really don’t know how to explain paint types… I get confused myself sometimes and I have to read the ingredient list carefully to determine what works. Also most the time I had to experiment with various brands of paint… it really sucks that I can’t just hit up an auto supply shop and find auto paint… no auto place I know of in Taiwan deals with paints and finishes, no idea why. Seems customizing car exterior (flame jobs and stuff) is illegal. There are apparently only certain colors that are allowed on cars, and I think any changes must be registered.
wow, that last bit is surprising, but i wonder if that is the reason for the serious lack of creativity seen in car design here??? is it legal for me to paint my scooter? i doubt here would be trouble knowing what is driving around here but be interesting to know anyway.
I have yet to find a single place that does any painting, car or scooter… My specific goal is to paint my scooter. Helmets were just practice, but now i am realizing you are likely right that different plastic type swill have different chemistry, i hadnt thought of that at all!
so there are 2 obvious types of plastic on my scooter, the smooth white stuff and the common black stuff. I assume they are different, but i have taken apart my scooter body work fully and there is no stamp inside displaying the type of plastic, so i am not sure how to find out. Might call SYM, but i cant see that phone call ending in any answers.
i have bought about $2000 worth of different paints/sprays/pens/markers and am still not happy with any of them. but i just got a new spray can today, $300/can!!!, from B&Q i hope to use as a primer. they said it would work on plastic, but that was in chinese and they didnt seem too sure (they as in 3 people arguing over it). it is a green/white can called “Ecolox” and is water based. anyone with experience with it?
tis a pain dealing with people who are not really experienced then also have the language barrier. might just say fuck it and paint the damn scooter whether its ok or not haha.
You need to head to paint stores. Trouble is 99.9% of their customers are people doing work on houses so they tend to carry products along that line. Occassionally they might have auto stuff and that’s really what you should be looking for. Waterbased is a lot of wishful thinking.
If you want to get serious about painting forget spray cans… you need a spray setup or find someone who has one. I can lend you the use of those setup if you bring your own spray gun… I hope you know how to use them. There are guys who does airbrush work on motorcycle parts and helmets but I really don’t know what are the laws on motorcycle colors… I guess you could try, worst thing they do is confiscate your motorcycle.
well thanks for the offer, but i dont have experience with guns aside from house painting. I want to brush it on anyway. so far i have tried all the house painting and motorcycle repair shops around, as well as school supply shops and B&Q. i just tried the new water based eco stuff, complete crap… the oil stuff seems to be working well, on a helmet.
do you know the name, in chinese, of a brush on paint that will stick to plastic? half the problem in Taiwan is just finding the name they know. its like a secret password and once you have it everyone has what you need all of a sudden.
I don’t know. You got enamels, lacquers, or waterbased paints. You still haven’t told me what kind of plastic you are painting so the answer will depend. PVC and PE is impossible to paint because no known substance will stick to them, unless the paint contains THF in the case of PVC. You might try model shops in ximen.
If you don’t know the type of plastic, look for a recycle symbol anywhere on it, there’s a number that tells you what it is, or sometimes it will say it. Otherwise check the tag that came with the product, it will say it as well.