Helmet painting advice.

[brushit]

Hi, i have painted and sold many motorcycle helmets to satisfied customers. However, the one place i struggle with , is where the paint and clear coat come up against the glued on rubber trim around the helmet. I am really fastidious about my masking technique, but still get a clear coat build up against the rubber . As many of you would be aware , this is a notorious area for peeling. The paint and lacquer should go under the rubber of course. But any way of peeling back the rubber strip seems to be out of the question. Would appreciate any advice or tricks to overcome this problem. Help.!!

 

[Robbyrockett2]

Whats stopping you from peeling off the weatherstrip? it's usually not too difficult to remove

 

[brushit]

I think i tried on one, but it was stuck down really tight and haven`t tried since. Might have another go. Thanks.

 

[Robbyrockett2]

If you end up ever needing any replacement. They have the 3 major styles
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=9319

 

[Jurien72]

I don't know anything about helmets, but theres just no beating the clean crisp separation lines of something completely disassembled for painting. Makes you wish you could buy things in kit form sometimes!

 

[jord001]

The rubber is notoriously fiddly. Doesn't always go back on as it came off.. I taped mine up when i did my helmets.

Lee

 

[Squishy]

I think it depends on the helmet. Some of the full face ones are pretty complicated so I have just masked them off. No one has reported any peeling issues....so far . More traditional open faced (piss pot lids)helmets you can remove much easier. This style seems roundier (technical term ) which may account for more build up by taped edges (my dodgy theory) so if you can remove rubber on them, I do.

 

[barto]

x-acto knife and cut the rubber off from the shell gently. Glue again with cyanoacrylate, if you accidentally stain your helmet with glue just sand it and polish again. You can try windshield adhesive, epoxy resin and double sided acrylic tape for some parts.

 

[Ragno]

Hi, i have painted and sold many motorcycle helmets to satisfied customers. However, the one place i struggle with , is where the paint and clear coat come up against the glued on rubber trim around the helmet. I am really fastidious about my masking technique, but still get a clear coat build up against the rubber . As many of you would be aware , this is a notorious area for peeling. The paint and lacquer should go under the rubber of course. But any way of peeling back the rubber strip seems to be out of the question. Would appreciate any advice or tricks to overcome this problem. Help.!!

I usually mask the rubber, I sand making sure I reach the rubber. which, being masked, is not damaged by sanding, the point is to make sure to leave the surface closest to the rubber matted to open the pore and that there is good anchoring of the paint. Once all the corners have been sanded, we remove the mask from the rubber. and we clean and degrease everything as best as possible, we mask and proceed to apply color, thin layers and let it dry between them. When we apply 2k varnish, the first coat without a load of product, that is, we close the needle of the gun and look for just let it shine, without loading, after leaving 10 minutes of evaporation we apply 2 coats having opened the gun passage a little and we apply a more loaded coat, but let's go, looking for shine and that's it and you put it to dry hanging upside down and so on. I'm sure the varnish doesn't accumulate, as it typically comes off when stretched against the rubber. If you still had peeling problems right next to the rubber, you could use an adhesion promoter before applying color. With all this, I have not had problems with buildup or peeling and I have not had to remove the rubber, which you do remove. It ends up being damaged since it is normally very glued and you have to cut it with a cutter and then to glue it again you run the risk of staining the finished helmet or of it being poorly glued and over time coming off.