I just purchased some bags on ebay for my '09 FLSTN. They are the color matched vivid black bags from HD. I want to repaint them to match my bike (two tone White Gold Pearl/Pewter Pearl). I haven't figured out whether I want to tackle painting them myself or not, but first I'll need to prep them. I haven't seen them up close yet. Per the seller, the paint is scratched, but the plastic is in good shape. Has anyone done this before? I wasn't sure whether it was best to remove all the paint, or just sand off the clear coat and feather out the scratches before adding primer, and then the 3 step paint.


I know prep work is the most important thing here, but I've never painted something this nice. I figure it would be a good learning experience, and I'd rather play around with bags rather than the actual bike. For that I would go pro for sure.

 

Did you end up painting them?

 

no, never got around to it. I put them on and they didn't look too bad. I will paint them eventually, just have other priorities right now.

 

I'm getting ready to do some touch-up painting as I have a couple scratches, on one bag and some small ones on the tank. The scratch on the bag is deep so I will fill that with putty (bondo) and sand it smooth with 400 grit paper. The tank scratches are lite but I will still fill them with some putty and do the same process. I have done a little painting, mostly with rattle cans but this time I bought an airbrush and will try it with that.