Power Kite Forum

Removeing paint from plastic wheels and BF MOD

windhunter - 7-7-2011 at 06:39 AM

Got a old Land Lizard and the factory wheels are red plastic but have been painted over with green. I would like to change the color and wondered if anyone has tried to remove paint from plastic wheels before. The wheel pattern is kind of intricate and doen't lend itself to easily sanding or scraping the paint off. Can a mild paint remover be used on plastic, or am I going to end up with a puddle of plastic. Second question, If I were to change the original tires to BF tires ,I have read the wheels should also be changed to a wider profile rim. Obviously I would also have to modifiy or build a new front fork to handle the wider tire. May even build a heavier/ wider rear axle. My thought was instead of having two buggies. All I would have to do is change the fork and rear axle to use on truff or soft sand when needed. Any advice would be appreciated.

ripsessionkites - 7-7-2011 at 06:46 AM

depending the paint ... power pressure washer

greasehopper - 7-7-2011 at 07:04 AM

depending on the quality of the paint used, I've had reasonable success with d-liminate based cleaners like Citrus Power or Quick Peel. Any of the citrus based degreasers seem to cut through paint reasonably well and not harm plastic. KEEP that stuff OFF Rubber !!! It will turn rubber into a sticky mush !!!

Looking_Up - 7-7-2011 at 07:06 AM

Media blaster using dry ice I have one for small sand blasting just a little bigger than my airbrush but have been dying to try the dry ice trick it is non abrasive and evaporated on impact

Scudley - 7-7-2011 at 09:40 AM

If the blue paint is sticking, why not just paint over it. Or, why use paint at all? DirtSlide put some kind of adhesive plastic film over the flat spots of his wheels. It looks pretty sharp. He has green on the right sides of his wheels and red on the left.
tires: I had 10" wide greens mower tires on barrow rims on the back of my old buggy. One advantage: you did not need to inflate your tire; it would stay on the rims no matter what. I had to get RonH to use his tire machine to break the bead when I wanted them off. Disadvantage: way too heavy; they nearly doubled the weight of my buggy. They were great in sand but on any other surface they were too slow. DirtSlide used 8" tires (standard rims) on the back for long time. They weren't nearly as heavy as my 10" ones. He loved the way they slid.
For a front wheel using a standard fork, a 6" tire is about as wide as you can fit.
S