bought a fairing

[07 silverado]

I purchased a fairing for the bike and it will be here monday, it has a gel coat on it. I was wondering if I need to repaint or if the gel coat is good enough, I have seen both ways on the internet

[Jclevesque]

The-one I had on was gel coat and could hardly tell the difference. I have black lowers from a HD and was real close.

[roadiemort]

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Featured snippet from the web

Gel coat, like paint, fades (changes color) and oxidizes (chalks over) due to exposure to UV light over time. Polishing removes a thin outer layer of gel coat exposing less damaged material underneath. Oxidizing tends to be a surface effect while fading is much deeper in the material.Jun 14, 2018

[roadiemort]

Had first hand experience with my truck cap parked outside 24/7

[Ahodge75]

Which fairing did you go with?

[Jclevesque]

Had mine stored always in garage no issues what you mention Mort.

[07 silverado]

I bought of ebay from usa-biker.com, I see bk toyz out of texas, i'll get details when I get off work today

[07 silverado]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283726800121

[Ahodge75]

Thanks I’ll check it out....I’ve been wrestling with which fairing to get. I’d like to hear your thoughts on it after you get yours

[Herrindude]

My fairing is gel coat only and its fading, flaking off and dead bugs makes it chip off even worse. I will be sanding and painting it this summer, but i do like the fairing.

[brianmac]

heres the little i know about gel coat.
if it is truly gel coat, than it is a fiberglass fairing. in that case, polyurethane or more noble paints need to be used. other paints will stick, but not bond, as far as i know from boat stuff. gel coat is allegedly a company specific mixture of poly,vinyl,epoxy esters with coloring added and UV stuff,and waxes, and all that BS.....basically nothing likes to bond to it. i do know that epoxy will bond to vinyl-ester, both will bond to polyester, but the reverse direction is not true.

[07 silverado]

Yes, it is a fiberglass fairing!

[07 silverado]

Everything looks to be in good shape and the fairing looks like decent quality, the finish is dull gel coat but I'm going to see if I can make it better looking without painting, I plan on installing this weekend so we will see what I think after that.

[brianmac]

these boat guys down here make a living buffing out faded gel coat...boats. i should have added, any repairs or additions should use epoxy resin, I use standard fiberglass coloring agents in epoxy. nice thing about epoxy, say you have a hole needs to be filled. mix 1 hour epoxy, add coloring agent(s), alllow to just start to get viscous and quickly apply, now dip gloved finger in 91% alochol from walgreens, you can smooth it out to where it does not need sanding before it cures, wipe area around it with alcohol. .dont breathe vapors

[07 silverado]

Went to install and realized I have to drill holes in fairing to put mounting brackets on, is this normal?

[brianmac]

Fiberglass does not like to bolted or screwed. Sheet metal or wood screws tend to vibrate out. Bolts typically transmit all vibration from the motor to the windshield . you may even hear resonant sounds. Also if you over tighten the bolts they can cause cracking in the bolt area the best practice is to have rubber bolt grommets. Slipstreamer will sell you a handlebar mount kit designed to go through like a three-quarter inch hole in the fairing with a rubber washer on each side. You have to tell them you replacing your old one. I have good luck with aluminum bar three quarters of an inch by 1/8 you can bend it easily And drill it. and it doesn't rust. They make these little things that go on your handlebars for mounting a mirrors, cheap ,like 3.99 499 or less designed to go onto the handlebars 7/8 or 1 inch and you can bolt the aluminum bracket to that, other end goes to the fairing. If standard OEM bracket is not enuf. I have even used the upper triple tree bolt to mount fairings course you need a longer bolt sometimes

[07 silverado]

Do not buy from this seller on ebay, the fairing is not wide enough and after about 2 weeks of screwing around they are going to finally send a return label, supposedly. Tried to tell me that the windshield brackets is the problem even though ad stated factory brackets, which I have.

[Ahodge75]

Good too know.....I was waiting to hear how it went with yours before I decided to pick one up.