ST1100 Maintenance Tips

Plastic Repair

A frequent question arises, "What do I use to repair my ST's plastic body panels?" Several products are suggested:


From Raymond Stevens:

I called Electrical Connection for some of the stuff they sell to repair plastic. ($9 per tube). They said that Walmart sells some stuff called "Plastic Welder", made by Devcon. ($3 per tube). They said it works better, and is 1/3 the price. It is so! It has a 3500psi strength. That ought to be enough, eh? It's a 2 part epoxy kind of stuff (a little smelly!)

I also got some very fine fiber mesh to reinforce the repair. A real good idea, is to grind (via a Dremel drill or something similar) the crack to where there is a "V" groove the length of the crack (on the back-side, of course) so it acts nearly like a 'full penetration' "weld". Don't go all the way through! Just maybe 1/2 way. It sets in 4 minutes. Handling time in 15 minutes. Full strength in 24 hrs. This stuff actually 'melts' the surrounding plastic through a chemical process (my plastic became 'soft' briefly). When it was done, the point was rock solid! (a connection tab for a windscreen component)

I used it on a rather critical stress point nearly a year ago, and so far, it's held up just fine.


From Geoff Taylor:

I have had absolutely amazing results in many different applications, using VersaChem's "Plastic Welding System." Part #47809, It's a 2 part epoxy hybrid, in a dual syringe, available at most auto parts stores. 15 min. set time, Frigging 3500 p.s.i. strength!!! It stinks like hell, and I understand it to use cyanoacrylics in an epoxy base. Amazing stuff.

Geoff's product sounds like it's the same as the Devcon Plastic Welder. In fact, George Voss determined that both products are made by ITW Performance Polymers.


From Doug Kalmer:

When I got serious about fixing the bodywork on my once-totaled ST, I called a friend who earns a living by buying totaled cars and fixing them up like new for resale. He suggested using Mar-hyde Flexible bumper patch, it is made for ABS repair, and stays flexible, something the side covers need on the ST. It is a 2-part epoxy, sets up in 20 minutes, is really strong and easy to work with. It cost me $22 retail for the two 6oz tubes, available at auto paint stores.


From George Catt:

I'm currently doing tupper ware repair, too. Took a tip from someone on this list and saved some of my damaged plastic. Bought a pint of Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) at the hardware store for $3. Cut up into small chunks some of the damaged plastic (remove the paint with a belt sander) and let it soak in the MEK. Makes a great ABS plastic glue. Takes a while to set up. Make it thick or thin as needed. I paint the edges I'm gonna glue with straight MEK first to "soften up" the target pieces. Nice thing about this is that it's using EXACTLY the same stuff that Honda uses, cause it IS the same stuff. Nother nice thing is that it's "machine-able" once cured. NOTHER nice thing is that it's cheap. Scraps should be available at any Honda shop. ;^)

I used the stuff that Doug suggests to repair a broken piece on Deba's Eclipse a couple of years ago. Works great, did the job.


I've used Plastex Plastic Repair, a product that got a good review in Motorcycle Consumer News. It's unusual in that it has a means to mold replacement portions in plastic and bond them in place. The kit includes a solvent (MEK?) plus granulated plastic, along with mixing and application tools. I bought it from Eastwood. Search the site for "Plastex" without the quotes. BTW, the price has dropped considerably since I bought my kit in 2000.

For a large fracture, I first opened the crack with my Dremel tool to form a Vee on the inside of the panel. This I filled with JB Weld, and sanded flush. Then I used fiberglass resin and cloth applied to the inside of the part, with several layers of the cloth for good reinforcement. The cloth extends two inches to either side of the crack for better adhesion, and the repair has lasted for over 30,000 miles with no failure. I think the key to it working so well is the large overlap, which reduces stress.

I believe that all the products mentioned will work well for the body parts of the ST. The headlight housing is made of a different plastic (polypropylene???) which does not respond to these adhesives, though. Likewise for the lower fairing and wing covers. As far as I know, only plastic welding will work for polypropylene.

Tip for repairing the lower fairing and wing covers: If you have some minor scrapes or gouges in the surface of these parts, you can restore the appearance somewhat by using a propane torch. No kidding! Remove the part from the bike and play the torch flame across the surface. The surface of the plastic will melt and the gouges will be much less noticeable. But you have to go slowly, using a minimum of heat. Do not get in a hurry. Otherwise, the plastic will bubble up and you will have a worse mess than what you started with. Repeat after me, "Go slowly, go slowly, go slowly."


Here's a quick rundown on repairing a saddle bag lid from Chuck Chiodini:

I fix and re-paint motorcycle plastic as a hobby so have some "real world" experience with this. You can probably fix a minor problem at home. The re-painting will be the hard part.

  1. Sand damaged area with #150 wet sandpaper till smooth. Extend sanded area to 1/2" beyond damaged area.
  2. Fill in low areas/deep scratches using J-B WELD as body filler "bondo". Do not use fiberglass resin or regular bondo on our ABS plastic. They will work at first but will eventuallly crack and fall out due to vibration and dis-similar materials.
  3. Sand J-B WELD with #150 then #220 wet sandpaper till smooth and level with original contours.
  4. Prime with flexible primer (used on car bumpers). Sand smooth with #320 wet paper. Make sure when you are finished with this step the only "scratches" you can see in the surface are #320 sanding marks. Paint does not hide imperfections, paint brings them out to be noticed. Take your time, it only takes time and patience at this step to get a perfect job.
  5. Apply at least 2 coats of "base color", sand final color coat with #400 paper to remove any roughness.
  6. Apply two coats of candy/metallic. Do not sand this coat!
  7. Apply at least 2 coats of clear, wait 24-48 hours to dry, wet sand with #1200 paper and hand polish.

The easiest way to go is fix the scrapes and go up to step #5. Take the lid to a good painter who works with car bumpers and understands the need for flexible additives in the paint. If you don't use flexible additive, the paint will look great for six months and then start to "spider crack" due to vibration/movement. Be prepared for "sticker shock" with the high price of the paint. I use DuPont "Chroma Color" urethane paint and it sells for $35/pint. Your painter will need to buy threee pints of paint (base color, candy/metallic, and clear) in addition to the flexible additive and the universal solvent/hardener. I would recommend you not use the Color-Rite paints due to their high mark-up and poor color matches (that I have seen, others have different opinions on this but I am a perfectionist).

Other options:

  1. Buy just the lid to the saddlebag from Honda for around $290.
  2. Hand the lid over to a plastic repair guy for around $150.
  3. Slap some bondo and touch-up paint on it and be pissed at your "ugly paint" for the ownwership of the machine.
  4. Fix the scratches with fiberglass and regular spray paint and be pissed six months from now when it looks like "poo-poo".

Happy to answer any questions. Yes...I'm anal about this but ask to see my (or any other "quality" painter's) work and you'll see why time and experience makes the difference in plastic repair/painting.


More tips from the ST crowd:

Per Michael Moore:

This is an old trick that works wonders for repairing the tabs on the inside of the ST's bodywork as well as any other application where you need strength and not looks. Super glue the tab back into place, then wet all around the re-connected part with more super glue (gotta use the regular stuff, not the gel). Then powder it all with baking soda. It dries almost instantly, and forms a Herculean adhesive. I did this on the left side panel when one tab broke off while accessing the battery, it has held like new since.

To which Rob Parker added:

I will second this. I used this method in repairing the side panels on my SR250 several years ago. It was related to me by a friend in the MC parts business. He couldn't believe that I didn't already know about it. At any rate, the parts I repaired using this method appear to be at least as strong, if not stronger, than before the breakage.

And Brian Cescot offered:

Try Permatex # 82565 Plastic Bonder. It's a 2 part process: brush on the accelerator, then use the glue to make a permanent bond.

Tim Shevlin had this offering:

Perhaps the most broken plastic parts on the ST are the lower tabs on the black garnish panel below the windscreen*. For really high-stress cases, you can add a couple of additional bolts with well-nuts in the lower corners, but for a normal tab repair, I found use of JB Weld and a single small picture hanging bracket (the kind with little saw-teeth that you nail to the back of a picture frame) to be quick, easy and cheap, as I had all the parts already. I cut one end off the bracket to use as a cross-piece which is then mounted to the remaining piece which forms the post . Some hammer and snip work is required, but the parts are so light that they can all be glued together at once. When cured, the result is a strong steel tab that fits perfectly.

* For newbies, to remove the garnish without breaking the tabs, lift slightly at the center 'rivet' and push the garnish upwards, parallel to the windscreen surface, to disengage the tabs.

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Last updated on January 28, 2014     © 2002-2014 M. E. Martin, All rights reserved