Removing VIN plate for re-paint.

[MMYT]

Going to re-paint my gs500, looking for way to remove vin plate without damaging it. Any advice on how to, will be appreciated.

[Janx101]

If you really want to remove it .. Then drill bit that's about the same size as the rivet heads .. Med/slow speed on drill ... Take the heads off .. Carefully lever the plate up and centre punch the rivet bodies into the frame... Paint ... Get yourself some aluminium rivets of right size and re-apply!

... If you just don't want to get paint on it while leaving it in place ...Mask it with couple layers of tape while you are prepping/sanding/blasting the frame ... Then either leave the tape on or ... remove ... and a coat of Vaseline or something similar while you shoot the primer and paint ... Then wipe the Vaseline off and you good to go!

That's how me and some buddies approach the problem on cars and trucks anyway 

[The Buddha]

On the GS I thought the VIN plate was a sticker ...
Remove it and its toast, it will deform so badly it cant be reused.
But your number is cut into teh neck, no worries, it still is a valid GS ... 
Cool.
Buddha.

[Soloratov]

I know when I painted mine I just completely removed it. It wasn't completely legible anyway. It was just a sticker for me...kind of like the side cover emblems. I asked a DMV relative about it, and they said as long as it exists on the bike somewhere it's fine, so stamped on the neck is all ya need, at least here in NY.

[The Buddha]

BTW I have been very unimpressed with the paints you get nowadays.
You need to cook them in an oven ... you need to have very low humidity ... BS ...
Try that harbor freight "powdercoating kit" ... the damn paint cant be any better IMHO ...

Cool.
Buddha.

[adidasguy]

VIN is stamped into the steering stem. Be sure to protect that because that is the final god's truth of what the VIN really is.
Stickers can be removed -but they are not happy and don't come off easy or stick back on very well. Best to tape over the sticker.

[sledge]

If you damage it just buy a new one and punch it yourself, I have done it myself many times after having frames painted or powder coated.

Nothing puts buyers off or interests the cops more than a missing or damaged VIN plate or an obscured frame number and most of them cant tell the difference between a factory one and a replacement. 

I buy them here..... http://www.vin-plate.co.uk/ but I am sure there will be someone in the states who sells them.

If you are having a frame powder coated the coaters will scrape the powder out of the punched numbers before stoving if you ask them, this way the number is not obscured when the powder sets but you need to brush on some rust-killer afterwards otherwise......well......you can guess 

[GS500F2004]

It's not a sticker...mine was a metal plate.

janx's idea sounds good.

[adidasguy]

All of mine are metal stickers. However, make sure the stamped VIN on the steering column is still readable after painting. That's the most important one. If the plate or sticker is gone, the stamped one on the frame is all that is legally required.

[codajastal]

Australian VIN's are metal plates riveted onto the bike.

[adidasguy]

It is still on the steering stem.
Our bikes have the rivets but they hold nothing on. The secondary VIN plate is stick on. Sometime sthey get lost when people repaint a bike so that's why the steering stem VIN is really the final word on the VIN. Your bikes would have that, too, because metal plates can be removed or swapped. Steering stem is hard to swap out.

[codajastal]

Yes of course they do. It is compulsory on all bikes here AFAIK?

[CraigR]

Mine was a metal stamped plate riveted to the left side of the frame, again I'm in australia. I just masked it off with tape when i did my frame.

[sledge]

Steering stem is hard to swap out.

The steering stem doesn't need to be swapped out. If you are that sort of person who wants to give the bike an alternative VIN all you do is grind down and fill the old one, paint over it so all traces of it are invisible then punch in the bogus one next to it. Fake and doctored VINs stand out a mile to people who know what they are looking for but a casual glance from someone who doesn't know means they will be easily fooled 

Its called `ringing` People will buy an accident damaged bike or a non runner in very poor condition and give it the identity of another one........usually one that has been written off or stolen.

Some bikes are more difficult than others to ring, the later ones with laser etched VINs are almost impossible but the GS5 is unbelievably easy for someone who knows what they are doing and I will be very surprised if there are not members of this forum who unknowingly own ringed bikes.

A good article here.....
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/upload/284782/Buying-Secondhand-A-Racers-Guide-BMCRC.pdf
Tells you what to look for when checking the VIN and how to spot a fake.

[The Buddha]

If you are having a frame powder coated the coaters will scrape the powder out of the punched numbers before stoving if you ask them, this way the number is not obscured when the powder sets but you need to brush on some rust-killer afterwards otherwise......well......you can guess 

Do not do this - do not ask a powdercoater to do this ...

The heat will melt the glue. It will come off wihtout a trace ... nice and clean. And leave you a beautiful clean shiny unpainted steel underneath.

You can do all those other vin plate things he said ... but you would have to get the numbers etc etc before you get it to the powdercoater. Before dropping it off, scrape off the plate to start with.

Cool.
Buddha.

[sledge]

If you are having a frame powder coated the coaters will scrape the powder out of the punched numbers before stoving if you ask them, this way the number is not obscured when the powder sets but you need to brush on some rust-killer afterwards otherwise......well......you can guess 

Do not do this - do not ask a powdercoater to do this ...

The heat will melt the glue.

Cool.
Buddha.

Glue?

What glue?

Powder coatings are not `glued`onto the frame?

[Soloratov]

He means the glue that holds the sticker version of the plate on the bike. The heat from the powder coat curing would just drop the plate right off.

[The Buddha]

He means the glue that holds the sticker version of the plate on the bike. The heat from the powder coat curing would just drop the plate right off.

Yes, and I have the 95 I have been flogging round town as proof of that. I put POR15 on that patch and then carbon fiber tape ...
But should have tore that sticker off before powdercoating it.
Cool.
Buddha.

[sledge]

He means the glue that holds the sticker version of the plate on the bike. The heat from the powder coat curing would just drop the plate right off.

I wouldn't be worrying too much about that.

The sticker wouldn't survive the chemical paint-stripping/blasting process that's necessary to get the frame down to clean metal prior to coating/stoving. 

I have had about 15 various frames powder coated over the years and that's way they do it over here.......maybe its done differently where you are 

[Soloratov]

Should always be done that way, doesn't mean it is. 

However, if we use a home powder coating sprayer chances are it's just being cleaned with some kind of solvent and that's it. But I would then be curious how it's baked...doesn't exactly fit in your average oven.