Hiya folks, I think I was bit by karma for starting out my reply with "Lol" at witcher's recent video post a couple of days ago hahaha.   So I was on my way to work yesterday and stopped at a corner to turn left as I have a hundred  times at this location in the past,  and it has always been clean as a whistle, but today, there was sand and gravel  right in the corner where I normally pull up to to stop. No idea how it got there suddenly.  I would assume this normally piles up over time but the only thing I can figure is a dump truck that has been working a few miles away clearing land might have lost some there recently.  Yep, you guessed it, just as I stopped and put my foot down, my foot slid and down goes ole betsy.  From what i've read punching the signal through the fairing is common on these F models.  It spider cracked around it outward for about 2-4 inches in a few directions.  It just happened and I haven't really had time to do any research on it yet but I thought I'd ask ya'll about your ideas on this.  Is it possible to take the signal light off,  do some sort of plastic repair to all the cracks and fit the signal light back correctly?  The factory hole looks fine,  it's just the rubber O thingie is punched through making the light floppy and of course the cracks around it.   Have any of you had a good experience with any type of plastic repair kit for fixing such cracks?  If so, what kind?  Luckily, aside from a minuscule scratch on my factory muffler,  the punch through was the only damage and even the light itself is totally unblemished.    I'd like to think i could seal these together from the back side and maybe find some kind of filler for the cracks that could be applied to the outside. I believe they will be barely visible if at all if I can just figure out what to use.  Thanks for any input or recommendations, guys n gals   Have a blessed day.

Hi SirHansford! UGH that's awful!!! Are you okay?

I seem to remember people on here in years past mentioning something called PlastiFix... I've never used it but it's something worth looking in to.

Forgive me if you've included a picture, sometimes pictures don't show up when I view the forum here at work but depending on how bad it is, I'd consider using fiberglass for the repair from behind... fixed a few projects in the past that way.

I'm sure other peeps will be along soon with their suggestions. Good luck with the fix!!!

Hiya there Showbiz! Yes ma'am,  other than my ego, and possibly my wallet (depending), I am unscathed.  Thank you much for asking.  This was officially my 2nd drop from a complete, or almost complete stop in the 6 months i've owned her. The first was in a parking lot at the Y,  doing exactly what watcher was doing hence my "lol" ice breaker haha.  Luckily there was zero damage on the first lay down as I fought her the whole way down and the landing was more like I was actively softly laying her down rather than  falling down..... I haven't ridden in many many years before getting this GS and it appears I'm simply back to a total noob again. I'm beginning to wonder if I should just take the fairings off and put them in safe keeping until I can be trusted to not do this again. I may also opt to put some training wheels on it to keep my silly ass upright.  Thanks for your ideas gal much appreciated.   

You can swap the stock front signals to some flush mounts. They are less likely to punch through the fairing and can cover up the cracks you already made. The only downside is that they are not as visible to other motorists.
Here is an example from the internet:

I don't know what kind of plastic is used for the fairings, but you might be able to make a "plastic slurry" (Google it). The slurry can be made whatever color you want (by using the proper color plastic).

Sir Hansford: sorry to hear about the little spill. I almost low sided a bike on a slow speed 90° turn. Since the road conditions were near perfect that day, I turned around to look at what caused my slip...... and found sawdust all over the road. My guess is somebody had cut down a tree and loaded it in a trailer, and somehow the sawdust all fell out in one spot. Crazy....

Hi SirHansford, most important thing first - glad that you aren't damaged in any way.

There are lots of plastic welding YouTube videos. I've used the 'paper clip' fix on the rear plastics before. I did the 'welding' on the inside and all that was visible on the outside was a hairline crack - even the stickers lined up again.

https://youtu.be/61iyLarL258 or https://youtu.be/gRCMIDILfEI

Hope this helps a bit. All the best.

Karma!


Sorry to hear about that, buddy.  Thankfully the damage seems miniscule.
I don't have any advice to offer, unfortunately.  Hopefully there's an easy way to "patch" it.

Sorry to hear about your spill. I hope you are OK.

One of the many good things about the GS is that it is easy to remove the plastics for both cleaning and repair. Which means that you can reinforce the cracked area from behind, where the reapir cannot be seen.

When I first got my GS (5 years ago now) I let my wife try it in a car park. Sadly she dropped it, with the same results as you. So I took it home, said "Oh dear whoops" (or words to that effect) and then removed the nose fairing and used some fibreglass matting to reinforce the cracked area. I then bonded that in place using the resin. It worked a treat. I cleaned up the front using spot filler and everything was wonderful.  For the crack filler ShowBizWolf's suggestion of PlastiFix sounds intriguing and I would check that one out.

Then someone tried to park on top of it in a car park!  So the nose fairing was cracked again, but the other driver had the grace to pay for a replacement. While I was doing that I replaced the indicators with slightly smaller ones. Those did not fit into the holes well, a so I used stainless steel washers to bridge the gap - I also like the way they look.

Good luck.

I used the Plasti-fix product extensively on aircraft interior panels.  They are made out of the same stuff as the GS fairings...."Royalite" is a brand name but ABS plastic is the generic.

Using standard fiberglass and polyester resin, although it may work...the resin only bonds (barely) to the surface of the plastic.

The chemical(s) in the plasti-fix product, actually dissolve and "melt" the ABS, giving a "weld-like" repair.

You can still use thin fiberglass cloth on the back side, to reinforce and stabilize the crack(s).....but instead of using polyester resin, you use the plasti-fix chemical, and the plasti-fix powder as a filler...the powder dissloves with the chemical liquid, and flows a bit, later hardening into a plastic-like substance.

On the "good" side of the fairing...you simply "V" out the crack(s)...with as Dremel tool....to make more surface area....then you add in the plasti- fix powder, a little ball at a time, with the liquid...each drop flow our a bit...a line of these drops forms a weld...the weld will need to be sanded down and smoothed out...if you have a bad spot, just add more plasti fix...

Need to paint when cracks are fixed.



It is a bit of work...but you can do a perfect job if you are patient and take enough time...

Cookie

http://www.plastex.net/How_To_Videos.php

"plastex" it the brand name product I use...this video shows some the of the techniques for various repairs..

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Thanks all for your concern and well wishes,   Great community we have here. And thank you for the input and ideas on how to go about repairing this.  I'll be sure to take some before and after shots to share when I get enough time off work to dig into it.  Hopefully sometime next week.