Flexible Paint in Motorcycle colours??

[Witty_Banter]

I've got a pair of big 52L panniers on my Midnight Star, that I use for stowage of lids, coats and shopping when me and one of the kids / SWMBO do out for a ride. They don't look out of place because of the size of the bike, so I've decided I'd like to paint them to match the bike's (midnight blue) paintscheme - which I think would look a lot better than the current matt black bare plastic.

Trouble is, the pannier lids are pretty flexy (they're cheap panniers) - and I'm pretty sure that any sort of Halfords style car paint would just flake off once dry because of how flexy it is. Anyone had any experience in painting flexible plastic with the usual spray-can paints? Or know of a way to make flexible plastic rock hard with the application of chemicals??

 

[Gord]

I've got a pair of big 52L panniers on my Midnight Star, that I use for stowage of lids, coats and shopping when me and one of the kids / SWMBO do out for a ride. They don't look out of place because of the size of the bike, so I've decided I'd like to paint them to match the bike's (midnight blue) paintscheme - which I think would look a lot better than the current matt black bare plastic.

Trouble is, the pannier lids are pretty flexy (they're cheap panniers) - and I'm pretty sure that any sort of Halfords style car paint would just flake off once dry because of how flexy it is. Anyone had any experience in painting flexible plastic with the usual spray-can paints? Or know of a way to make flexible plastic rock hard with the application of chemicals??

Since most paint made nowadays will not adhere to plastic worth a damn (most of it is water based to satisfy the tree huggers) I would suggest a really good scuffing of the surface with fine sand paper, then the application of a good primer paint (an epoxy based primer as used on aircraft, if you can get hold of it) prior to applying any top coat. I can't guarantee it will last forever but it should, if done properly, do the job quite well.