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Question Has anyone painted a helmet?

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I bought a new, old stock helmet for the spare parts: pads, faceshield, and hardware. It was a good price just for that purpose. The helmet shell is an ugly pattern and color, so I was just going to discard it. Then I thought maybe I could paint it to match my bike or at least something more visible than what it is. I realize I'd have to use the proper paint type for the material, but that is true of any painting project. Has anyone painted a helmet and would you have any advice to offer?
 
Have you asked Google or MS Edge?
I know it's a bit risky because you'll get millions of results:

 
Would the paint potentially degrade the shell materials? That would be my concern not being a polymer engineer.
 
Man, I haven't painted one since 1973 when I painted one to match the paint on my RD 350. If it has a glass shell I'd say you could do it no prob, but not a polycarb shell.

MotoGP racers get helmets painted all the time.
 
Man, I haven't painted one since 1973 when I painted one to match the paint on my RD 350. If it has a glass shell I'd say you could do it no prob, but not a polycarb shell.

MotoGP racers get helmets painted all the time.

Thanks. I’m no pastics engineer but I think the helmet shell is Cycoloy. I always thought that was what CL meant in the HJC CL- series. I think my first HJC had a GE logo on it referring to GE plastics. Helmet manufacturers paint helmets all the time so clearly there are compatible paints. I wondered if anyone else might have done the homework on that.

An old CL-10 box:
DF98C48D-56BA-424A-A605-C01F891D7046.jpeg
 
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Wow that must be an old box! GE sold Plastics to SABIC in 2007.
Right. I found a modern page for Cycoloy at the SABIC site. https://www.sabic.com/en/products/p...trile-butadiene-styrene-abs/cycoloy-fr-resins

The box photo isn’t mine. I just found it on the Web as an example. But yes, it would have been pretty long ago. I think I bought a CL-10 sometime in the ‘90s. It‘s long since been replaced. But I expect all the way up to CL-17, they probably used the same plastic.
 
If you are going to paint an already painted helmet then the existing paint will act as a protective layer to the helmet shell. Use a primer first and then a compatible paint.
 
If you are going to paint an already painted helmet then the existing paint will act as a protective layer to the helmet shell. Use a primer first and then a compatible paint.
Good point, and thanks. The plastic wouldn’t really enter the equation.

Now for full diclosure: the helmet is not solid color. It is full graphics. How are the fiull grapics applied by the helmet manufacturer? Is it a vinyl wrap or decal sort of thing, then clear coated? I watched a slide show on that. It appears the helmet is painted a base color first, then graphics applied. I’m not sure if that process universal. Again, the underlying plastic should not be a concern.
 
Ive used plasti-dip to paint several helmets. Usually just matte black but once I did a sweet red stripewith a smaller white stripe down the middle with matte black for the rest.

Its super easy no real prep work and is completely removable. It lasted for a long time but cleaning dead bugs was a little more work.
IMG_20150706_194959.jpg
 
Good point, and thanks. The plastic wouldn’t really enter the equation.

Now for full diclosure: the helmet is not solid color. It is full graphics. How are the fiull grapics applied by the helmet manufacturer? Is it a vinyl wrap or decal sort of thing, then clear coated? I watched a slide show on that. It appears the helmet is painted a base color first, then graphics applied. I’m not sure if that process universal. Again, the underlying plastic should not be a concern.

Every helmet maker I’ve seen videos for in the last decade or two uses a decal of some sort over the top of the base paint coat, then clear coat over the decal.

Last helmet I painted I was probably 12 years old. So, that experience isn’t likely helpful here. It did last, though!
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