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Painting Panniers - R1200GS Adventure

tonymarshall

New member
The BMW panniers for the Adventure are aluminum and made by Touratech (I think).

They are very difficult to keep looking nice. Does anyone have a good way of keeping them looking nice? A good polish or cleaner??

Has anyone had any luck painting them so that they are easier to clean?

Thanks.
 
I'm picking up my 08 GSA next week, with the panniers. I'm planning on taking the panniers down and having them powder coated.
 
Powder coating can be tough to touch up right, if you're planning any rough riding.
Are you just trying to preserve a nice bare aluminum look, or painted?
 
Any good fine metal polish will work. Get a flitz ball and go for it. Works GREAT for exhaust systems.
 
panniers

Take them off and use them for living room furniture.. Otherwise, ride the bike and get them dirty like most GS riders. Take a look at "Long Way Around" and "Long Way Down" and tell me if they appear worried about appearance.

Just my $.02 worth. Clean is an obsessive-compulsive disorder that can be cured by either drugs or confinement.
 
Here we go...the infamous GS "We don't clean 'em, we just wash 'em off by fording a river" squawking. Since MOST of us aren't on a world excursion, and use our bikes (GS, whatever) for more mundane enjoyment, why can't I ride it, get it dirty and nasty, AND clean it up afterwards? Is there some unspoken manifesto that says my GS has to always look like I dragged it on its side through a gravel-laced mud pit? I would suggest riding it hard AND cleaning it are not mutually exclusive undertakings.
 
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I just painted a set of Hepco Becker Gobi bags this week. They are plastic but the same idea. I used plastikote truck bed liner paint and it worked great. i tried the stuff from walmart and it was a disaster. Once i got the plastikote stuff it was great! Nice texture and great durability and easy to spray. Rough up the aluminum and probably prime it first and it should look great.
 

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Oldhway, thanks for the example! They look great! This may be a good option...It looks like they are on a red/black GSA. Could you post an overall pic of the bike w/panniers? My GSA is r/b also...
 
Oldhway, thanks for the example! They look great! This may be a good option...It looks like they are on a red/black GSA. Could you post an overall pic of the bike w/panniers? My GSA is r/b also...

:blush They are actually on my V-Strom. My RT came with standard system cases and I hated the look of the silver bags on the Strom. Haven't shot any photos of the whole bike yet but it is quite an improvement in appearance. I was able to do the whole job in a day since you only needed to wait about 10 minutes between coats. I couldn't believe how easily it went. Only time will tell how it holds up but with the texture to it, and the fact that it's made to line a pickup truck bed, I expect it to be very durable.
 
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