Hi I am thinking of having a custom livery done for my kart for yhe 2022 season. The design I want is done in a air brush style, I am wondering if it would work to have the plastics air brushed and put a clear wrap on top to protect it rather than having a custom sticker set made?
I’ve been wondering this as well. Has anyone done any painting in lieu of stickers/vinyl? Airbrush, spray paint, brush?
Permanence would be a problem. Tire marks etc will scuff it up quick. Maybe you can get the artist to design something that can then be printed, not using vector graphics.
There was a kart livery here recently that had a non-linear, representational look, so it’s possible to have painterly or airbrush type designs printed onto the kit.
I have the proper airbrush! But no talent and no kart ! Haha
My son otoh, is excellent with an airbrush and design . Too far ways though
I’ve seen it done, but with the pliability of the body panels, it just chipped off slowly. It wasn’t sealed with a clear vinyl over it, but my feeling is it wouldn’t adhere all the same and for the same reasons. 
It won’t stick. The type of plastic used for bodywork is the worst possible substrate for painting. It sands poorly, and it’s flexible. Anything painted on would explode into paint chips with on-track contact.
It doesn’t matter if you seal the paint with a clear coat or a clear laminate vinyl, the adhesion of an overall paint job is only as good as the base layer’s adhesion.
There’s a reason everyone uses vinyl decal kits.
1 Like
Has any one tried an adhesion promoter? I planned on trying it out to be able to paint the plastics.
It won’t do much on plastic.
I paint plastic helmet wings everyday, and no amount of adhesion promoter or sanding will help when something flexes like plastic does.