fixing/protecting against boot/zipper scuffs on side fairings

The 2nd gen VFR has plastic side fairings that gets very close to the pegs. When riding, I "lock in" with my ankles as well as my knees. Unfortunately, my Aerostitch Roadcrafter suit has a big zipper pull (and cover w/snap) right there on inseam of both sides, which ends up rubbing against the plastic of the fairing.

With this, I have two questions:

1) what use to remove the black marks in the scuffing (which is grime/plastic in the paint, not scratches through the paint), both there and on the rear seat cowl (see pics below).

2) recommendations for protection to stop this from happening (change stance on pegs, protective films, etc). I'm thinking about using some of this (http://techspec-usa.com/magento/index.php/product-overview/), cut to fit the curve of the bottom of the fairing, ending where the stripes start, to past where the scratches stop.

Obviously, the clear coat is scratched up pretty badly, and fixing that is probably unlikely without sanding/spraying new clear (which i'm not opposed to, although I don't have a great place to do it).

 

First, beware all ideas including mine. I am shooting from the hip and realize there may be tradeoffs with any aggressive scrubbing of the bike.

One idea is to coat the dirty part with regular Dawn dishwashing liquid. Leave it on for 15 minutes and maybe this will soften up the dirt and grime where it then scrub off with a soft towel. Dawn is safe on automotive finishes. The only negative is it takes off all wax. Someone else may have luck with other cleaners such as solvents but you have to know for sure they will not harm the finish.

For something more abrasive I might try scrub sponges like "Scotch-brite." They say "scratch free" but that is for cookware. You would normally never use this on a fine finish such as an automotive finish as it will swirl the clear coat. However, it may be the level of abrasion that you need to get the gunk out.

As for the clear coat you can try one level beneath sanding, and that is a rubbing compound. Zaino has high quality products for such, look for "swirl remover". You are right in that a scratch through the clear cannot be removed. However, you may get the surface in good enough shape where the deep scratches do not show as much (?)

 

I have the Zaino dual-action compound, but this is going to take a lot more than that to get through. If I were to start sanding, I'd be starting with 2000-, maybe 1000-grit. They're pretty deep.

dawn... Right. I should have thought about that. And a toothbrush to get into the grooves of the scratches.

OTOH, if I'm going to be covering it up with a grip material... Do I care about the surface underneath? I could clean, and sand smooth with something fine, and then turn around and stick the grip pads in place. I could even use a spray-can clear under where the grip material is going to go, masking off the rest of the fairing piece... Hmm...

 

Any of the liquid dish detergents or even the liquid car wash detergents applied full strength and allowed to sit will make that grime soft. Sanding pads are great for cookware. Maybe not that great copper cookware made in France. Re tinning in the states is next to impossible to find at a price point for regular folks.. (small rant) The pads are graded by color and are akin to the grit coding on sandpaper.

If you can get the marks off that area on the fairing, a temporary fix would be 4-5 coats of one of the acrylic "waxes", applied in as many days. A more permanent fix would be the 8mil clear film from 3M. There may be a Euro version of the stuff but the 3M product is great.. A place to get some there (guessing) might be a shop that does graphics for race cars ect. All ya need for that spot on your bike is a few square inches.

I have to laugh at some of the stuff I read aboot "sanding". Not to go into detail, but sanding barnacles off the bottom of a boat hull should not be started with 1200 grit paper. A little of that left over detergent in the sanding water bucket helps too. This is only good advice if one is using wet and dry paper. The other stuff kind of falls apart when wet.

 

I think we're on the same page, although I think BB is making fun for the point. However I want to stress, separate "repairing" with "making the appearance as good as possible." Like you alluded to Woody, the scratch all through the clear you do not repair. You remove the clear then re-apply more. This is why I suggest the non-invasive procedure of first rubbing it out gently. What is the overall appearance after you do that? Maybe the deep scratches will be hard to see if the gunk is cleaned and the overall area is cleaned up well. Right, then you put a protective plastic on it and POOF cannot see the scratches anyway.

My lower left fairing has some dings. I was planning on having it touched up and a new decal put on as well. Then I second guess myself, does it really matter to address this? It is amazing how difficult these decisions are! But before you completely remove any coating you still have choices.

 

Getting the "color" oot of the scratches is IMO, step #1. A light sanding will prep the affected area for application of a suitable two component clear coat. Short of that the clear film is great stuff. The 3M product is 8mils and crystal clear or as in the trade "water white"

Sanding through the clearcoat and the color coat will call for more work than its worth. Then the solution is a repaint and color matching and having to buy ten times more paint than is needed.

The various detergents work applied straight. A light scrubbing with the "grain" of the cruddy scratches with an old soft tooth or paintbrush will work too.

BB pays many pesos for his boots and keeps them up which includes, as with me other footwear not including flipflops which I save for my trips to Walmart, shoe polish and all that goes with that bit. Some rubs off on anyplace the boots touch the bike. I keep the bike waxed using acrylic wax. The mach 1 91 is not clearcoated. There is clearcoat on the original paint. My bike, my choice of gloss levels.. Any way, two component paints, including clearcoats are chemically close to epoxy or polyester resins used to "glue" fiberglass or carbon fibres together. They are tough stuff.

Our Canuck dude zoom man pounds oot dents in bodywork ; the metal gets massaged and most of the time the paint ain't affected.

More on getting rid of various crud that gets on paintwork, chrome bits, coated and uncoated alloy bits, helmets ect.. Solvents. Look up what a solvent is. Water is a solvent. Hydroflouric Acid is a solvent. Solvents act on solutes. Dry and cured paint on bikes and cars could be classed as a solute.. Don't use Hydroflouric acid on anything.. Badass stuff..

A class of aromatic hydrocarbon solvents aint gonna hurt this very tough paint is oot there. No big secret.. Plain old big box store paint thinner aka "mineral spirits" in the UK, and when the big box stores figured oot they could put the same stuff in two different cans and charge more... Yep they did just that.. . Basically same stuff as barbeque starter fluid, cigarette lighter fluid, VM&P Naptha (Varnish Makers & Painters) or Standard Stoddard solvent. In a pinch kerosene will work too. The UK dudes call theirs, "paraffin" . All the others avoid.. MEK-acetone-lacquer thinner-reducer-methylene chloride ect. Strong stuff that has it's uses but not on a bike paint job that needs just a little TLC. Paint thinner and it's cousins are also great for removing decals and stickers when a bunch of dudes from here see ya running a decal or sticker advertising Slick 50 or those Chinese fairings.. Peel away an edge and with a small brush apply some solvent and gently keep pulling. The thinner also is great for most of the rest of the adhesive left over.

Yep heat guns work too. Hair dryers for this purpose are better IMO. Fuck it up with a heat gun and you buy all new stuff if it's to be found..

 

All sage advice, but if black marks are from the rubber in the boots, try some lighter fluid first, won't hurt paint but will soften rubber marks.

 

Mr. Clean magic scrubbing pads. But be careful. Even though they feel soft, I understand that they are actually an abrasive. So go very lightly. I have had good luck with it for removing boot scuffs from my white bike as well as some minor paint transfer from other sources.

 

Sure will. Ronsonol is naptha. I used up the lighter fluid a long time ago. I refill it when necessary with naptha from the paint store. Same stuff but the lighter fluid can has a nifty little spout on it that squirts out just enough to get the job done.

The lighter fluid went bye bye when BB quit smoking. The Marlboro Man didn't have shit on me. I'm still alive and he ain't. Never cared much for Camels either. Either kind that is..

 

I think my process on these is going to be:

1) using detergent and a brush (toothbrush) to get the grime out of the scratches, as best I can.
2) evaluate the condition of the paint surface once clean.
3) LIGHTLY sand the surface if it's really bad (I'll probably start with 2000 or 4000 grit wet-dry paper, and see how that goes, and adjust from there. That's mostly to get the surface smooth. My main goal will be to flatten the surface, but keep the paint in place (luckily I'm used to this sort of sanding from finishing woodworking projects). I have a good assortment of fine/between-coat grits, up to 0000 steel wool.

Top with the thick 3M material. I had forgotten about that material, and was thinking more about the heavier "grip pad" type products (like the one I linked above).

 

0000 steel wool unless things have changed is the finest grade oot there. There are some differences in all steel wools in that most of them are oiled to prevent oxidation. The oil can leave grunge.. The upscale wood working stores can get the un-oiled stuff.

Steel wool is also good for (be careful) for cheap fireworks..

The 3M stuff is not only 8 mils the film itself is tough. The problem is that anyone who carries the stuff has the right to call it whatever they want to. What to look for is a 3M wholesaler. The 3M website is a trip..

 

Abrasive is a generic term. SOW is abrasive..in a sort of village idiot manner.. Crumpling up a brown paper bag a couple of times makes a fine (superfine) abrasive. The Mr. Clean stuff (??) is a combo of chemical and abrasive.

A primer from Homer aka "true grit"

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Paint-Sa...paper-Screens-Sponges-Steel-Wool/N-5yc1vZbobk

A couple of tricks. BB likes quarter sheet palm sanders. They oscillate. For heavy duty sanding and scuffing of most things, buy the 4" belts for belt sanders and cut in chunks to fit the palm sander. The lasting quality of belts puts regular sandpaper to shame. The graded sanding pads can also be cut to fit for lighter work.

For machine rubbing ( oot) of small areas, buy some felt and cut that to fit. Load it with rubbing compound ..works a treat. Thick felt can be bought as shoe and boot inserts or for those who are cheap like me, wash a wool garment that has seen its days in really hot water. This compresses the wool fibres and is called "felting"

Muchas Gracias to Martha Stewart for that bit of info..

 

BB, I've used 000 and 0000 to put a satin finish on polyurethane. It's fine enough that it gives a smooth, satiny finish without leaving visible scratches. From there it's rubbing compound. But since I'm going to be putting something over the surface, I'm a _lot_ less concerned about getting a gloss finish, as much as I am just getting it nice and smooth, and fine enough that the 3M material sticks.

 

If you have any trouble finding the 3M film, you could also consider clear plasti dip. Put it on as thickly as you like. You would probably want to hit the last coat with their glossifier. I'm not sure which option would be cheaper. The 3M would be tougher, I think. Ease of applicattion depends on the geometry. Watch some installation videos, but it will involve a touch of rubbing alcohol in some distilled water in a spray bottle, clean fingers, a hard card squeegie, and possibly a heat gun, if the curves are serious.

 

Cleaning turned out to be easy. A little bit of light pressure and scotch-brite with some detergent and all the dirt was lifted out of the scratches. And now it's clear just how deeply the clear is scored up by my boots. So I'll be smoothing those back out, and probably re-coating that area with a decent rattle-can clear, then topping with 3M film when that's setup.

 

Great to hear that it is coming along thanks.

 

The adhesive on the 3M product is enough to make the stuff damn near stick to Teflon.. If you need to use a rattlecan clear, go for several coats and sand the surface back. The object being just like priming and sanding back to fill scratches in a raw substrate. Steel wool is great stuff oiled or not. So is bronze and stainless steel "wool".

To save some time and maybe end up with a solution to the problem all in the same whack, first hold up a piece of clear window glass, or a drinking glass on a non-glossy surface. A painted wall will do fine. The chunk of glass becomes the 3M product and the non-glossy surface becomes the area on your bike that you just cleaned. This is the "lens effect" Unless the scratches are really deep you may not need to fill them with more clear coat.

If needed go ahead and use the rattlecan clear. A word of advice here... Read what's in the can. if you see methylene chloride as one of the fractions, find another product. Methylene chloride is the most active fraction in solvent type paint remover. It is added in small amounts to rattlecan paints to inhibit caking.

Check out some of the better woodworker suppliers for graded sanding pads or the 3M sanding sponges in full line paint stores. They can be used either wet or dry. For "machine" rubbing of flat areas, I'm a fan of quarter sheet palm sanders, Thick felt can be cut from stock to fit the platen. Slosh some compound on that and rub away. Same deal sort of on heavy duty abrading, I cut sections out of 4" aluminum oxide sanding belts for getting the job done fast ans not having to change out regular sandpaper out every few minutes.

For the not so feint of heart and for those who take meaning in RTFM, Fein makes a sander/profiler with a shitload of available attachment heads that oscillates at about 18,000 or so, A hot knife through butter only begins to describe this puppy.

Please do not ask why I know this..