Cleaners / polish

Kerosene is great for cleaning chains and chain gunk off the rear wheel but does it hurt the paint. Apparently years ago it was used as a polish also gets tar spots off easily

 

Kerosene is one of the slowest drying common solvents. I doubt it harms the OEM paint or any of the other polymerized paints used today. In the past it was used to clean chains usually by immersing the chain. On older bikes with either rigid rears or double side swing arms and chain adjusters, removing the chain was not hard to do. Even though chains today are of the Oring type. Using kerosene might not be the best thing to use on those.

I would not use kerosene on either nitro cellulose or acrylic lacquer paint work unless the work is topcoated with one of the polymerized clearcoats or anytime around graphics and protective clear films.



For tar and road gunk, plain paint thinner is fine. Some labels will say at least here in the US, "mineral spirits". That is nothing more than a device to jack up the price of paint thinner.

For removing really accumulated greasy places, tar and asphalt crud that gets on the bike in Summer from road work. I like GUNK diluted with diesel. Buying the concentrate is the best buy IMO.

Mthinks we have the paraffin/kerosene confusion here. In the US, kerosene is a solvent, and paraffin is a petroleum based wax. Two different product with different names. Much like plexiglass and Perspex or hood and bonnet. Here only harleydoods wear bonnets.

 

For the car and bike exterior plastics your best to give it a good coat for a decent shine though for best shine Megs Ultimate Quick Wax is better for painted surfaces but the good thing about 303 is for the dash, window tint and interior is one light coat is enough and stays matt so not reflective when buffed dry with a soft microfibre towl.

 

No. It was you. Nice try.

 

I may have forgotten about that. Did it work for you?

 

Likes talking to himself ^^^^^

 

I can be certain of at least one other who is attentive.

 

This will be my first post, and one of education.
Some of the stuff you guys are using are super old school (no offense intended), and coming from the car detailing world, the new stuff are incredibly more easy to use, quick to use, and last WAY longer.

Plastic polishing is simple, depending on whether or not you have a machine polisher. But if you've been satisfied and happy with using Pledge/303 Aerospace/any plastic polish with a random rag, you will NOT really care for the "next step up into OCD-land".

In any case, if your clear windscreen is hazy, something cheap and quick to use is Duragloss' plastic polish.
Their Aquawax spray wax is one of the cheapest, yet still lasts 2 months. When drying your car, spray on wet panel and towel dry--preferably with a microfiber; but again, if you've been using a rag that is rarely washed, the benefits of a MF towel will not be realized, apart from one small towel being able to dry off your entire bike.

For those that care more, something like claybar or the claybar towels will make the paint smooth as heck, removing contaminants.

And for those that would rather ride than spend 30 minutes waxing, waiting, buffing off, something like Optimum's Opti-Seal will blow your mind. On a clean surface, all you have to do is wipe it on, and walk away. No buffing, just check back in 5 minutes to wipe down any areas where you applied too much and it isn't flashing to clear. That's it. It will last 6-10 months, without blinking an eye.

Loads more to share, but probably best answered and demo'd via youtube.

 

LOL, OCD here with White wheels.. Yep to the having the right mirco towel for that perfect shine too. I use Plexus on the screen, looks pretty damn good. For some reason it's been hard to beat the Honda cleaner polish making the VFR all nice and shiny. I've looked for other stuff that might beat it, so far nothing has. But I'm up for trying the latest tech in cleaning media. Yep, I have and use a special towel for each part of the cleaning process, in fact they get treated better than the Bath towels.

 

Guess I'm old school, for cleaning off tar grease and just about anything that shouldn't make my bike home
Lighter fluid


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Ha, not so old fashion. I've used good ole gasoline and acetone,
so.......

 

The seat cowl, front fender, and upper fairings on my red '98 are looking quite dull. Almost as if the clearcoat is gone. The tank is still like new but I've noticed most of the plastics have dulled significantly. Is there anything that can revive them? I've used the Honda spray cleaner/polish for years with good results except for this dulling. Any suggestions?

 

Are we stuck with MSRP or do we get schlepped with these new products with a small discount?

Lots of "pro" detailing products are re packaged from majors like Eagle One and Meguirs. Like most products these can be purchased in bulk quantities.

Same deal with janitorial supplies. Same deal with 3M products.

 

Likely not. Red paint is prone to fading. Your tank is overcoated with a clear fuelproof UV resistant coating.

 

Regular paint thinner works just as well. Lighter fluid is Naptha. Full line paint stores will have it in quarts as VM&P Naptha.

 

Your post may lead others to think using acetone on their paint is OK. Acetone is one of the many components in solvent based paint strippers.

As a general solvent, gasoline is not a great choice. It works but is by nature highly flammable and may contain ethanol.

 

All though you are very correct BB, I only use acetone to get tar off, say headers and the oil pan. Gasoline was used a lot back in the day on the rear rim when 90w dino oil was the chain lube then, pre WD40 era. So gasoline worked great on the spokes and chrome steel rims. Then I backed that up by washing it down with this stuff called Gunk hand cleaner, that had a pumice base in it, a lot like the Fast Orange stuff that's out today, that was for getting the slop of gas off the side of the tire, as I was thinking gas and rubber aren't a good mix. But yea, I'm still alive so it must of been ok

 

Pre WD-40--- LMFAO


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Thanks-that's what I feared. Am I stuck with getting the plastic bits repainted and clear-coated to get that "just like new" look again?

 

The products that I mentioned previously are not repackaged, and are a "step above" what you can get over the counter.
While you do have to pay a bit more for what you can get locally, if you are going to put forth the effort in polishing/waxing, you might as well have the results last longer, with less effort. That's the main difference in what you can get online vs over the counter. Your local store has no incentive in stocking and selling products that you can use less of, last longer, and buy less frequently. There's more to it, but I'll stop it short.

Autopia.org is the discussion board, and most products that I mentioned can be found on autogeek.net/autopia.org/amazon/etc. I would highly recommend that you wait for their black friday/fathers day/christmas sale where you can often get 20-25% off + free shipping.

Are the fairings clearcoated? I'm not sure, but I would be optimistic about reviving red via machine polishing. Chemical "all in one" cleaners MAY restore the rich red, but not do anything for the swirls. I don't have any recommendations for what may work by hand, without a machine.. I'll have to defer to an expert for that one. I have polished 2001 honda civic and 2003 4runner headlights with some success in the past with elbow grease + Duragloss plastic polish + microfiber. But the same product with a machine is 100% quicker and results are night and day.

Come winter, I'll do a full machine polish, and give you the side-by-side pictures. (though you could just youtube/google

My quick routine to a new-to-me 2001:
"Washed" with Optimum No Rinse--via spray bottle, and microfiber.
Skipped clay, since there was so many swirls in the paint, not worth it until I machine polish.
Optimum Opti-Seal: wipe on all red surfaces and clear windshield, and leave it. No buffing, it "cures" on its own and disappears.
303'd plastics

Ride.
I'll post pictures later, but it is a solid 10-footer for 16 year old red paint. Again, tons of swirls, but I'll tackle those down the road.