My bike is a fair weather pavement princess. Thus, I rarely ever wash it with water, no need. So I wont spend too much time on it except to say wash it and blow dry it with the air hose.
Now for the finer art of detailing...
Prior to a good application of product, you need to get the reminance of the old stuff off. If you have access to Body Shop Product Distribution, Sikkens M600. A wax and grease remover for paint prep. Will remove everything to start fresh, without harming paint. If you do not have that access, use Spraway Glass Cleaner. You know the maid on the can stuff that has been around since, well...a long time. Don't be shy cover that puppy, foam her up and wipe it off. You now have bare paint & chrome to work with.
I live, eat, & breath two product lines. 3m & Britemax
3m-Polishing Pad Glaze, a product designed for dark color cars to polish & remove scratches. Works well. Also works great on Chrome, removes fine scratches & polishes well.
3m-Hand Glaze, follow up the Polishing Pad Glaze with a good ole-fashion rub of Hand Glaze. Use it on the Chrome too, puts a coat on to protect the chrome.
3m-Gloss Enhancer, a spray detailer to keep it clean after all that work. Not my favorite product, gets greasy.
All the above to be used with micro-fibers. If you arent a micro-fiber fan (You will be eventually) you can always use ole-faithful Bounty. Lint free & abrasive free. However, Bounty needs to be fresh. Cannot be old rolls. The trick to bounty is the bonding agent in the parper towel will get abrasive if its old. So if your an anal retentive freak like me, then you'll always have fresh Bounty on-hand. Moving on, the 2nd product line is...
Britemax, a small auto cleaning chemical company out of MA. They originally started in CT. They have had meetings with 3m about their chemical make-up of their products. In-short, 3m wanted to know how they know what they know.
Britemax-#4 Black Max, similar to Polishing Pad Glaze. Side by side, I see no difference, both excellent.
Britemax-#6 Max Shine, final coat to protect the Chrome & Paint. Same concept as the Hand Glaze
Britemax-Spray N Shine, The Bomb! The Dilly! The Cat's Meow! By far, the best spray detailer on the market. I have tried them all. Ill even list a few.
Meguire's Quick Detailer - OK
Meguire's Mirror Glaze Line, Final Inspection #34 - Good
Zymol - Spray Detailer - Good
3m Gloss Enhancer - OK, Greasy
Black Magic - Bad, Very Greasy
Meguire's Quick Wax - Bad
Turtle Wax, Spray Wax - Bad, Greasy
You'll end up using the Spray N Shine for everything. I buy it by the gallon. Wipe the trucks down (2-Harley Trucks F150 & F250), windows, everything. OMG awesome on windsows.
Then my last and final tip, do not be lazy or concervative, do not try to do the whole bike with one pice of Bounty or microfiber. Change out often. You can never change out too often. The more paper towels you use or more micro fibers, just reduces the chance of picking up that one little piece of grime that you could potentially scratch other areas of the bike with.
Happy cleaning.
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Topic: Cleaning Products...? (Read 10508 times)