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[melvinclarp]

I have a 2016 CVO Road Glide Ultra on order.   Should arrive in April.   yee-hah!

My local dealer is recommending I consider the Harley Appearance Protection package for the new bike.    From what I can tell, the "package" combines extended warranty coverage for the bike's finish with liquid coatings that the dealer applies to the painted surfaces, chrome and leather, to protect against UV damage, bugs, bird poop, etc.   

Here's a link to the brochure at a dealership (not the one where I ordered my bike). http://psndealer.com/dealersite/images/southsideharley/h-d-appearance-protection-brochure.pdf

Anyone have experience, good or bad, with this product?

Rick
Barrington, Rhode Island

'13 Ultra Limited
'16 CVO Road Glide Ultra (on order)

[JCZ]

Rick, welcome to the board.  Might want to go to the introduction board and post up, telling everybody who you are, what you ride and a bit about your riding history.  Just gives everybody a chance to get to know you a bit.  This forum is totally different from any other motorcycle forum on the net. 

Appearance package?  I've never heard of it before, for a motorcycle.  If it's the same as they sell for hundreds or even thousands of $$ for cars and trucks.......it's simply a couple bucks worth of polymere sealant applied to your clear coat and maybe 25 cents worth of leather protectant applied to your seat.  Save yourself the expense.....they should already be doing that when they deliver your bike.  And if they're not, you can do it yourself for just couple bucks.  Don't go for the hocus-pocus as they put their hands in your pockets.

[grc]

Rick, this is the same sort of extremely poor for the consumer garbage that car dealers have been selling for decades.  It's a way for them to generate huge profits, period.  Car dealers when I was still active in the industry would take a minimum wage type of person and have him apply the magical wax job and spray the ScotchGard material on the seats and interior, with a total investment around $50 including the fee they pay to company that sells the package to them.  Then they charged $500 and up for this so-called protection package.  Then the customer was informed after he signed up that he had to renew the products (interior and exterior) on a regular schedule to keep the "protection" in force.  If someone came back to submit a claim later, they were confronted with all the fine print that basically made the plan useless.  For instance, if your Harley seat starts to tear at the seams you might believe this plan would cover it based on the sales brochure.  Think again.  You have to prove it was caused by UV aging of the material that the protection product was supposed to prevent, and also prove you reapplied the magic elixir per the maintenance schedule.  In other words, the folks behind these packages took in one heck of a lot more than they ever paid out in claims.

I'm sad to see that Harley management has stooped this low, but not really surprised.  Do yourself a favor and save a pile of money; tell your dealer no thanks.

Jerry 

[mark]

Avoid.  All you're doing is buying a waxing and some scotch guard. 

[JCZ]

Rick more important that the "appearance package" snake oil is the appearance of your motorcycle when you get it.  If you do a search on this forum you'll see many, many cases of bad paint jobs from the factory.  Things like finger prints under the clear coat, smeared lines under the clear coat, rust under the clear coat, foggy clear coat, etc.

As far as appearance and detail of your bike some of the members of this forum are anal about this......literally experts and have tried every product out there.  These guys can tell you what to use and how to do it.....quite possibly more than you'll ever want to know. 

I can tell you from my experience that you wash your bike with original blue Dawn dishsoap (it has an imulsafier that will remove oil, grease, dirt, grime, and all your previous wax without hurting your paint, chrome, plastic, etc.).  Then use a water based polymer sealant on your painted surface and chrome (any shiney surface, not for matte, flat finishes or plastic!).  Simply wipe it on, let it dry to a dull haze, then use a microfiber towel to wipe it off.  You can just leave it there but re-do it every three months or so.......or you can add a coat of wax over the sealant.

[Glock]

Rick,
Welcome aboard...
+2 on all the previous comments.  Save your cash for the mods to come..

[melvinclarp]

Wow.   Thank you for all the quick responses.    I'll take your advice and pass on the appearance package.

JCZ, I'll introduce myself in the Introduction Board.

Rick
Barrington, Rhode Island

'13 Ultra Limited
'16 CVO Road Glide Ultra (on order)

[CVODON]

Family member retired now, was GM dealer for half century. Largest price point profit, per car, was paint sealant. With the internet I am not sure why people don' t know this is crap wax applied by wash boy. But people still pay literally thousands everyday and then will argue regarding quality. Amazing.

[VaEagle]

Just my .02 but I consider the time spent detailing as the time to double check tightness of bolts and other parts as well as looking for rust and cracking, also checking fluid levels etc.
Not sure I would want to eliminate one more double check before riding and put my safety in another's hands. It's like relying on tire pressure monitors and not visually inspecting tires for cuts and nails.

[Phantom309]

I'd tell them to shove it up their azz and try to sell it to some dumb sucker because I'm not falling for it. All that crap is a big waste of $ for something you can do with quality products at home.