Paint in Clay Bar??

[gbacker36]

Hey guys,

I got a 2010 Ducati motorcycle with a red fairings and red frame. It's been kept in pretty good condition outside of being under a motorcycle cover for a couple years (not anymore).

I decided I wanted to give the paint some love focusing mostly on the Red Frame. I got the Mothers Clay Bar kit and my friend gave me a couple of the Meguiars Clay Bars (Smooth Surface).

I cleaned the bike the night before and before I started claying. I started with the frame, using Mother's Quick Detailer and the Meguiar's Clay Bar. After a few passes....I looked at the clay bar and there were little specs of Red paint in the clay. I didn't know if this was normal or not...

So I thought maybe the Meguiar's bar wasn't working with the Mother's quick detailer...So I started using the Mother's bar....But same thing, small Red specs in the bar. Mind you, I was using a lot of lube and light pressure...so I know that wasn't the issue. I tried both bars on the fairings which are plastic but still painted and I got no paint specs at all.

What do you think is going on? Or is that normal?

[sudsmobile]

That doesn't seem normal at all unless possibly it was light overspray or something.

[gbacker36]

That doesn't seem normal at all unless possibly it was light overspray or something.

My first thought was it was some leftover paint from using some Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 about 2-3 weeks ago.

But that wasn't it because I tried clay barring a section of the frame where I haven't done anyting to ever AND still got small Red specs in the bar. Makes no sense

[SWETM]

Could the frame be single stage paint or powder coated?
If so you could be picking up some oxidized dead paint.
How did the pad looked like when you polished with Scratch X 2.0? Did you see any red paint transfer on it?

[sudsmobile]

I started to wonder about that myself. It's almost certainly powder coated.

[gbacker36]

Could the frame be single stage paint or powder coated?
If so you could be picking up some oxidized dead paint.
How did the pad looked like when you polished with Scratch X 2.0? Did you see any red paint transfer on it?

When I polished the frame with the Scratch X there wasn't any paint on the pad. I was using a drill with a pad attached. But like I said....Just to test, I used the clay bar on a section of the frame that I haven't used any products on and it still had paint in the clay.

I'm not sure how Ducati paints their frames, I'd guess powder-coat though.

I couldn't find anything online about similar experiences...I guess it must be just old dead paint?

Probably won't be using a clay bar again....although the paint is very smooth. I plan to hit the frame with Meguiar's cleaner wax then Duragloss 601/105.

[sudsmobile]

If you've ever done or watched them do powder coating, a lot of tiny bits of excess material ends up everywhere. Most powder coaters typically clean it off, but this might have been bonded well enough where it didn't wipe off. I wouldn't worry about it.