Decals on an HD Street Glide

[Lance Mark]

Both the Harley Davidson logo on the sides of the tank and the thin gray stripe separating the two tone paint scheme are decals.

When I was watching a video of yours on youtube, you mentioned that when you polish you are removing a small amount of the clear coat and in a sense 'leveling' out the surface.

When i run my hands over both the emblem and the pin stripe, I can feel a very slight ridge from the paint to the surface of the decal.

How do treat a decal on a surface when you are looking to correct some swirling and minor defects with a polisher?

[Mike Phillips]

Both the Harley Davidson logo on the sides of the tank and the thin gray stripe separating the two tone paint scheme are decals.

When I was watching a video of yours on youtube, you mentioned that when you polish you are removing a small amount of the clear coat and in a sense 'leveling' out the surface.

When i run my hands over both the emblem and the pin stripe, I can feel a very slight ridge from the paint to the surface of the decal.

How do treat a decal on a surface when you are looking to correct some swirling and minor defects with a polisher?

Here's your picture,




Here's the truth. There is no simple easy or fast way to do what I call Perfectionist Detailing. So get close and call it good.

[Mike Phillips]

There are other options but they are not cheap.


I love the RUPES Nano in Long Neck option for doing what I call

Surgical Buffing


The basic starter kit is $441.00 as I type on March 15th, 2021


Here's the "basic" kit. You'll still need pads.

Rupes iBrid Nano Long Neck Starter Kit


Here's the link to all the Nano tools, kits, pads, accessories.

RUPES BigFoot Nano iBrid Pads & Accessories, iBrid replacement parts, iBrid refills, where to buy iBrid pads, iBrid sanding discs,



I personally LOVE the RUPES Nano in the long neck configuration. For the most part, I only use it in rotary mode. The design does not have enough power to maintain pad rotation in the 3mm and 12mm free spin random orbit drive units.


Here's an article I wrote showing how I edged this old 2-door European job.

Doing Edge Work with RUPES Nano in Rotary Mode - Mike Phillips Style


With fresh foam cutting and polishing pads, you can get really close to "things" on paint. There's always the issue that a rotary, even a tiny rotary leaves holograms behind but that's where you either work them out by hand, as in a little fine hand polishing or mask them with wax or sealant. To be honest, most of the places you'll use a 1" pad on a Nano in rotary mode won't show holograms to the average person so it's not a huge deal.

You can also buzz over the area LIGHTLY with any free spin orbital polisher to work out the holograms.

[Mike Phillips]

More...

I have two articles on Perfectionist Detailing because the topic comes up often enough that I felt the need to go ahead and write these articles.


What you're talking about is Perfectionist Detailing #1


Perfectionist Detailing #1 - Compounding & Polishing right up to an edge


Perfectionist Detailing #2 - Sanding right up to an edge



Try to find anything like the above on a Facebook Group or Instagram.

[Lance Mark]

I'm glad I asked, I'd hate to have damaged the decals. I'd planned on using the Griot G8, the Griot foam polishing and finishing pads, and Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze.

My wife and I ride quite a bit, we've done about 40k miles in the last two years on this bike. The bike has been through about the worst that our roads and highways can throw at it. It gets a fair amount of dust, dirt, bugs, and rain. All that being said, I've given up on perfection a long time ago. As much as it goes through, I still want to learn to take better care of it and if I can improve the looks I don't mind putting in some time.

Thanks for the links and help.

[2black1s]

Like I said in one of your previous threads, Harley clear is much thicker than your typical car and the clear-coat on the 17s is also on the harder side of the scale.

Personally, I think you can polish over those areas of concern without issue, almost to the point of ignoring there presence. Obviously, the more aggressive you get with your polishing the more attention will be necessary, but it's not something to get to the point of paranoia over.

Like Mike said, you can buzz over the area LIGHTLY with any free spinning orbital polisher. And while that is certainly good advice, from my experience with Harley paint you can do more than that.

And a final note, be glad that Harley decals are applied before the clear-coat. At least you don't have to deal with decal edges like you do on most cars.

[Mike Phillips]

you mentioned that when you polish you are removing a small amount of the clear coat and in a sense 'leveling' out the surface.

This is correct, abrasion equals leveling of the film build of paint.

When i run my hands over both the emblem and the pin stripe, I can feel a very slight ridge from the paint to the surface of the decal.

How do treat a decal on a surface when you are looking to correct some swirling and minor defects with a polisher?

When you typed,

on a surface

I took that to mean the graphics were on top or on the outside of the clearcoat paint.

And a final note, be glad that Harley decals are applied before the clear-coat.

After reading John's comment above, I'll change my answers.

Because the graphics are UNDER the clear layer of paint, buff like NORMAL.

As long as you're using great abrasive technology there won't be any problems.

[Mike Phillips]

And a final note, be glad that Harley decals are applied before the clear-coat.

Always good to see a company or a person do it right the first time.

I have an article on this topic,


Have graphics painted under the clearcoat - The best of all worlds

[Lance Mark]

Thanks Mike. When I originally posted, I should have made it clear, it's all under a clear coat.

I'll stop wheeling it before I see sparks, I promise. :P

I watched a fairly lengthy video you did on the different types of machines. Really good stuff. For a newb like me, I feel like the G8 was a good choice.

Along the lines of other newb friendly products for some minor correcting, I picked Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze. Any thoughts on those?

[Mike Phillips]

Along the lines of other newb friendly products for some minor correcting, I picked Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze. Any thoughts on those?

you have chosen wisely.

really great abrasive technology in Wolfgang.