Thin motorcycle paint

[BuffaloBill]

My motorcycle tank is as dull as ever and the bike is only one year old. The clear/paint that was once full gloss black is a semi-gloss near the crotch area, and a little on the sides from clamping my legs to the tank. A lot of sport bikes (information shared on forums and experience from ownership), have thin paint, and I do not want to burn through it. Any ideas on what polish and pad?

[SonOfOC]

You will be fine polishing it out. I've done dozens ranging from Harleys to sport bikes. Machine polish with a DA and a light/ medium polish with white polishing pad.

You mentioned crotch area, so I'm guessing it's a sport bike aka "crotch rocket". That area gets abused, but it is small enough to do a polish by hand. My suggestion is something like Meguiars Ultimate Compound with a foam pad, and finishing up with Meguiars Ultimate Polish if you are super picky. The above mentioned are consumer based polishes that are readily available from Walmart and Autozone. They have a very long working time that you will need if done by hand.

Lastly, protect that tank area with a tank pad or some PPF.

[St.LightDetails]

I used to work at a motorcycle shop, and fixed a number of tanks on used bikes that were going up for re-sale. The paint on Ducati and Triumph bikes is pretty soft. I could typically get away with using just M205 and an orange LC pad on a PC to take out most of the defects. Then another light pass with a green pad to finish it out. I like to remove the seat and if necessary sometimes the entire tank to get into some of the areas. SonofOC is correct in that you can probably get pretty good results by hand it will just take longer. Heres a before an after of a nicely abused Triumph Bonneville tank I corrected. I wasn't able to get everything out but it was much much better. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[IMG][/IMG]
Before
[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[Mike Phillips]

My motorcycle tank is as dull as ever and the bike is only one year old.

Any ideas on what polish and pad?

What do you have for polisher? Pads? Polishes?


Definitely can be fixed but you want to use the least aggressive product approach. Then keep a good coat of wax, sealant or coating on the paint especially where you legs touch it so the paint is slick to ward off abrading.

The new Detailer's Paint Coating might be a great product to try out after you do some light polishing.

[mackey]

you're also constantly rubbing on it whenever you ride. It's bound to get marred moreso than car paint.

I'd be hesitant to add any protection save for a resin like opticoat as well; they are shaped to be anchor points when you lean and any slickness typically associated and preferred in paint protection would obviously be bad and could cause you to wreck.

If its a sportbike, i'd consider something like stomp grips or tech specs that add an adhesive textured pad to the sides

[St.LightDetails]

In my experience some StompGrips are a little to aggressive for street riding, they can sometimes wear into your jeans or other riding pants. I think they make less aggressive pads for street, but I have used the Tech-specs before for my street bike and they work very well, and they look pretty cool.

[BuffaloBill]

Tech Spec is better for the street.

[BuffaloBill]

What do you have for polisher? Pads? Polishes?


Definitely can be fixed but you want to use the least aggressive product approach. Then keep a good coat of wax, sealant or coating on the paint especially where you legs touch it so the paint is slick to ward off abrading.

The new Detailer's Paint Coating might be a great product to try out after you do some light polishing.

I don't have anything tool wise. Just a ton of MF stuff, Klasse twins, Meguiars QD/QW, Chem Bros Luber, plastic polish, foam/MF application pads, etc. I'm getting ready to buy everything - as I don't have polishing products (polisher, pads, polisher accessories, or chemicals) and I want to do this in one shot.

How would I do the concave portions of the tank sides and forward concaved portion of the tank? Is there a backing pad/polishing pad flexible enough? 3" backing plate and pad?

[BuffaloBill]

How hard/long would it be by hand if I bought the right materials?

[Rival]

How hard/long would it be by hand if I bought the right materials?

its just not going to be the same as with a DA