| Author | Message | ||
     Gentleman_jon |
Lil Blackie fell over in some fine sand, ( all too common on the East End of Long Island), which left some scratches on the rear cowl and the fly screen. Several quick and dirty attempts to polish out the scratches merely succeeded in making the situation worse, as the scratches themselves were very fine and rather deep, and any attempt to polish them out left a large obvious area of haze. Anyway, this morning I determined to get the damn scratches out once and for all. It took all morning to do it, so I decided to share with other brothers who may have been similarly afflicted. Here is my technique. Perhaps other brothers will have a simpler and more satisfactory solution. 1. SANDING a. Start with 320 wet or dry sandpaper, wet. b. Then go to 400, 600, 800, 1000 and finally 1500 wet and dry, continue to sand wet until you end up with a perfectly matte surface. c. Do NOT skip any steps, because each finer sandpaper is necessary to remove the scratches left by the one before. 2. POLISHING a.With a fine wool buffing pad, apply Novus 2, available at your local Harley dealer, and buff. b. Repeat this about 6 or 8 times until you have a shine, with no visible scratches, or very few. c. You will now have the infamous "Novus haze" on the black plastic. Do not despair. Help is on the way. d. Now repeat the same process with Maguiar"s Plastx, a finer polish. You will still have some haze, but less. Still no despair, ok? ( Not really sure if this step is necessary, but it can't hurt). 3. THE BEAUTY PART....... a. Apply a new material called EAGLE ONE NANO POLISH, by hand with a paper towel or sponge applicator, then buff with a clean soft high gloss soft wool pad on your buffer. This is really one of those new "miracle products". Read about it here: http://www.eagleone.com/pages/products/product.asp ?itemid=1120&cat=5006 2. Repeat until shiny, maybe a half a dozen times. 3.THIS IS IMPORTANT: DO THE FINAL POLISH BY HAND WITH A VERY SOFT POLISHING CLOTH SUCH AS Intex Ultra Soft & Plush Flannel cloths to get the final shiny finish that you can't get with the buffer that will still have polish on it, or a cloths that is not supper soft. 4 THE END a. Polish with Plexus in the normal way to remove any residual haze, and cleaner. 5. Consume the adult beverage of your choice. a. Just remember, you will may want to go for a ride to show off your handy work, so unaccustomed moderation may be called for here, since these protracted operations may result in a particularly fierce thirst. That’s all there is to it.  If anyone has a easier way of doing this, PLEASE POST NOW!! | ||
| Spiderman |
If anyone has a easier way of doing this, PLEASE POST NOW!! 1 Go to Tattooed and screwed's house. 2 Pull bike into ACed garage 3 Tell him how cool his bikes are 4 Let him polish your bike.  | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Damn! Why didn't I think of that!!  | ||
| Spiderman |
I have one of his cards if ya need it ;) | ||
| Chrisrogers3 |
For the fine scratches I have used rubbing compound followed by polishing compound. For the deeper scratches I do not hit it with anything coarser than 1000 grit (wet sanding) followed by the rubbing and polishing compound. Its soft plastic not a chunk of oak. Chances are you will put deeper scratches in with the 320 than what you had to start off with. Then in the end I use the harley polish. It has worked for me every time so far. | ||
| Beachbuell |
Scratches are kool! Kinda like scars and tattoos. Chics dig em! | ||
| Scottsts |
I found a technique that works very well: Metal polish. You know, the stuff that you polish exhaust pipes with? A couple of years ago, I rode my 1100XX up to Americade in the rain and much to my despair, scratched the hell out of the tail section with the soft luggage I was using. Some of the scratches were pretty deep. Just take some of the metal polish and rub it into the scratched area (I use my fingers and don't rub too hard),wipe away with a clean cloth and wax. Done. Prior to waxing, the finish will be dull but this is ok. Try it, especially if you were planning to use sandpaper anyway. | ||
| 1324 |
Good info here. The other day I was giving some thought to wet sanding the plastics down to a matte finish like you describe. Has anyone had success with this? How does it hold up to future 'normal' scratches? Sorry if this doesn't belong here, but since it was mentioned... | ||
| Ragnagwar |
Polishing with a string buff made specifically for plastics (because it won't heat up) and a bar of fine and ultra-fine plastic buffing compound will do a beautiful job with absolutely no haze. | ||
| Ejiii |
Solve the problem forever...Line-X!  | ||
| M1combat |
I took 1200 and wet sanded. Left it that way  . Bike was only about a week old and scratchless when I did it. | ||
| Disturbed |
Good to know. Now, how can you get back all the hours spent polishing instead of riding????? That's is the magic question. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Rag - Could you be a bit more specific about the products that you used? Thanks | ||
| 07xb12scg |
Solve the problem forever...Line-X! I knew it was only a matter of time... I thought I'd see it on the frame or something first not the plastic. Gentlemen_jon: No Novus 1? I thought about picking up Plexus last night to try it, but I decided against it. And don't Plexus and the Eagle One serve the same purpose? | ||
| Ragnagwar |
"Gentleman jon" Sent PM regarding specifics. Didn't know if I would raise the ire of the forum keepers by posting non-sponser goods. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
This is what I LOVE about Bad Web. One can learn so much. I am beginning to think I did it ALL WRONG! Thanks to Rag's post, I googled "string buffing wheel". Seems like everyone in the whole wide world except me and my local hardware store knows that you use string buffing wheels to polish soft plastic because they don't heat up. I will pick one up from the auto supply store today, with some ultra fine plastic polish for clear lenses. Novus 1 isn't too wonderful, at least in my hands. Doesn't really remove scratches, and doesn't polish very well either. Maybe I am doing something wrong - wouldn't be the first time! 07 - Eagle One Nano and Plexus are totally different. Eagle One Nano is a very high tech metal polish with very fine, (nano), particles that shine and fill. After I bought it, I discovered they also make a Nano Wax, that might even be better for Plastic. The Nano polish will also probably be killer for polishing headers, aluminum, and mag wheels - its actual purpose. http://www.eagleone.com/pages/products/product.asp ?itemid=1120 Plexus on the other hand, is just the worlds best plastic cleaner polish for surfaces that don't have scratches. http://www.plexusplasticcleaner.com/frames.html Use it to clean your plastic, your visor, your helmet, your frame, your wheels, your spectacles, your cel phone, your radio, well you get the idea - anything plastic that doesn't need to be repaired. It fills a little bit, but not scratches that you can see. It is really great on wheels because it cleans off road grime, and leaves the wheels with a protective coat that makes them easier to clean the next time. A must for the Amber wheels, and chain gang members. OK? | ||
| Ragnagwar |
jon, I just realized I probably just sent you a picture of the string buff in the PM. Here is a link for the home page for anyone interested.(No Connection to company). Hope this helps! "Rags" http://www.caswellplating.com/index.html (Message edited by ragnagwar on July 26, 2007) | ||
| 07xb12scg |
I'll have to try Plexus. Now only if it would fix the crack in my airbox cover!  | ||
| Lightningrob |
07, I'm not sure how bad the crack in your airbox is, but if it's small enough, you might be able to do a cheap fix with model airplane/car cement. I was able to mend a small split, (about 3 inches long), in my upper fairing on a ZX-7 I had years ago with that stuff. If it's a big crack, it probably won't work. | ||
| Chrisrogers3 |
For the airbox cover crack I would suggest epoxy. You can form the epoxy over the plastic and then sand it down. Epoxy as a rule has a little thicker consistency so you can get it to stay put instead of running all over the place and has a stronger bond. If you use model airplane/car cement it could damage the plastic. I have used epoxy on my car side mirror and it did no damage to the plastic and hold up a lot better than model cement. Just my opinion once again. Some may agree/disagree but I have used the epoxy method and I trust it more than model cement. | ||
| Diablobrian |
ANother product to try as an initial to intermediate scratch remover is Flitz metal polish. I came by that discovery while reading the can, it said that it was also made for cleaning fiberglass boat hulls. As long as you use a soft cloth and a bunch of elbow grease it leaves little to no haze. I always follow up with Plexus, Honda cleaner /polish, or in a pinch pledge to finish up with. | ||
| Tommy_black_shark |
Great info! I too have been doing it all wrong. Got to head over to TWO for breakfast, but I'm gonna look for one of those string things in Blairsville this afternoon. Everybody ride safe! | ||
| Steve_mackay |
Yeah, Spidey's method is easy But I skip some steps but add one... 1.) Make Billet parts for Tatooednscrewd 2.) Tell him to make your bike look all 'purdy. Works for me at least But, in all honesty, he usually yells at me for how disgustingly filthy my bikes look, so he yells at me to bring it down | ||
| Jamie |
Man, I rode all over the place today looking for a "string buffing wheel". Everywhere I went, no one knew what the heck I was talking about. Does anyone know if there's a common store that carries this item? Or do I have to order it over the internet? Thanks, Jamie EDIT*** I forgot to add that while on my quest for the mysterious buffing wheel, I came across a McGuires plastic cleaner at AutoZone called PlastiX. Anyone ever tried it? I also failed in locating Plexus locally. (Message edited by Jamie on August 05, 2007) | ||
| 1324 |
Jamie, I bought and tried PlastiX...wasn't too impressed. To my eye, it left some noticeable haze and was not a final solution. The haze may have been removed with further treatment, though. I just got so sick of polishing the plastic, that I went with the matte look. Wet sanded with 600, 1000, and then 1200. From there, I used a carnuba wax and finished with a polish. I like how it turned out, so probably no more shining for me!!! |
