| Author | Message | ||
     Jeepinbueller |
Just a quick question for all you clean freaks out there: is clay bar usage okay for our plastics? Ginger's getting her Spring cleaning today after work since it's unusually warm (near 70° in MD) for this time of year. She doesn't get too many deep cleans—maybe once or twice annually with 3-4 coats of wax, but I've never clay barred the plastics before and don't know if the very slight polishing action they exhibit would marr the shiny finish any. Thanks for the input! | ||
| Vinb |
Do you wax the plastic? I just use plastic cleaner and if its has scratches I'd buff them out with a fine compound. | ||
| Marcodesade |
Curious about the clay bar myself . . . | ||
| Drawkward |
How would a clay bar work on plastic? Aren't they used to take dirt and impurities out of clear coats and paint? | ||
| Jeepinbueller |
Good point, Drawk. That is indeed the use ... guess I'm so used to using them on y family's vehicles that I forget why I did it, lol. I knew it was a stupid question to post. Meh. | ||
| Nuts4mc |
lemon pledge - works great - especially on visors... the bugs guts don't stick- use the J&J brand...the low cost copies leaves streaks/oily film - on smooth (NOT BUELL)powder coated wheels it removes brake dust as well - google it - there are pros and cons - Honda used to have a spray on cleaner but the propellant was a no-no - plus it cost more because it said honda on the can - if you have excessive elbow grease available Gel-Gloss ( Liquid and aerosol - "pink" can)from the Home Depot works good too - but it leaves a white dust that needs to be micro clothed off - good for that spring time ride through the orchard when all the blossoms and honey bees are out. | ||
| Xbniner |
Slightly off topic, but what do you guys clean your wheels with? That textured finish seems to just eat any chemicals or rags I throw against it. I thought the white wheels on my firebolt were hard to clean, but at least they were smooth.. | ||
| Kalali |
Clay bar works great on fiberglass. I've used it on Corvette and Lotus for many years. It also works just fine on painted plastic bumper covers you find on almost all cars these days. So by extrapolation I see no reason it should not work on our bikes' plastics. | ||
| Nuts4mc |
Mr. X - toilet bowl brush and simple green you bend the brush to meet your needs - the simple green is eco friendly - hose it off | ||
| Drawkward |
xbniner- The only thing that has gotten the really nasty brake dust off for me is Bleche Wite. Search for it here on BadWeb...there are plenty of threads discussing the topic. | ||
| Vinb |
For the rims yea bleche wite if you keep on them but for a deep clean no.7 polish the white kind wipe on wipe off rinse. | ||
| Carbonbigfoot |
That's why I bought the CR with black(ish) rims. They're already brake dust colored! R | ||
| Xtreme6669 |
KALALI, I think the issue would be that the plastic is not painted... the color is injected into the plastic so there is no paint or clear coat finish... | ||
| Stirz007 |
FWIW: Xb: The armor-all wheel cleaner works pretty well for me... Vinb: You can wax plastics, sometimes you can't avoid it (on cars). I wax bike plastics because the seem to stay clean longer or are easier to keep clean. Plus, polishing is too much work for my lazy behind. Lucas makes a good polish spray that increases my ability to be lazy. | ||
| Sparky |
Clay bar works best to remove impurities from the finish surfaces whether it's paint, bare fiberglass or powder coated finishes because whatever is deposited on the surface can get adsorbed into the clay while working it onto the surface. Of course, you'll need the right surfactant lubricants to keep from scratching the paint/finish surfaces. I've had the best results from Adams Detail Spray but Meguiars is also good. | ||
| Rt_performance |
seems like clay bar might help pull the bugs off. Been using bug be gone and wax on both my plastic bikes | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
Never tried it but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Like you said it should help remove bugs and other hard to remove deposits. I have a clay bar system and a spare XB flyscreen that I don't mind experimenting with. Will post back in 20min. | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
Tried it and as luck would have it there was a big nasty bug splatter on it. The clay bar took the bug off real quick. But it looks like it did cause some extremely light swirls/scratches in the other areas I used it. These would easily be polished out with wax or polish. So I'd say use it for spot cleaning of really stubborn bugs/ect. but wouldn't really use it all over. Better off using a polish for the big areas. | ||
| Ezblast |
Amorall for the plastic and metal - spray on wipe off, for the silver metals, I use brake cleaner and or WD40 to clean up. EZ | ||
| Kalali |
"But it looks like it did cause some extremely light swirls/scratches in the other area" Sparky addressed this earlier: "Of course, you'll need the right surfactant lubricants to keep from scratching the paint/finish surfaces." There you have it. | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
I used the lubricant that is included with the kit (Mothers Brand). The kit also comes with wax to polish up afterward. Not telling anyone not to use it but, as with most polishes, try a small area first to see if you're gonna like it. It works great for bugs and such. Plus it'll really make your car look 10x better if you use it on it. (Message edited by Not_Purple_s2 on February 21, 2011) | ||
| Mcrbuelligan |
to polish i use novus or mr sheen with a mircofiber cloth . To clean i use autoglym, a jetwash, a washing up brush for the difficult bits. |
