So I'll start this with a long post warning but as this is the detailing section, I'll give you all the detail. I bought the 1299 back in June last year (yes lockdown 1 impulse purchase) and whilst it was in good condition, it was certainly in need of a correction detail. The bike's a 2016 and by Jan had covered 19,000 miles (highest mileage 1299 in the country? Be interested to know?) and the bodywork was showing several signs of poor washing technique, dealer prep and stone chips. I bought this bike so I knew that it didn't have to be a garage queen, wouldn't worry about taking it on track but also want it to look the best that it can and then protect it from further damage as best as possible. After a deep clean and decontamination, I set the bike up in the garage, stealing my office lighting to highlight the defects and removed seat, mirrors and a couple of sections of trim to allow the best access that I could get to the tank etc. I also removed the disgusting tank pad that was on and removed the tank grips to fit a new set after correcting the tank. I knew that my usual 5" and 3" DA's just wouldn't get to where I needed to so had my eye on a few nano DA machines. As I was about to buy this HEX Nano Machine Polisher - Dual Action Battery Polisher Kit | Carbon Collective | Ceramic Coatings & Detailing Products I found the same non branded machine on Amazon for considerably less SPTA Cordless Mini Car Polisher, 12V Micro Cordless Scratches Killer Car Polisher RO/DA Mini Car Polisher for polishing, Sanding and Cleaning: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike. With a 1" and 2" backing plates and a selection of pads, I knew it would give me everything needed to correct and refine every section of the bike. Being mindful of the soft clear coat, I ran a couple of test passes with the softest pads and Scholl S20 Black to see what defects could be removed. Whilst S20 Black can be used as a single-stage polish, I wanted to remove as many defects as I could so after testing with the microfibre pad, decided to complete a two stage correction sticking with S20 and MF for the cut and the refine with S20 and softest foam pad. It took time to get used to the machine and also working on such small sections but the results were great. I wanted to have the bike protected as best as I could so knew I wanted to have PPF applied to the bike. After a recommendation on here a while back, I reach out to Auto Curators - Professional Vehicle Detailing & Paint Protection Services as they have experience with bikes, a V4 Speciale (owner on here) in their portfolio and are close to me in Hook. Paul recommended a full bike PPF but after discussion, we decided to leave the tank be as it would be such a small section of PPF after the pad and grips were back on, and I have the DP screen which at the point it's in now wasn't worth the PPF, I'll likely replace at some point. So apart from those two sections the entire bike was fitted with Xpel Ultimate Plus PPF which is a self healing PPF. Really great service and job from Paul, would highly recommend. The strange thing is that as Paul explained to me, the vehicle never looks its best once the PPF has just been fitted as it needs time to settle and any remaining lubricant to evaporate. So after leaving it for a week, I washed the bike and then moved on to protection. The black plastics were fairly faded and the heat shield was in a pretty bad state after the rear brake fluid reservoir leaking on track last year causing some staining. I used Carbon Collective | Platinum Trim Ceramic Coating to restore the trim to a factory finish and protect for two years. It's a ceramic coating with 3H hardness and two year protection after two applications and the effect was incredible and so easy to use. Not the best before and afters: I'm still looking into what long term ceramic I want to go for to apply over the PPF so for now protected the entire bike with my usual Hybrid Coating 2.0 | Carbon Collective | Ceramic Coatings & Detailing Products which is a 3 month liquid ceramic protection that is incredibly hydrophobic, makes cleaning much easier and will offer some additional protection on top of the PPF. The water beading and behaviour is great. So then all finally done and I couldn't be happier. A really huge transformation for me, the depth of the Rosso Red has really changed, the gloss level hugely improved and for me the bike now looks nothing like it's done the mileage that it has. I don't know how many hours I spent in total, but it must be 20+ but completely worth it and I loved every second of it. Here's some final after shots for you.
Thanks, and yes definitely recommend the polisher. More than powerful enough with seven speed settings, but you don't need higher the five really, huge selection of pads, 1" and 2" backing plates mean you can get anywhere within reason, can swap between DA and rotary (although I left as DA), extenders for better access, protector for the head so the plates won't accidentally hit something. Only downside is the batteries but kind of pros and cons. You get two so can swap between but you will notice a speed drop as the battery wears down so I was opting to have one on charge, at all times and swapping after around 30mins which seemed to keep it manageable. The softer pads can stall easily, but it forces you to use the right technique managing pressure, angle and speed and they stall for a reason to protect you from damaging and areas where the pad isn't flat. I have no doubt that the Rupes iBrid Nano is a better unit, but for the difference between spending £170 and £500, I'm good with this for now. Have also now used on the cars on glass black pillars, interior and then the intricate sections that were difficult to get to properly with a 3"
When you say you started with the S20 Black and MF, did you mean microfibre and S20 by hand then the refine with S20, using the SPTA and the foam pad to finish? Just purchased the SPTA polisher (thanks for the link BTW) to use on the wife's Monster and possibly my own bike at some point, thought the paintwork is very recent so a little reticent to correct any tiny defects until its had at least a month or more to fully cure. I already have a mains powered DA polisher for the cars, but it's way too big and cumbersone for a motorcycle so the SPTA one seemed a bargain, especially compared to a Rupes Nano. My bike is due to go down to AutoCurators to get the PPF film fitted, so as in your case, wanted to make sure it's as good as can be before they get to apply it. One final question, with the Scholl S20 Black, it says to apply it wet then pressure wash to activate it and dry as instructed. Is this the technique you used, as I thought most ceramic coatings were applied to a clean de-contaminated surface?
Glad the link and thread is useful! Ah no not by hand, using the microfibre cutting pads that come in the selection of pads. The Ducati clear coat is pretty soft, so I started with some test passes using the variety of foam pads but mine was in pretty bad shape as you'll see in the pics so going up to the microfibre pad seemed to cut through well without leaving a huge amount of refining work to do as S20 is a diminishing abrasive compound. Be careful on the Monster as I know some Ducati's come without a clear coat and are single stage paint, usually easiest to tell if the badgers are lacquered over or not. If not then expect your pads to turn scarily red! Glad you're going down the PPF route and Paul did a great job with mine, I should have asked him for a referral code!!! haha! Are you talking about the Carbon Collective Hyrbid rather than the S20? If so yes that's how it's applied and makes nice easy work of applying three months protection in a couple of minutes. You are right though with the more advanced long term coatings, they need a fully clean surface to bond to hence they recommend a panel wipe/ipa wipe down before application
