Help... Demon dirt shifter wrecked my casing paint :(

Ive seen this quite a few times on bikes in dealers.

Not nice and I bet your fuming.

Have you tried using another cleaner to see if it is indeed stained or a wax from the cleaner?

Another one to watch is Muc-off chain cleaner. Ive used it for years and always been fine of painted surfaces but they have changed the formula so it now messes up paint. Beware!!!

Muc-off bike cleaner is fine and recommended but I apply by sponge only as I dont want it getting in any bearings or greased places as I know from mountain biking it will penetrate and kill the grease inside.

 

I see lots of damage/staining to casings, anodising and alloy from these. Usual answer to the question about what the customer uses is muc-off but many of the these cleaners are the same product but rebadged. I did some delving into them and most are very alkaline in make up. Some even make a point of being acid free, which they are, but from their data sheets, undiluted they have a ph of around 11........ That's caustic territory. Another telltale is heavy corrosion on screw threads where the solution has crept in during washing and doesn't get rinsed.
i really don't like them (can ya tell yet)......

 

I use WD40, obviously taking care to where I spray it.

 

Part of the problem is that Ducati use water based paint now and it cannot stand up to any form of solvent unlike two pack paints etc. of the past.

I use bicycle cleaner from the local pound shop!!! It is very weak and ideal for an easy cleanup but not strong enough to do damage to paint\plastic. It doesn't tend to shift heavy dirt deposits though unless you treat the area several times over.

 

Ouch! Had some muc off a few years ago now and was told by a guy who I got to treat my Honda for the winter with that acf50 stuff I really shouldn't use it as it is pretty aggresive and will damage the finishes on the bike. I dumped it in the cupboard and didn't use it on the bike again. I did however stupidly use it on the windsceen of my van at work to clear a pretty hefty build up of bug innards the following summer, sprayed it on but I had to take a call before I could clean it off....bloody stuff ate into the glass! Whenever it rained after that driving was a right pain as all these lines where it damaged the windscreen kept appearing whenever the windscreen wipers operated, pretty much like the marks on your bike (they were visible when dry too, just not as pronounced). Threw it in the bin after that, never again!

As for sorting yours, I'd get some professional opinion....might be a case of some T-cut and taking back the paint. Hope you get it sorted ok.

 

I don't clean mine that often but if I do a "Deep clean" start with a detergent like fairy liquid to get rid of all the oily shit hose it off then I use what ever car shampoo I have at the time and that's it. Once every blue moon it gets a polish and waxing. For a quick waterless clean I use pledge all surface stuff.

 

Not sure about WD40 but I recently used GT85 to try and lubricate/penetrate a corroded switch and it virtually dissolved the rubber boot around the switch - be careful...

 

Powder coating doesn't always guarantee that it will be impervious to detergents. I know some who had their gold coloured powdercoated cases melt when using only a mild cleaner on the paint.

The answer is to avoid anything too harsh, Fairy liquid etc contains salt and that can be bad on the waterbased painted cases too.

I have used SDoc 100 gel and that seemed to work well on a Yamaha RD250 LC casing.

 

Strange that quite a few of you have had problems with muc off (bike cleaner). Ive been using the stuff for years for both motorcycles, mountain bikes (i ride cross country) and i even use it on the car. I also do a deep clean every now and then and have never had any problems except for it eating the grease in bearings on the mtb and i put that down to spraying it on.

I now only spray it onto a wet sponge and then rince off after a minute or so at the most and it works perfectly.

I wonder if they have been altering the makeup of the cleaner as i know they have with the chain cleaner and i dont like their brake cleaner these days either.

I think if you leave any of these cleaners on to soak in long enough you will inevitability find there will be something that it will react with and it sounds like the cause of some of the staining people have described. (Im sure people will disagree but thats fine).

Years ago i used to like autoglym motorcycle cleaner but im sure its prob the same stuff and ive always avoided car cleaners like the plague due to the fact that they contain waxes that i dont want on my brakes.

A few of my mates have started calling me "barry scott" -think civic bang advert due to the fact my bikes are always so clean. What they dont realise is that i dont wash it much. I just sponge off the flies and give the wheels a clean using mucoff. And it seems to work well.

Not quite a "dry clean" but half way there i guess.

Hope you get it sorted as i know how horrible it must be.

 

There in lies the trick. It can't be left for very long at all and must be thoroughly washed off. The dwell time is really short and "leaving it to soak" to better the cleaning leads to the damage. If there's heavy soiling and your busy agitating the grimy bits, it's already doing it damage on the other areas.

 

SDoc is very good, as has been said.

Brake cleaner is also good for where the bike is really grimey

 

Hope you find a way of sorting it easily

 

Meh is a noise sheep make I believe ?

Think you'll find it's Baaa.:wink:
Hope you get it sorted.