Where my leathers have rubbed against the top of my tank the paint surface has a number of very fine scratches that appear to make the paintwork look dull. What's the best way to buff these out?
Autoglym super resin polish has fillers so that may cover it up and bring back a shine. You may need a few goes with it if it's bad. Failing that dodo juice lime prime light worked on my old bike, it's a very light abrasive but it's oily too so not as harsh as some others and gives a good finish! Anything too harsh like G3 or t-cut will polish out scratches but may leave you with a dull finish after, then you would need some form of finishing polish on top to get the shine back. Have you got a picture of how bad it is?
They're too fine to catch with my mobile. I would say they're more like swirl marks but in one direction. I wonder if somebody with paint correcting mop and polishing agents would be able to buff them out.
Markm, I have very little doubt you could have them machined out based on your description. I had my bike detailed some time ago and as expected the results were great, the only problem with Ducati paint (or at least on mine) was that it is so soft. Someone with a small "DA" or dual action polisher and a very very fine polish like Megs 205 polish would get them out, you could even try megs by hand,its far less aggressive than Autoglm resin polish. Once you've got them out, and I assume you don't like tank pads? get some ventureshield applied on the offending area. Maccaa
Thanks. I have a tank pad fitted. Scratches are just above this and to the side. I should have got it venture shielded when i first had her. I didn't expect to see them so far up the tank. Maybe my stomach needs to shrink a bit.
No problem, as a general rule of thumb (pun not intended) if you can't feel a scratch with a finger nail but can see it, you can probably polish it out.
Well if they are that fine then I'd say you will have no problem buffing them out by hand with the right products.
You could even try toothpaste. Seriously, if it were mine, I'd use a little bit of T-cut, carefully, with a soft cloth (checking frequently that the cloth is not going red!), followed by whatever wax polish I have to hand (some sort of Turtle Wax product at present). I'd be a bit worried about taking it to anyone though, because if the scratches are as fine as you say, they might think I was obsessive!
Mark, be aware that even when polished out the finish will dull again once your leathers continue to rub. That aside, if it's just micro swirls you can try and use something like a farecla G10 or similar and then a final finishing compound to the get them out. You won't need alot at all. If you have a bodyshop near you they might let you blag a bit. T-cut used to contain amonia trace, so was quite agressive, but I haven't used it in many years. Then give it several coats of a proper elbow grease carnuba wax like simoniz (in a tin, none of that bottled stuff). Apply half a dozen coats and leave ten minutes before buffing each one off - this will give the solvent time to flash off, and what you'll end up buffing is neat wax. You'll sweat like gary glitter at sentence time, but it'll be rock hard so should survive your leathers that little bit longer.
G10 is a finishing compound. yes simoniz original wax is very good for the price but it's a paste wax and can be hard to work with especially if you leave it on to cure. I'd be buffing it off straight after application. As for half a dozen coats, you won't benefit from that. 2 very thin layers to ensure total coverage is all you will need (possibly 3 if your careless) any more than that and your just removing the previous lot. I really don't think you need to go to the extreme of cutting compounds. As said ducati paint is very soft and very thin!
it'll be fine. Just be gentle with it, depending on how fine the scratches are but it shouldn't take much. I used 3M Superfine SE anti hologram compound on mine prior to polish and wax application. The reason I suggested a carnuba paste wax was not cosmetic but to create a barrier layer which will take longer for the leathers to wear against, this is why you'd leave it to fully flash off. Six coats yes is excessive, and the first two are a bitch to take off, but the rest will glide off. Also, it'd be a local application rather than the whole tank. I used to use it as a mould release paste as it was that hard and durable. but I did this very thing on my SS tank for the same reasons, and it lasted for a good couple of months as a result.
Should be fine, you may need a few passes with it though. Best to use a tiny amount over a small area and work it in for 2-3 minutes until it's clear then buff it straight off and repeat until the marks are gone. Then I'd apply a sealant or wax or both once your happy with it just to give some gloss and protection.
Seeing as I was cleaning my car anyway I dug out my old cbr seat cowel and set about inflicting some swirls on it with a rag off the floor so you get an idea of what can be done without cutting compounds. This is it after buffing it with a gritty cloth- All I did at this point was two passes with dodo juice lime prime by hand working it in well and buffing straight off followed by one coat of their Orange wax. There are still very minor marks but they are very hard to see in natural light and the camera flash only just picks them up, I'm pretty confident a sealant before the wax would cover them completely. After- Hopefully that helps you out, I have no doubt that super resin polish would give the same if not better results after a few passes but I don't have any so couldn't try.
@trialnick ; thanks for disagreeing, any chance of some constructive input of your own? Mark, just ignore what I said and go with Deano's advice. Far easier solution.
I have a DAS-6 polishing machine and a wide selection of compounds/polishes/etc if you can get yourself down just south of Didcot. I'm far from being an expert in polishing, but I'm a reasonable enthusiast We can put some decent wax on it afterwards, however, as above, be aware, by fixing the issue you're not fixing the cause, so you need to investigate a solution to stop it in the future.
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I have caused the same on my tank, I would be very reluctant to use a polisher unless very very skilled as Ive done more damage than good in the past on hard car paints never mind soft Ducati, good advise given to take your time with any superfine cream abrasive then, fillers, sealers, waxes whatever and then another protector Im going to put a gel sticker above my tank pad to avoid further damage...
Had the same problem on mine, autoglymed it and got the tank ventureshielded, they even managed to 'save' the tank pad and reapply it. Ventureshield just covers that vulnerable area above and to the side of the tank pad. Been spot on since with no maintenance / worry of scratching.
