Plastic Fuel Tank lost it's shine!

Hi folks,
I have a 2010 Blade in black and white, which always cleaned up well - until I started to commute to work on it! Even though I have a tank pad protector in the crotch area, the rest of the glossy black paintwork on the tank is now a nasty matt finish! I'm assuming this was due to my waterproofs rubbing against the paint it during the foul weather, but I'm now left with a very sorry looking tank paintjob!

I've tried the spray polish that they use in the bike showroom, but it lasts about a day, so I'm thinking it'll need something a little more invasive than a simple spray! Anyone got ony tips on how I can bring the shine back - and keep it back? BTW, I'm not commuting on it anymore!!

Thanks

 

Try a decent polish like autoglyms and some elbow grease. Should come up a treat.

 

Auto glym do a paint renovator polish which you don't need to use force just wash the bike dry it use a clean cloth and lightly rub over leave for 30 mins and then polish over with Auto glym polish job done (check web site for further info )

 

Autoglym super resin polish will / should bring it back to life.

Autoglym - car cleaning products, car care products, car valeting, car detailing

 

Thanks for your ideas chaps, sounds like Autoglym is the way forward! I'll pick some up this weekend and get polishing!
Cheers

 

This stuff is the dogs, an essential for a black bike. This will sort it out guaranteed apply some wax when done and it'll be back to good as new if not better.

3M Finesse-it Finishing Material 09639 Light cut polish | eBay

 

+1 on MrB's post
thats what I use all the time, my last blade seemed
to lose the shine on the tank on a regular basis.

 

Never used it but 3m are one of them Blue chip companies that seem to do everything right!

 

Techspech is also the way forward to protect the tank.

TechSpec USA

 

It's 3m that make the venturesheild I think .

 

I can also vouch for the 3M stuff here. It's what my mate (shinysideup) used on my tank with a DA polisher to bring it back up. Honestly it was like glass once he was finished.

 

Interesting to hear some of you rate 3M. The ebay link was very useful, thanks for that and it seems competitively priced compared with Autoglym, so I might give it a try. Really hoping to get it back to glass, and really encouraged to hear you managed it with yours ColinBR.

Thanks all. Safe riding

 

Ken,
Have a good look at what polish you have on the shelf as shop polishes come in 3 groups from least aggressive :>
Finishing polish- used to bring the gloss back to paintwork (jewelling in the USA)
Working polish- used to remove light scratches and damage to paintwork
Cutting polish- used to remove harsh scratches and damage to paintwork as well as wet sanding scratches

A bikes paint is typically not as thick as a car’s and it does not take long to buff through so extreme care should be taken if using a cutting polish!

I only required 1 pass with a working polish (3M extra fine) and 2 passes with a finishing polish (3M ultrafine) in order to get Colin’s blade back to showroom looking spec! extra care also had to be taken as not to put too much heat into the plastic as it doesnt take much to melt n twist the paint on the plastic panels!

 

for keeping the shine I use Meguiars NXT Liquid Nano-Tech Wax 2.0
best polishing product I have ever used (and I have used a hell of a lot)

 

Hi Scottie,
If it was me and I didn’t want to use a machine to polish the bike up I would go with the previously mentioned Autglym’s Super Resin Polish (SRP) its designed to be used by hand unlike the 3M products that have been mentioned to you. SRP does a really good job at cleaning and polishing due to its chemical cleaners and slight abrasives it also has the benefit of having great filling capabilities so scratches get filled with resin and their appearance is reduced! It also has the added benefit of leaving behind a layer of synthetic wax which will last around a month depending on conditions perfect if the weather isn’t playing ball and giving you time to apply a wax after your hard work polishing!

Another good thing about using the likes of Autoglym stuff is it’s easy to get hold off as it’s in every Halfords store and they normally have deals on it too! Also worth looking at some of the Maguire’s kit as they do some good product too that smells almost too good!

Good luck!

 

How many times have you had to stop yourself tasting the megs stuff phantom?

 

everytime I open it lol
I have it over a year and im only halfway through
the bottle, very little goes far, dont know if thats the
same if you start drinking it.
oh and the autoglym finishing cloth is a must for bike cleaning IMHO

 

After polishing you want to use something like the Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection to err protect it!