Great stuff, looks great; just FYI be careful with the garden hose when wet wash, the water splatter pretty far with the coating
No prob Dazk happy to lend a hand. As soon as social distancing measures are relaxed you can give it a good wash and bring it up to crammy. We can give it a light going over to rid your swirl Mark's and stuff and then you just need to protect it with a wax or ceramic or whatever your pleasure. If it's never been done you should see good results. I'm no pro just a DIY,er but its pretty easy
Great work Paul, showroom shine at home! Apart from the painted plastic fairings, what else did you coat? Wondering how it'll hold up on the black sections below the tank/rear mudguard or swingarm I've been considering this for my next bike but also weighing up Paint Protection Film (PPF). Is this something you thought of before going with the ceramic coating?
Never used ppf so cant offer any thoughts on that. On the white bike the whole front mud guard is plain black plastic and I coated that plus just about anything else that wasnt an engine! There is no problem putting it on matt or plain plastic surfaces or the clear screen. Yes its great for shine and gloss but its first wash should shed a bit more light on how well its protecting it underneath. It's currently covered in crap from a sunday blast and it's in for a service on Wednesday so will probably wash it next weekend so we will see then. So far though I'm delighted with the results
Ceramic coats aren't going to prevent stone chips thats the job for PPF. Ceramics provide a gloss layer and have a self cleaning ability so there primary provide a finish and help cleaning and to a smaller extent increase the resistance to marring and swirls. edit just to add i have a ceramic coat over my PPF!
I bought a few bottles of ceramic coating off eBay, after I heard some good reviews about the stuff. They weren't wrong. The stuff bloody amazing. Did a fill on clean first Inc clay bar, wash polish and wax, then applied the ceramic coating. Granted this detail took the longest, but now it takes a fraction of the time for a mirror showroom shine. Totally recommend the stuff.
That's a really good idea actually! Best of both worlds! Out of curiosity, did you apply the PPF yourself? If you hired someone to do it, could you PM me with their info?
PPF was on the bike when I bought it, it's venture shield and was on there from brand new (its a 2010) Took it off the front fender for no reason and the paint work was perfect!. One thing to add, be very careful with IPA solution on PPF, The Gtechnic panel wipe version was strong enough to react and stain, luckily I was able to use a Dual action polisher on it to remove the marks. Phew!
Well both bikes have had a bit of stick over the last couple of weeks with dirt, rain andots of dead flies decorating them. The blade even had grubby oil Mark's on it from its service together with shit loads of cheap crappy lube fling all over it's back end thanks to the Honda technicians at said service. So both bikes had their first wash post ceramic coating and it was a joy. The general crud and even pesky flies just literally washed off without any rubbing. They came up really good and look like they have been waxed and polished when it was just a basic wash and towel off. No snow foam or anything just a normal wash and they look great. Very pleased and well worth both the effort and the expense. I am now a definite ceramic coating convert
what did you use to get rid of the swirl marks as mine has a few in the paint , but i cant get rid of them , cheers.
Hi Keith I've got a cheap DA (dual action) polisher which is ideal for home use, one of my better investments. If it's just very light marking then usually just some polish is enough to shift them if a little more battle weary then a little compound first then followed up with some polish.
Hey, a friend of mine has ceramic coat on his cars and another has PPF. I asked them about it and they both looked into the 2 options heavily at the start and the subject of ceramic on top of PPF came up. One sent me this the other day so unsure if you've experienced any issues? Like they say, it's a practice of some companies but not the one that listed this.
No issues at all, apart from the PPF reacting with IPA. I ride all year any weather so any issues would arise very quickly. It cleans just as easy as painted surfaces and doesn't attract any additional grime I would agree that the ceramic coat would bond less effectively on PFF but that would only impact longevity. If this was a self healing type film I would acknowledge the properties of that and ceramic are counter effective? I haven't researched this particular product but many of these sorts of things are just trying to peddle another super expensive product which probably does the job only a little better than another at 10th the price? These are put on super cars and the like where the owner has no problem spending thousands on coats, so few extra hundred for another specific nano coat isn't going to hurt the bank
I'm not sure that theory would hold water. Yes ceramic hardens an awful lot hence why it works leaving the glass like finish but if it were to crack as described you couldn't use it on any plastics and you clearly can. Car bumpers have loads of flex in them. Bike fairings have loads of flex which should therefore crack like they describe but it doesnt so not altogether sure what they are getting at with that statement. Now I'm not saying coating onto a ppf is a good or bad idea ( I've never done it) but they're argument or at least description of their argument is a bit weak.
cheers , ive tryed polish and a few other scratch removers but it has touched them , which da did you use , thanks.
I just got the halford own brand and it's been spot on. Its maybe under par compared to the commercial grade stuff but for keeping my household of 2 cars and 2 bikes going it's great. Good value. Using the sort of products you've tried can take hours of work if done by hand where as machine polish does it 10 mins
cheers mate i shall have look , its just that ive never used or done this machine polishing and dont know whats the best kit to use , pads etc .