The best helmet polish I have used is shift it great on the visor to helps the bugs slide of , visor cleaner and anti fog really good to , small bottles that fit under the seat cowl and great value at about 2.95 a bottle, helmet loons like new never damaged the finish,
I always thought the side pod breakages was part of an arai sales strategy. Everyone I know that's had aria's has had to replace a set a least twice.........and of course they are all mostly different colours depending on helmet design as they incorporate the design colours through the pods too! You can get helmet specific polishes from the likes of mud off and quite a few others, most detailing and wax sprays should be fine as they tend to be water based rather than alcohol based products that are in a lot of polishes for paintwork which could theoretically damage plastics but helmets are finished in lacquer for protection of the design underneath and similar to normal paintwork its this coating the polishes would be interacting with rather than the plastic shell directly and even then newer helmets are mostly made of a composite/carbon design rather than poly plastics of old days!
I've never ever needed to polish and lid. If it gets dirty a dams microfiber cloth and leave it over the helmet. After 10-15 mins all the crap will just wipe off.
Too late, it is done. Talking of the old Polycarb helmets I remember we were not supposed to paint them because it weakened the plastic - I sprayed one silver, looked like a spaceman, thing eventually split in two right down the middle when it was dropped on the floor. But Arais, 'cause they are glass fibre, always reckoned you could paint glass fibre lids, figured a bit of posh polish would be okay. This one is about about 25-30,000 miles, and a bit over two years old, still with the original visor and side pod things - visor mostly gets cleaned with spit and tissue/loo roll, never thought of buying special stuff for helmets - will look into it should I get a new Arai Doohan 2015 TT Replica !
Baby wipes or a soaked piece of kitchen roll are all I use on my lid - leave it on for a couple of minutes and simply wipe away, giving it a quick dry with a dry cloth afterwards. Does both the lid and visor too. No need for soap or any chemicals.
I've heard that before and it screams utter BS to me - a handy excuse arai has used to explain away this ridiculous design flaw. I really loved my Arai helmets... enough to go through 3 over the years, and every single one of them had a side pod failure. I actually find it unbelievable that they continue to use this design and stay in business!
Totally agree. I've had many arai's over the years including a GP3 motorsports one. Outside of a TT pit stop I can't see the need for quick release mechanisms. The GP3 used a large alloy screw in bolt that you could use a screwdriver or coin on. A far better and safer design ( you knew you weren't going to lose your visor after a hurried change ) and weren't that much slower to change. I was very tempted to go for a Bell helmet as they use a similar design to the GP3 but I wasn't keen on the interior fabric.
Had ARAIs for the last 8yrs and in that time done well in excess of 150,000 miles on two wheels ... I've never broken a side pod. You ham fisted fuckers!
How often do you take the visor out? One of mine broke partly because I had a tinted visor and was swapping it with the clear a lot. I had done it plenty and wasn't doing anything forceful or different when it gave up.
Been using Autoglym SRP for years and cant fault it. So easy to use and doesn't leave any streaks. So easy when it comes to getting dead bugs off as well and any tar or oil the the wash hasn't removed. I even use a little on my lids as well.
I like Autoglym SRP and use this for my car but find on the bike a wax finish helps to prevent flies and other bits sticking to the surface in the first place, whereas polish alone doesn't. Also makes it much easier to clean afterwards as well if wax has been applied.
