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Need advice on this one…possible clear coat damage?
I did a two-bucket wash yesterday, and after semi drying was gonna do a quick detail. Did my fairing first with Carpro Ech20 and when I got down to the front fender I noticed what looked like overspray and drip from working my fairing. So I saturated the fender with the ech20 and when I buffed it out noticed the “overspray” wasn’t coming out, no matter how hard I buffed it. Well, wtf ? So I started wondering just what exactly I was dealing with and what to do about it…
I decided to try some clay with my Ech20, which did nothing. Also I also used the rest of my Carpro Trix ( Tar & Iron remover) with the same results…
So now I’m getting worried. Looking at it closer and examining the pics I took, it almost looks like the clear is bubbled up, and the forks have a smudge-y look to them as well.
Although it’s very obvious in the pics that you will see, I didn’t notice the affected area at first. I re-washed it several times and you can’t tell it’s there until the fender is dry, so my point is, this might’ve been there for a while, or it could be that I did something to cause it yesterday. I haven’t cleaned the bike in a couple months so I just don’t know how long it’s been like that. It was coated last fall when I did the entire bike with Polish Angel products.
To be thorough, I’ll include that I clipped a freshly killed skunk the other day. It was early morning, still dark, and I didn’t see the @ucker till I was right on top of it, I barely had time to swerve and just lightly nick it, I didn’t full-on run it over. Could it have just gotten killed, and still been spraying, and hit my front fender ? I don’t know if skunk spray would cause this, but I didn’t clean the bike right away.
Anyway, here are the pics: You have to zoom in to see it in this pic
If you click on the bottom pic, and then zoom in, you can really see what looks like bubbles to me …
Last edited by TnFatboy; Sep 30, 2023 at 08:26 AM.
If ( big if ) the contamination is the same as on the Chrome it's on the surface ,,, Try a Chrome cleaner / polish on the chrome first ... As far as the paint is concerned in an inconspicuous spot try a small amount of polish first to see if that removed it ... If it shows some improvement it is on the surface ... or stop by a paint / auto body shop for advice ... don't get in over your head ... Good Luck
The forks are gloss black, so there is no chrome on the bike. I have polishes and a machine, but that is a last resort, I need to make sure I’m not grinding something into the paint instead of taking it out. I’m comfortable with machine buffing, if that’s what it takes, but only as a last resort
Original paint? To me it looks like overspray?? Did any recent paint projects lately? Parked anywhere close to somebody spray painting?
That’s what I thought too at first, It does look like overspray. But I can’t think of where it would have come from, I park my bike in a shed and haven’t done any painting recently.
FWIW- I am ALMOST positive the fender has the original paint, and I say almost, because it’s not the original front fender, I bought it off a forum member who said it was a factory take off, and when I got it last year it sure looked like it was factory oem. I cleaned and coated it when I got it, and then put it on the bike, last fall sometime.
You have it on the fender and forks, I'd say overspray from something. It looks like it's etched into both. Something (fluid) get knocked over in your shed ??? I had a similar issue on a Vette years ago, never did find out what happened.
Whatever it is it looks to be in the clear coat.
Going to need to polish it out.
I'd start light and see but might need to use a compound then a nice fine polish.
paint is etched and I don't know about the bubbles. I would replace the black parts and try polish on the fender, but be prepared to repaint or replace that too. did you ride through rain/water on road surface? brake fluid?
I have gotten caught in the rain a couple times in the last month and didn’t clean it before yesterday. I’ve really only detailed it once this summer, very early on.
I did also change the fluid in my clutch reservoir and bleed it about a week ago and I made a mess like I always do, but I don’t think (at least I didn’t at the time) that any of the brake fluid landed on the fender. I thought I cleaned up every surface that the brake fluid touched but now I’m not 100% sure. So brake fluid splatter is a possibility.
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Need advice on this one…possible clear coat damage?
