In our household we have an Iron 883, a Road King and most recently added a vivid black Street Glide. We have a weird issue on the street glide any time any water hits it. I am not sure if it is just because it is black or if there is something else I need to be doing as we don't have this on any of the other bikes.

As you can see in these pictures, after this washing, there are odd water marks that occur on anything plastic so the saddlebags, side panels and inner and outer fairing are all susceptible. I have never had to do anything special with the plastics on the road king and never had this issue.

Is there something else you guys with the vivid black bikes are doing or is this some odd ball issue with this bike in particular?

Thanks everyone


The circle you see is where a former owner had a sticker







Same circle from a previous sticker.

 

Kind of odd but looks like hard water stains. Does it wipe off with some spray polish? I always have to wipe mine down after a wash.

 

I will have to check. I wash with s100 all the time. Even if I use the s100 spray detail it will leave odd marks too.

 

Maybe it’s from a bad wax job or something since it doesn’t show under where the stickers were. I’ve never waxed mine so idk.

 

Good point

 

I don't know S100 products other than the engine cleaner-which I would not use on gloss-painted tins. Do they make a detergent designed for waxed/polished surfaces?

Strong detergents strip wax and polish. It looks to me like you've no wax/polish (except maybe where the sticker was) and have residue from a powerful detergent. I'd try super fine polishes. If that works I'd move on to wax (I still use paste) and when washing use only detergent designed for waxed surfaces, like McGuires gold.

 

Yes S100 makes a foam spray for regular motorcycle washing that I have used for years now. I just picked up this bike so maybe I will spring for a detail to start off on a clean slate (no pun intended)

 

I use S100 too and use it all over the bike with no issues. It’s the spray in the fat white bottle. It’s possible that it messed up the wax job. Maybe you can strip the wax off if that’s the deal.

 

Maybe you are not into polishing waxing etc., (no judgment there) but for the price of a detail you can buy all the stuff needed for numerous home details. If you do it yourself then you know what's on your paint and touch ups are easy.

Either your detergent is leaving residue that should come off simply by drying, or something is on the surface. Do you get that mottling even if you hand dry with terry cloth or microfiber? If so, you gotta start with a polish. Easy and fast.

Just had a thought. I've seen folks abrade clear coat off outer fairings using too much elbow and a harsh polish (think rubbing compound). I wonder if that's what's going on? A strategically tested super fine polish will answer that. If something is on the surface it will polish off. If you have clear coat issues (and I don't even know that there's clear coat on bags), it will not polish away.

Good luck

 

Just for reference, what color are the other 2 bikes?