Detailing with great results
 

I just finished detailing my 2001 FLHT. Started by removing the front wheel and wet sanded with 400, 600, 1000,1500 and finished it off with white diamond polish and a Mothers mini powerball. Big job but results look like chrome. Then I removed the bags and sidecovers and washed the entire bike including all parts of the frame. I then removed the exhaust system and shields and polished all chrome with turtle wax chrome polish. I cleaned the engine with simple green and Shout Laundry stain remover. Only left the simple green on for 60 seconds. I then used a clay bar on all painted surfaces keeping the bar wet with Meguires detailer spray. I then used Meguires Scratch X and removed 3 or 4 scratches. I followed that up with Meguires compound swirl remover on entire painted area. I then applied a coat of Turtle Wax Ice polish. Then I finshed the job off with Meguires Gold Class carnuba wax. My bike is black so it will show EVERY swirl mark. With each step the finish looked better. The one thing I was very impressed with however was how nice the Meguires carnuba wax took the detail to the next level. I was applying this last step under florescent lighting that will show swirls you do not normally see with natural light. They completely disappeared with this wax. It has that wet showroom finish. Total different look from where I started. I plan to keep it clean with Meguires quick detailer and Lemon Pledge.

Pictures would be nice. Sounds like you went all out.

I've tried the scratch x on black bikes before. Makes me a little nervous. It seems a little heavy. Sometimes it even added to the scratches. Looked like a million small swirls. Followed it up with Meguiars ultimate polish. I like the polish best.
It seems like Harley bikes of late, especially black, have really soft paint and/or clear.
Gary D.

lots of new owners remove clear coats, paints or powder coatings from wheels and other alloy parts-

be careful with that--- one of my Pals wrecked his wheels by using steel wool which not only took off the clear coat, but scratched the alloy--- great results today, may not be so good once the oxidization comes in

anything abrasive needs to used with smarts.

nothing is worse that swirled paint from buffers.

mike

looks good under florecent lights huh? wait till you get it out inthe sun..... swirls. scratches.swirls

Hmm..well I have not seen it in the daylight yet but will report back tomorrow. I can say that before I started it did not show the swirls nearly as bad in natural light that it did in the garage with the floresents and one incandescent spot on it. It had lots of swirls under the lights before and has nothing now so uhhh it will look worse how again :). Anyway hopefully that swirl remover and polish that just wipes on and carnuba wax that wipes on will not hurt it tooo bad. All applied with microfiber pads and removed with microfiber pads that were changed out numerous times and never touched contamination during the process. Your killing me. I'll post up some pics tomorrow.

edit. Hopefully I did not confuse anyone the wetsanding and powerball was only used on the aluminum front wheel. Paint was all cleaned and polished by hand.

Cheers

2001 Harley stock wheel don't have clear coat on them !
I think most stock HD wheels are either Chromed,Powder coated or brushed alloys!

I agree with you 100%. If I get mine looking good under the florescent lights, I know I did a good job. Those florescent lights show EVERYTHING, especially on black.

BTW, need some pics.

Sounds like you were busy. Lets hope everything works out. Pics?

Yes I was busy. I did this over the course of several days. I worked for 3-4 hours each day. I find that when I'm on a project like this if I try to work 8 or more hours at a time I tend to rush some of the work towards the end of the project as I tire and not spend the quality attention to detail I would otherwise. As far as everything working out, it already has. My bike looks 3 times better than it did. I'll post some pics up tomorrow after I figure out how :). There are some good points made by others here that should be heeded. When using any kind of polish start with something that has a very fine abrasion first and see if you can get results before getting to aggressive. I have used scratch x many times before on other bikes/cars with great results so I had a comfort factor. If your concerned about the quality of your clearcoat try it first on a hidden spot/scratch first. As another member commented, my wheels have no clearcoat on them. You can get really aggressive with the aluminum if it's pitted badly but you have to use multiple grades of finer sandpaper to remove the previous scratches. It's time consuming but the process is foolproof and safe on non clearcoated wheels. I'm not a detail expert by any means. My main reason for the post was to talk up the great job the meguires gold class carnuba did on filling the swirl marks on my black paint.