ive used wipe new on several vehicles and a harley dash. use lightly with microfiber cloth and dont leave the streaks, wipe them off.

 

My first inner fairing faded and turned white soon after I bought the bike. The dealership replaced it and I haven't had issues with it since, about 5 yrs.

The headset receptacles for rider and passenger both faded badly, as well as the krinkle finish on the console.

I used several products (can't remember which ones) that did OK but didn't last very long. I tried the Kiwi black leather dye and it looks great and lasts a long time. I have had to touch it up about yearly. It's worth a try.

I read about it here on the forum.

 

Thanks to all for the info.

I found the Vinylex at PepBoys and it seems to be good. Seat looks super! And dash is pretty good. I used a foam brush and applied it lightly on the seat and dash and over the areas where its more faded I applied it a few times in the shade over the weekend. Seems to be better. Just have to see if it will penetrate and help the black stay black. Not as slick and wet looking at Mothers B2B for sure. More of a satin finish once it dries. And no streaking...the brush seemed to be easy to use and keep the streaks down. I left it on wet and just kept working/painting it on with foam brush.

I'll check on the Kiwi posts too.

THANKS!

 

"Back to Black" by mothers worked well on trim for my vehicles...once a year most to keep it looking new.

 

So lesson learned. IF it looks OK leave it!

I tried the Kiwi thing and it’s horrible. Found the links to the post on this site. Figured I try it. Course I already had Mothers on it and the Vinylex too. So before I tried the Kiwi I thought I'd better clean the surface a bit to remove the "greasy" coated feel of the dash or the Kiwi won't work. I thought of windex but since the original post mentioned alcohol swabs I figured I’d use that. BIG MISTAKE!!! I got some clean cotton ***** and attempted to clean it. Well it took the greasy look away and IT removed a bit of the BLACK OEM color from the dash too. Makes no sense since my dash has never been painted and is 2006. Sure it had some hot spots/black faded areas near the tops of the speaker area hence the attempt to restore the color. BUT now it's totally screwed. I can only figure that the sun had baked the color out of the dash plastic and once I hit it with the alcohol it removed the black. The cotton ***** turned black! And the dash looks like ash color now in those areas – like leparcy! BUT I didn't fret...figured the Kiwi leather dye would fix it. NOPE! It also says in the post that the dye penetrates the plastic. It does not. The dash is not nylon based where a dye could penetrate it. I work in plastics...this is false. But I pressed on- what choice did I have at this point. I coated the dash in the bad area, which is my bikes right side speaker top area of the dash. Removed the mirror so I could better apply the dye as even as I could. The stopper on the top of the Kiwi bottle is very inconsistent and makes many streaks. So after a few tries to coat it and remove the streaks I grabbed my heat gun and began to fan the area to dry the dye to apply next coat to even out the coating. It got a little better and I let it dry overnight under the HD bike cover. Yes my bike sits outside and yes the dye was dry before I covered the bike.

Next morning I removed the cover and it looked better as it had dried but the moisture on the dash left water marks all over the newly coated areas. The water marks showed up like pink on black. The Kiwi is flat and the dash in the good areas is much shinier though still flat and not glossy. You can see every stroke and where I left off and didn't cover the area of the dash where the black was ok from the factory.

So after work I figured I try and BUFF as the post said and blend the Kiwi area to the dash. Another joke…even the most light touch added marks in the dye. Like scratches and as I buffed it the dye began to lift and peel. This is how I also know it does not penetrate the plastic too. I was able with cotton ***** and regular alcohol to remove ALL the dye I applied. It looked like tool dip when it came off. I could peel it off the dash in places. NO penetration.
Now my dash is horrible. I cleaned the crap out of it with about a 1/2 bag of cotton ***** and a full container/bottle of alcohol. I smoothed out the dash and found that the rest of the OEM black color was ok and did not lift. So the comments about the sun baking off the pigment/lifting the color out of the dash on top is the only place where it lifted and seems correct. The rest of the dash cleaned up well and did not shed it black color pigment. The top area now looks like cruddy body work when you wet sand the primer area before painting.

After a while I grabbed a foam 1" brush and began to lightly coat the dash again in this same area with the dye instead of the foam applicator on the top of the bottle. I blended as best I could to the lower areas of the fairing so you cannot see where I stopped with the dye unless you bend over and look under the speaker housing area. I applied a few light coats and used the heat gun to flash it off.

Guess I'll see in the next day or so how it dries the rest of the way. This morning it still felt a little tacky like latex paint when it's not fully dried. Once it dries I may try to add some Mothers B2B to get thru the season. It may help hide the unavoidable streaks the dye makes. The foam brush was better as you can control the pressure and work it around but it’s still not up to my standards.

I may just end up yanking the inner fairing this winter and having it painted flat black. Least for now it's better than a day ago but not even close to what it was before I tried the Kiwi.

I'd stay away from that mess and idea. For me the Mothers B2B worked well but left a slicker greasy look and it attracted dirt hair etc. The glove boxes are still very nice looking from about 2 weeks ago. And the seat looks super from last week when I used the Vinylex on it. As is the front gauge area of the inner dash. That part looks new and with the foam brush it was easy to apply the Vinylex lightly. To me these 2 products seem to be work very well. The others are not worth it and can actually leave you worse off. I did try many others from many other companies. Most didn’t do what they claimed. But Mothers B2B and Vinylex gets my vote for the 2 different areas – Vinylex for fairing and seat and Mothers B2B for glove box.

Sure my dash having the black lift was likely due to the sun lifting the color from the plastic. And the alcohol just removed it. My bad. But the Kiwi does not penetrate the plastic. I knew better but tried it...and while I removed it I could see that first hand it does not dye the plastic. It sits on top of the plastics as any other products do. Don't believe all you read...especially if it’s on the internet.

Good luck to anyone trying to make your dash look better.

 

Nice write up GMRO. You have put ALOT of " backyard fixes " to the test and now everyone out there has your first hand experience of your results. My bike is a 2011 and the dash still looks new " knocking on wood." IMHO the only way to PREVENT this is to not leave your bike in the sun all the time OR protecting the dash with some sort of preservative at each wash. Once damage occurs the only solution I see is painting. Lemme get on my soap box and get ready for the flaming, lmao.

 

A product called " pig snot" ...... supposed to be the cats *** !,

 

Base coat clear coat works great!!!!!

 

i hit my dash with turtle wax ice and then buff it up. i also use a good car wax on it every once in awhile. just use something that has some U.V. protection in it. also use it on my trucks headlights.

 

Thanks.

Those cheap foam Walmart foam brushes are the bomb for spreading, dusting and applying any of the products to the dash or seat area. Let's you work the stuff in and spread with control.

I did add another light coat of Kiwi tonight after work. I got rid of a few more streaks tonight. Least it's black again. Hope I can add some shine with MothersB2B or the Vinylex once the Kiwi is dry and not tacky to the touch.

I also got the HD day cover for daytime at work. This should help the bike. It's easy to put on and remove. Should help with UV protection at work.