Auto Glym

[Rich]

Is there anyone else on here that uses the auto glym visor cleaner? If so DON'T.

About 5 months ago i brought my brand new Arai Viper GT Web, over the moon with it i was and still am. But a few weeks ago i went to clean my helmet before a trip to Nottingham, i sprayed on the visor cleaner and brushed over it with a soft cloth, then i notice the mouth vent is falling off and then it fell off in my hand.

I couldn't believe it, 5 months old, £400 and it's falling to bits. So i then pushed up the visor to have a look from the inside and crack go the side pods and the visor. Well now im thinking WTF . So straight off to HG to sort it and the manager had a look and said in the 10years he's been selling them he's never seen and indistructable visor crumble in his hands. He sent it off to Pheonix (Arai importer i think) to do some tests and they just got back to me tonight with the results.

They found a petroleum corrosive that had eaten away at the visor and side pods saying it was something i had used to clean the visor. Well i told him from the off i only used the auto glym visor cleaner so thats what it was. Arai was that thourgh they could tell it had never been dropped or impacted in anyway ruleing that out.

Although they found the cause, they couldn't fix it on warrenty which i could understand as it was nothing to do with Arai. But the manager of Taunton HG (Andy) being a top bloke he phoned head office and managed to get me 50% off the parts to repair the helmet. I asked for a copy of the report and it will be going off to auto glym with a nasty letter asking for my money back on the parts they had caused me to buy.

So if you don't want your helmet to fall to bits because of this so called visor cleaner don't use it, poor it down the sink like me. Justice will be mine, a copy of the report and a letter of my own will be going to all the bike mags to try and put others off buying it.

AUTO GLYM MORE LIKE AUTO SH!TE!!!!!

i use their metal polish sometimes for a not so bad autosol jobby

Shame that, sorry to hear what it's done to your lid. Won't be using that anyway after your experience. Do use some of their other products though, like "fast glass" in the car, super resin polish and tar remover. Generally find them to be quite good and been using them for years. It's stupid of Auto Glym to sell a harmful product and risk a good brand reputation.

[Wideboy]

well thats crap

oh well now you know not to clean it, I've got some rare species on mine

I personally dont trust anything other than water and a bit of soap for my visor. I think you should write to auto-glym with a copy of the test results, see if they can offer anything in the way of compensation. I can't imagine its the arai, they are very good helmets, and also the polycarbonate used is quite tough and dosnt degrade in heat and light, but only be chemical means (so dont let auto-glym fob you off with that one)

Matt

[fizzwheel]

I've been using that stuff on my visor(s) for a long time. Never had a bit of trouble with it.

It is pretty good stuff IMHO and certainly did a good job of de-gunking my visors.

I do tend to use the iridium cleaning kit ( cloths and spray ) that you can get from www.thevisorshop.com in preference to the autoglym stuff only because I've found over the years it does a better job on my iridium visor than the autoglym stuff does.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

I've been using that stuff on my visor(s) for a long time. Never had a bit of trouble with it.

It is pretty good stuff IMHO and certainly did a good job of de-gunking my visors.

I do tend to use the iridium cleaning kit ( cloths and spray ) that you can get from www.thevisorshop.com in preference to the autoglym stuff only because I've found over the years it does a better job on my iridium visor than the autoglym stuff does.

I've used it for a few years on my old Nitro helmet and it never caused any problems, but i think it's down to the visor workings they're alot different. It just made me laugh how a £100 helmet wasn't affected and a £400 one was. I think i'll stick to water and a good soaking from now on. I just can't believe that a visor cleaner can weaken your visor, it just doens't make sense. Arai told Andy at HG that its happened before and they don't recommend using that with Arai helmets, well i wasn't told that a visor cleaner couldn't be used to clean a visor. It should have a warning on it telling you not to i reakon but it doesn't. Just my luck!!!

[glade]

Bloke in the HG shop in cheltenham also told me the same about autoglym visor cleaner.

I've been using it on my Shoei for over a year and its fine, all the plastic is in good nick... maybe its specific to the compound that Arai use for visors

Bit o "spit shine" and fairy liquid for me Thanks for the advice though

Whats wrong with windowlene? or even vinagar?