Cleaning Questions???

[Drew Carey]

Heya All

I got home today and decided to get a head start on my weekends bike cleaning. I've taken the fairings off, the front mud guard and anything else I could. I've then spent the evening cleaning all the messy gunk and the front sprocket etc.

Tomorrow however is the day to make it pretty.....so my questions.....

1. Once the wheels are clean, how can I make them really sparkle??? Can I use polish? I have Mer polish????

2. On the engine and pipes etc I have baked black spots. I know on the chrome pipes to use Autosol, but can I use it on the engine also?

3. I presume Mer is an Ok polish to use on the bike???? Can I use it on the frame also or will it damage it.

Up till now I have only ever cleaned it and dried it. Use Autosol on the chrome but not used anything anywhere else.

Cheers for any tips.

Drew

[yorkie_chris]

Nah don't bother.

[Drew Carey]

Is that to cleaning in general? lol

[Lissa]

Originally Posted by Drew Carey

Heya All

I got home today and decided to get a head start on my weekends bike cleaning. I've taken the fairings off, the front mud guard and anything else I could. I've then spent the evening cleaning all the messy gunk and the front sprocket etc.

Tomorrow however is the day to make it pretty.....so my questions.....

1. Once the wheels are clean, how can I make them really sparkle??? Can I use polish? I have Mer polish????Use polish on ours, but ours are powder coated. I used to use Castrol bike spray before that.
2. On the engine and pipes etc I have baked black spots. I know on the chrome pipes to use Autosol, but can I use it on the engine also?Try tar spot remover to get rid of the black spots on the engine. Castrol bike spray again

3. I presume Mer is an Ok polish to use on the bike???? Can I use it on the frame also or will it damage it. Castrol Bike Spray

Up till now I have only ever cleaned it and dried it. Use Autosol on the chrome but not used anything anywhere else.

Cheers for any tips.

Drew

I use Crystal Glo polish on all the plastics, Autosol on all the metal and Castrol Bike Spray on engine, frame etc. Armorall on all black plastics and rubber.

[Drew Carey]

Will the Mer stuff I have be ok, it says on the pot it is safe, just don't wanna spend a fortune on more bits. lol

[dizzyblonde]

First of all I get the hosepipe out, and put a fine spray elicate parts and blast the crap off the engine,
Then I use Autoglym bike spray all over it and let it get stuck in for a couple of mins
Get a long handled pan brush and scrub the wheels
Then rinse like at the beginning
Allow to dry

Polish...this is the fun part
I use Autoglym Super resin polish for a showroom finish on the plastics
On the forks if they have any signs of funny spots I get the Dremel out, cover them in Autosol and use the buffing felts
On the downpipe( this is a secret so don't tell everyone how to get my superior downpipe shine)...I first mix up some 'barkeepers friend' into a paste and blather it on the pipe(£1.94 from Asda)wash off...it eats a lot of the brown crap off it.....then I blather that in autosol and do the Dremel bit
On the black bike I do the dremel and Autosol on the wheel rims..on Suzy I just wipe em over with WD40
Theres probably a lot more I do.....but I've probably made you yawn

For the engine I blather that in WD40 too, infact anywhere that doesn't require polishing

and its all sparkly.........did I tell you I usually spend one day washing and one day polishing


oh and the mer stuff is ok its a Quality brand

[Drew Carey]

Cheers for that Lou.....good to know about the Barkeepers friend.....good tip.

Will be spending all day tommorow cleaning & polishing, done the thorough spring clean part tonight so should be quicker.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Drew Carey

Is that to cleaning in general? lol

Yup

Drew-

get kwak over hes the clean machine

-

you wont go far wrong listening to Lissa look at her bike its immaculate.

WD40 (or the stuff from the poundshop) on a rag to wipe the wheels