Best Product for Plastic Fairings?

A

ABQDetailer

New member
So what's the go-to product for polishing out micro-scratches/marring from sportbike plastic fairings? I've tried M105 and D151 via pneumatic 3" polisher w/o success (I used 3.5" PFW and LC Orange, no dice). My next try will be using my rotary with a 2 3/4" BP but perhaps I'm using the wrong product?



A fellow autopian suggested Megs PlastiX?



If that doesn't work I plan on finding the best filling product out there and just hiding all the swirls. Rather do that than destroy my fairings.



TIA
 
Paint on the fairings is often on the soft side. Without seeing it in person (or even pics) it is hard to say but maybe you were being too aggressive and adding your own marring. I've had good results though with the following combo M105, Menz IP, and 3M UF by hand on a rather neglected Suzuki Bandit.
 
I wouldn't rule out that I'm being too aggresive.



The bike is a 2005 Black Honda CBR1000RR. I could take pics tonight after work.



I started with D151 and a 4" green CCS pad. It did nothing really. I then worked up to M105 with LC green CCS, then I tried PFW with M105. Nothing seemed to really do anything worthwhile.



The M105 hologrammed it up really good though. Seems to be a pretty common thing for me with M105 on black paints.



Think I'm going to try Green CCS with 106FF via rotary and see if it helps. If that doesn't do it then perhaps I should try the PlastiX.
 
I've had pretty good luck using Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish by hand on my black 2005 GSX-R100. It took out most of the swirls on my fairings. I think I will try something a little more aggressive with a DA to get the rest out though.



Like someone else mentioned, you might being going too aggressive and introducing swirls/marring. Try the least aggressive product you can and try multiple passes. I'm going to try Megs #80 and possibly #83 soon and see what happens.



Some people say use PlastX, but I'm not so sure of that. Yes, the fairings are plastic, but the paint is paint, not plastic.



The problem with motorcycles is the paint is pretty soft on the fairings and it's almost impossible to keep the paint flawless if you ride it on a regular basis. There is so much debris on the roads and motorcycles just tend to eat it all up. The other thing is your clothing will also rub on some of the parts including the tank, so that's pretty much a losing battle to keep the tank swirl free. Best thing to do is get it looking good once and do your best to keep a good coat of wax/sealant on there to keep from getting jacked up again.
 
You know after looking at it I think the black isn't painted at all. It's just the color of the fairings.



So if it was just plastic what product should I be using?
 
How about paint? If that is not an option, how about answering the following...



So it is black unpainted ABS plastic? Or was it a matte finish coated plastic? Make/model for us to get an idea what your dealing with?
 
It's a 2005 CBR 1000RR. Black with Silver stickers...



Looks like this:

NV14058_1.jpg
 
Aren't the majority of the fairings comprised of painted ABS plastic with some matte finished pieces thrown in? If so then any auto care products should work well on the painted areas. In the OP the issue was cited as micro-scratches/marring on a black Honda (know for soft paint) motorcycle (also notorious for being soft). A potential double whammy. With that info, I wouldn't see any reason to reach for M105. In fact, I've seen significant correction with Ultrafina alone on my old Tahitian blue F4i both by hand and machine. Give the 106FF a go and let us know how things turn out. At most, I would think that Menz SIP or IP would provide adequate correction. Lastly, finishing out will likely require the use of a pad with very little to no cut. All of the panels are fairly small with multiple contours which require extra care and patients to properly break down whatever polish you use.
 
Considering the M105 hologrammed the &$@! out of it then perhaps you are right. I'll try 106FF with a Green CCS and see what happens. Otherwise I'm thinking PlasticX is my last resort. I can try UFSE too but the smallest finishing pad I have is LC White. Otherwise I could use the Flex with LC Red...
 
Just wanted to give a little update here . Finally got around to trying the 4" green CCS with CG Pro Polish (very similiar to 106FF IMHO, just dusts a little) and it did an outstanding job. I'm still confused why the same pad with M105 didn't have nowhere near the results...and also D151 was a complete waste of time (no correction at all but I didn't prime the pad as mentioned in the D151 post and wasn't using a rotary). I'll try to post some pics later this week when I do the whole bike.



Thanks for all the replies!
 
Thanks for the update!



I'm not sure why the 105 didn't work. Maybe you didn't work it long enough?



I'll be doing a detail on my bike soon, so I'll see what kind of results I get with different compounds/polishes/pads.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top