I've owned this bike since new & had never properly polished it. I kinda wish I'd left it that way... 4+ years and 20k+ miles of fun - I can't believe the first damage to my bike comes from an attempt to spruce it up.
I washed with
Meg's GC & my AutoGeek foam gun.
I clayed with
Meg's detailing clay & spray.
I polished with 3M Perfect It on a 4" Hex-Logic pad & my PCXP.
I applied Meguires #26 when I was done.
I ordered 3 pads (no cut, light cut, medium cut) and the backing plate to go with them all at the same time (one pad wasn't as expected). This is the first time I've used my PCXP.
I started out with the least aggressive (black) pad. The least aggressive pad was enough to remove the marring on my test spot, so I continued - until it failed & damaged my paint
. I later realized that the pad I received wasn't the one I ordered & wasn't designed for the backing plate - it was the first one I opened & I didn't really know any better (I will next time). I've emailed the vendor to see if they can do anything for me - I know I did this, but they did send me the wrong pad (the one I received isn't pictured on their site & they don't sell the backing plate that works with what they sent me)...
After the black pad failed, I moved on to the white one.
Gas tank before (this was the worst of it - your legs grip the tank when riding, moving around on the bike for corners grinds any dirt into the finish here):
Gas tank after:
Rear plastic before:
Rear plastic after:
And the carnage:
I applied clearcoat & polished - it's less noticeable but still REALLY bad:
And the big picture - no damage from this angle
:
Linear Mode
