Honda paint/clear hard or soft?

river · 01-11-09, 12:41

Following up a discussion in detailing.

I have a 2006 ST 1300 and 2003 VTX 1800C. Have swirl problems with both. I can remove material, say with Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover, but still end up with swirls and spider web. Is the paint too soft, or too hard, to get swirls out?

Thanks. Sorry if I'm repeating.

wfedwar · 01-11-09, 03:46

Don't know about bikes, but thier automotive paint is known for being very soft. I have a Toyota with very soft paint. I've had good luck treating minor swirls and scratches using 1-2 applications of 3M Ultrafina on a black LC pad. The #9 is full o fillers, so you may think you've got it, only to have the swirls come back in a few days.

river · 01-13-09, 10:54

Thanks very much.

tom p. · 01-14-09, 04:23

The paint on Honda cars is soft, very soft....

REVNU · 01-14-09, 01:31

I haven't polished any Honduh Motorcycles. I have polished my Suzuki GSX-R though and that clear on the tank is hard as nails. It loves to micro-mar no matter which polish/pad combo I use.

Like others have said, Honduh paint is known to be pretty soft, but that doesn't mean that they use the same paint on their motorcycles. Working by hand is tough, because it is REALLY hard to break down the abrasives in the polish so it finishes down nicely. I had that problem on my bike at first. I was using M205 and it micro-marred the hell out of the paint. I busted out the DA with a White LC 4" pad, M205 and a polishing pad and it did a great job of getting rid of MOST of the scratching and micro-marring. I then finished up with M205 and a 4" Blue LC pad and it really brought out the gloss, although there were still tiny sractches here and there, which I'm fine with on a commuter bike. The trick is to make sure you "work" the product long enough to break it down.

Good Luck!

kaval · 01-14-09, 03:40

Honda paint is not THAT soft. I've done countless Hondas, but no motorcycles.

Subaru paint is much softer than Honda paint. I would put Porsche and Subaru paint very close together in terms of their 'softness'

REVNU · 01-15-09, 10:15

Kaval is right about Subaru paint, I own one. It is stupid soft. I can swirl my paint with light pressure and my fingertip! If I look at the car wrong it scratches. HORRIBLE!

I guess the one good thing, if you can call it that, is the paint i easily correctable! Problem is trying to keep it from scratching, pitting, chipping, or swirling.

Honda paint is soft though in general, just not super soft. I had an older Honduh hatchback that wasn't too bad on the paint softness, I kinda liked it actually, easy to work on.