5 MIN READ
As good as new: Tips to Restore Your Motorcycle to its Former Glory
A motorcycle that has covered several thousand kilometers will most likely show some signs of wear. We give you some handy tips to restore your motorcycle to its former glory.
Motorcycle Cleaning
Before we treat the motorcycle with various products, it is important that we thoroughly clean the motorcycle and remove all stubborn stains. You can read everything about cleaning the motorcycle here.
Once the engine has been thoroughly cleaned, we can start looking for all the parts we can treat and decide on the type of treatment we can provide.
Restoring Paint and Finish
On a clean engine, we can clearly see which fine scratches and scuff marks are present in the paint. If there are deep scratches in the paint, you can hide this with a touch-up pen or you will need to hire a body shop to fix it. Fortunately, we can treat and remove fine scratches and matte spots with wax and paint renewers.
Wax and paint renewers
With these products, you can polish scratches out of the paint while leaving behind a protective wax coating. For this, you can use Muc-Off Speed Polish, or the slightly more expensive Miracle Shine Polish. With these polishing products, you can level small scratches, deeper scratches are filled, and the Carnauba wax creates a deep, intense shine. After this treatment, your motorcycle will shine.
Repairing damaged engine block paint
Anyone who has ever dropped their motorcycle knows that it leaves a mark. If you have an engine block that has suffered paint damage, you can use heat-resistant varnish to respray the engine block in the desired color. At RAD, you can buy Motip heat-resistant paint for this repainting. Only by using this paint, you can be sure that the paint will survive the engine blocks high temperatures.
Crash bars with damage or rust
If you had crash bars on your motorcycle when it hit the ground, you can also fix this damage by sanding the surface, making it rust-free, and spraying a coat of paint on it. For this, you can use the same Motip paint.
Refreshing Chrome and Metal Parts
Metal parts, such as an exhaust, require significant effort to restore to their original condition, while polishing chrome requires care and patience. Stainless steel, on the other hand, can be easily cleaned with metal polish. For the maintenance of chrome, we use chrome polish, chrome is known for its hardness and striking shine as a finishing layer for metal. Because of this hardness, cleaning chrome parts requires a bit more attention and care.
If you’re unsure whether the part is stainless steel or chrome, you can use metal polish on both. The metal polish will react with stainless steel and turn black. If the metal polish does not turn black, there is no chemical reaction and it’s chrome.
Cleaning Chrome
A handy trick to make dull chrome shine again is by using steel wool 0000 (four times zero). This steel wool is so fine that it will not leave any scratches. By combining this type of steel wool with Belgom Chrome Polish, you can work wonders.
Make exhaust stainless
The exhaust pipes of your motorcycle are exposed to intense heat, dust, and road grime, causing them to lose their shine and look dirty over time. To bring them back to top condition, you can use a fine abrasive pad or 0000 steel wool, metal polish, contact cleaner, gloves, and clean cloths.
Ensure you perform this task when the exhaust pipes have completely cooled down. It is essential to sand along the direction of the brushed finish for the best result. With stainless steel or titanium, more refined work is needed. After sanding, it is important to remove all product residues by thoroughly cleaning with a microfiber cloth and contact cleaner. This prevents unwanted discoloration of the exhaust at the treated spots.
TIP: The Unpass Thunderbolt wipes work very well to polish metal, some RAD employees swear by these wipes.
Making black parts, black again:
Everything loses its color and shine over time due to UV radiation, even black parts are sensitive to this. The black will start to look gray and faded. Fortunately, we have the S100 Black & Shine spray to make black, black again! It refreshes faded surfaces and is ideal for restoring discolored plastics, rubbers, and painted parts. This product also works wonders on top cases.
- Spray on the black parts that need refreshing
- Let the product dry properly
- Wipe with a clean microfiber cloth
Attention: Do not use it on your saddle, tank, tires, brake discs, footrests or handles
Polishing scratches out of windshields, headlights and painted parts:
Plastic, plexiglass, or polycarbonate components such as a windscreen or the headlight of your motorcycle, catch a lot of bugs and pebbles. Fortunately, you can remove fine scratches with the S100 Scratch Polish.
- Shake the polishing paste before use and apply it to a slightly damp microfiber cloth
- Polish the surface to be treated using circular movements, continue for about two minutes
- Let the residue dry and then buff it with a clean, dry microfiber cloth
You will notice that most fine scratches have disappeared! You can also use this product to polish out fine scratches from your paintwork.
Removing scratches with a polishing disc
Another effective method to remove scratches is by polishing the materials. To do this, you can use a polishing disc attachment for your drill machine and make sure you always have a suitable polish or wax on hand, along with a polishing disc.
The polishing process generates heat, resulting in the heating of the outer layer of plastic and restoring the original shine. However, it is important to proceed with caution, as excessive heat can have the opposite effect. Therefore, it is recommended to perform this action with some degree of control.
As good as new
Don’t forget to take your time and seek help for tasks that are beyond your skills. Whether you do it yourself or call for help, refreshing your motorcycle is a satisfying job and the end result is renewed love for your motorcycle and the compliments you will receive from other riders.
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Nathan is our webshop employee who is ready with advice and assistance to help customers. When he is not answering customer questions, he writes helpful texts and blogs for the RAD site.