I first gave the bike a good wash with G3 Bodywork Detox which I am impressed with. Far superior to washing up liquid which is damaging to paintwork.
I just used a sponge to wipe it all down with and then rinsed with water. It was then dried off with a Microfibre drying towel. The days of using a chamois leather are long gone.
I then went on to apply some AutoSmart wax polish with a foam applicator
left to dry and buffed off with another Microfibre towel. The bike looked better but was not as shiny as I would have liked it. I also am not that impressed with the application as I felt it is quite runny and a bit milky. It also does not have a nice perfumed smell too it. Over all it is like using a standard over the counter polish, nothing special.
As the last coating was not to my liking and not as shiny as it could be I decided to use some Bilt Hamber Carnauba based Hydra wax over the top which I have used before.
http://www.bilthamber.com/hydra-wax
This is a wonderful product very quick and easy to apply and does not take much effort. It also has a very nice smell (fruit smoothie) to it which makes the whole polishing experience more pleasant. The polish is a clear liquid which I used another foam applicator to apply with. Leave to dry for about 5-10 mins until it goes cloudy and then buffed up with another Microfibre towel. I even went over my Titanium cans with it and some other parts of the bike. This has left the bike with a much more shiny glossy appearance.
For the final stage I used a Liquid Shield Nano Coating.
This is a small squirt bottle, so just gave the bodywork a quick squirt over and rubbed it in with a clean foam applicator, left to dry and buffed up with a Microfibre Towel. This is very easy to apply and also has a rather nice smell to it, a bit like using furniture polish. I made a special point of also coating my windshield, mirrors, lights and clocks as these are the areas I want the rain to run off rather than settle on the surface. I made a special point of not coating my number plate as a bit a of dirt and grime on the plate is not a bad thing.
All in all my bike is looking very nice all thing's considered. It's just a shame my paintwork is not in the best of conditions. I never managed to do as good a job on the wheels as I had hoped. I shall have to remove them to do that properly, so they have been left for another day and just had a quick wipe over.
Some pics of my bike. I shall add some more later once it starts raining to show the beading of the water particles running off the bike.
Sorry wicky I should have removed the bin
I would just like to say thank you to Chric for all his help and advice. You have given me some great insight and inspiration. Giving my bike a clean and polish now puts a smile on my face. Maybe not as much as riding it, but if cleaning makes me smile, that can't be a bad thing.
(:-})
.