I am sure there is something on the forum about this but what are people using to clean/protect their Matt finish bodywork?
I had some chemical guys, meticulous matt which I applied to any of my matt bikes. Was good for wiping down after a wash but I was quite sceptical as to what protection it or any other matt produduct offers. Dries off nicely and smells nice though!
Just soap and water then dry with a chamois or microfibre cloth, don't rub hard and no polish if you want to keep it matt. My Mille is 20 years old and still matt where others have turned shiny, baby wipes for light cleans
I second the use of Amorall, I had a harley with the Matt paint and after a good washing, once dry would spray the ammorall and buffing with micro fibre cloth.
My mate has matt finish on his Indian and has never touched it with a cloth. Spray pump bottle with truck wash (or equivilent) mixed up. Spray bike all over then let sit in the shade for a few minutes. Hose off with high pressure hose. Dry with garden leaf blower. I wash my bikes with spray bottle and truckwash. You can get in to clean all those fiddley bits that you cant reach with a cloth or brush.
@Dawsy I've had a couple of bikes with matte paint and Mr. Sandi current bike is matte black. We've used Harley's matte paint cleaner and also the one from Chemical Guys mentioned by @andyc1. One of the keys is to not rub or buff too much as it starts to make the finish more glossy or shiny. You will most likely get this "patina" anyway on areas that may rub such as legs on the tank. I think @littleade has in the past recommended the clear film that you can put on painted finishes, too.
I bought this from Halfords mate, found it to be great on my 1050RS https://www.halfords.com/motorcycling/cleaning/muc-off-matt-detailer-250ml-216398.html
The ones I have on my tank were supplied and fitted by Tony James Design and yiu can't tell they're there unless you look really closely for the edges. Since being fitted I haven't noticed the film marking up either.
I'm looking to do this on the front fender and fairing of my Street Glide Special, @littleade. I just had my fender repainted after getting two big rock chips in it fairly recently. In fact, I just got a call from the painter than my fender is done and ready to pick up. There's a place not too far from where I live that has a great reputation for film application so I'm going to give them a call to try to get it applied before doing much (if any) riding on that bike. It would be a real bummer if I had that fender repainted only to have it badly chipped yet again before getting the film on there.What was the cost like for the ones on your tank?
Matt paints are produced by mixing a powder matting agent into the clear coat before applying. It looks like talcum powder but is a silicon dioxide chemical mixture. This causes the clear coat to have a microscopic 'rough' texture that doesn't reflect light directly so it looks dull. The more powder added (up to about 15%) the more matt it looks. If the rough suface is affected by using a polish or some form of wax, in effect making it smooth by 'sanding' down or 'filling' the surface, it will change it's appearance. Similarly, if there's a scratch, chip or damage then it cannot be polished out as can be done on a gloss finish. Sometimes a scotch bright can be used to 'rough up' the surface but it has to be done very carefully and only on the damaged area. It will generally need to be touched up with new matt or a complete coat over the whole panel. There are specialist cleaning products available as pointed out above. I also believe there are new types of paints on the market that are matt all the way through the layer which may not be such an issue if there's any damage or may also take a 'polish' but I haven't seen or tried any.
He applied it to 3 seperate panels, the centre panel from the bottom where it meets the seat up towards the filler cap then both side pannels plus on one of the frame rails by the gear change. All 4 were pre cut and he charged me £90 IIRC inc fitting
He doesn't do kits for HD's but you might find this useful. He did say there's PPF and vynal wrap, the latter being much cheaper to buy. Not sure what the differences are other than the PPF supposedly has some self healing properties. From what I remember he said anything that had uv protection was vynal not PPF. https://tonyjamesdesigns.com I think this is the cheaper stuff https://www.nippynormans.com/tank-p...tank-side-r1200gs-lc-2017-on-r1250gs-2-pieces
I've been using this stuff lately, on the matt black plastic bits and also the matt tank finish and I'm very pleased with it. It comes in different colours which I think denotes the fragrance (feckin pointless on a bike!) and can be used to remove dust and light road grime to good effect.