I started off in the Motorcycle area of MOL. I didn't get a lot of responses, but did get some great advice.
I recently purchased a 2001 Honda VFR motorcycle. It's a sport-touring bike; 800cc, V4, gear-driven cams, etc... Think of it as a sport bike for the over-30 crowd. And through an aftermaket exhaust, it has an engine sound to die for...
This bike has just over 26K miles on the odo, and has typical wear and tear for a 10-year-old machine.
Once the bike was safely in my garage, I quickly went through a bar of clay to see what I had to work with. It looks like the VFR had a zero mph tip-over at some point in its life, but you really have to get close to even see the evidence.
Here are some shots of the bike freshly-clayed and cleaned.


From the pictures, it looks pretty good. But as you get closer, some things jump out at you- the previous owner removed all of the "warning" stickers in an unsavory fashion- lots of nicks and scrapes. The fuel tank shows signs of a scratchy tank bag. The rear cowling also displays some wear, probably from tying things to the back of the seat.
Again, not deal-breaker stuff, but I knew it could look better.
I used the following- Meguiars Scratch X, Megs #7 Show Car Glaze and topped it with Megs #26 Yellow Wax. Being a motorcycle, I did everything by hand.
I am stunned at the results. Almost everything came out, and the paint just pops with color- Honda Italian Red. I wish I had taken some before images, but I didn't think it would make enough of a difference.




The bike is no museum piece, but she looks pretty stunning. Thanks MOL!
I recently purchased a 2001 Honda VFR motorcycle. It's a sport-touring bike; 800cc, V4, gear-driven cams, etc... Think of it as a sport bike for the over-30 crowd. And through an aftermaket exhaust, it has an engine sound to die for...
This bike has just over 26K miles on the odo, and has typical wear and tear for a 10-year-old machine.
Once the bike was safely in my garage, I quickly went through a bar of clay to see what I had to work with. It looks like the VFR had a zero mph tip-over at some point in its life, but you really have to get close to even see the evidence.
Here are some shots of the bike freshly-clayed and cleaned.


From the pictures, it looks pretty good. But as you get closer, some things jump out at you- the previous owner removed all of the "warning" stickers in an unsavory fashion- lots of nicks and scrapes. The fuel tank shows signs of a scratchy tank bag. The rear cowling also displays some wear, probably from tying things to the back of the seat.
Again, not deal-breaker stuff, but I knew it could look better.
I used the following- Meguiars Scratch X, Megs #7 Show Car Glaze and topped it with Megs #26 Yellow Wax. Being a motorcycle, I did everything by hand.
I am stunned at the results. Almost everything came out, and the paint just pops with color- Honda Italian Red. I wish I had taken some before images, but I didn't think it would make enough of a difference.




The bike is no museum piece, but she looks pretty stunning. Thanks MOL!
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