Buffing Out Scratches

[Guest gallantwrider]

What is the best way, and what is the best product to use, to buff out light scratches on the trunk and side bags, etc. Never had to do this until now and don't want a product that's going to harm the paint or finish (for plastic). Thanks in advance.

[juggler]

I found that Plexus works great to remove minor scuffs and scratches on the plastic.

[az1103]

Carefull with small scratch removal on any of the painted surfaces. DO NOT USE PLEXUS-that's for plastic:no-no-no: The bags and all other painted surfaces on a Japanese bike have a clear-coat and if you use an abrasive on it it will cloud. You won't like the result. There is a number of products specifically for removing clar-coat scratches. All of these are identified as such. Any shop with a good supply of cleaning and polishing products will have them. Whatever product you use, be carefull with excess elbow-grease you do not want to rub through the clear-coat!

[Marcarl]

Think about the process: Factory paint and clear coat so that the color is covered, along comes a scratch and now we want to take some of that covered-over paint from under the clearcoat and color up the scratch?? Doesn't work in my mind. Somehow I could never understand how anything could 'fill in' a scratch. When you use an aggressive finish you actually remove some of the tarnished paint to reveal fresher paint underneath, and so this removed paint then fills in any scratches, only for short while though, until it is washed out or otherwise removed.

I might be all wrong with my thoughts here, but that does happen from time to time and probably will continue for a time yet.

[sarges46]

Paint guy here recommended Mothers Cleaner wax. Says he uses it on all his show bikes.

 

Got me some...seems to do just fine.

[ken]

Well I've done a little paint work in the past and can tell you it's very easy to remove the light scratches so long as they are not deeper then a few layer of clear coat. Most newer paint jobs have multipal layer of clear coat. You can get finisher polish made by 3M that works great, even puffer pads that fit on a drill. Just remember to read the direction and don't go over board, and then wax the new finish. It's very easy to make a old bike look new in just a few hours. If you scoot is black NEVER use any thing but clean micro cloths on it. This will keep it looking new all the time.