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water spots

:p My wife said you guys made me blush. I told her that bikers don't blush it must be wind burn from the ride yesterday. baha
 
Thanxs, everyone for your help. I have still not got the spots out. Its like in the clear coat. I wonder why it only spotted one bag and not the other or back fender?
 
My spots that appeared over time started mostly on the clear coat on the tourpak. They eventually were on all plastic painted parts. It seemed as if my elbow grease with wax were just sealing the spots under the wax. At one point I removed a saddle bag determined to get them out. I tried a variety of products from mild to wild. Some were swirl removing waxes, scrarchX, fine cut cleaner, polishing compounds, etc. I even tried orbital polishers and at several times really had a gray mess. I thought it was hopeless. All the techniqes that had worked so well for me with painted metal just was not working. The spots did appear to be under the surface. I know that the spots are from water but just how and why they wanted to stay when they didn't on tank and fenders I can't understand. It has to have something to do with the differance in the type of paint for the plastic parts and I think diferent chemicals in different waxes seemed to have effected it. So for I stated above what I found that has worked the best for me. I'm sticking to what I learned from this mess and not going to experiment again...I had a real disaster.

PS: Now that you mention it my avatar does favor Mr. Clean ahahaha
 
Thanxs, everyone for your help. I have still not got the spots out. Its like in the clear coat. I wonder why it only spotted one bag and not the other or back fender?

You might want to try a metal prep cleaner like the body shops use. This will cut through all the waxes and cleaners that may be just there protecting your stain. Then a gentle polish with a polishing compound. And a wax to protect the paint.
Water spots are easily removed with something like Mothers Gold Showtime or... wait for it.
Pledge!
 
When using this product always test the surface in a small area .

Did some research on the Net and it seems clay is a popular product to use for difficult water spot. I'm not recommending this particular product as I know nothing about it , maybe we have someone on this site that has.

While there are various ways to remove hard water spots, The most effective way is with a Clay Bar and Detailing Clay Lubricant. Adam's Polishes Detailing Clay is a paint surface cleaning implement that literally smoothes your paint's finish while removing all surface contamination. The lubricant makes applying the clay easy and you can see instant results. "Adam’s Clay Bar is the finest and safest detailing clay for your vehicle’s finish. It removes surface contamination safely and easily without skid or swirl marks. The large 4-oz bar is suitable for 8 – 10 vehicles. Remove abrasive, bumpy sediment from your paint, glass, clearcoat, gelcoat, or other rough surface with this dynamic duo. The Clay Bar and Detail Spray work together to leave surfaces smooth and glossy. The Detail Spray doubles as a clay bar lubricant.


Diluted vinegar and water is also common for removing spots. As vinegar is considered an acid , that would be my last resort.
 
White Distilled vinegar will at least remove any wax and works well on a variety of spots and stains. Just a side note, I put a 1/2 -3/4 cup of vinegar in the soap bucket when I wash my bike. No spots or streaks and it leaves a beautiful shine (paint and chrome). Finish up with the Pledge and you're GTG
 
Uh oh - starting to sound like vinegar should be a close second behind Pledge as a mandatory garage item!
 
Buffing is a science.There are many products you may try but only the very fine glauzes and polishes are designed to be used by themselves or by hand.Your bike has a protective clearcoat covering all of your paint.The same paint and clear are utilized on plastic as well as metal parts with differences being only in the first couple of coats of sealer/raw plastic part adhesion promoters.
It sounds like an acid of sorts, wether acid rain from a gutter mixed with bird droppings or some other problomatic liquid has etched itself into your clearcoat.More than likely it can be fixed relatively easily.
First you must understand that buffing products are designed to be stepped in succesion.There is no magic rubbing compound but rather magic product lines.McGuires is perhaps the easiest to understand as they actualy have colorfull graphics displaying the aggresiveness of there products.The compounds range from super aggresive to standard duty down to very fine and should be chosen with the degree of damage you are trying to correct.Keep in mind they are also designed to be used with a buffing machine and a specific pad to work effectively.Followed by a finer product with again its specific pad and so on until the product being used is producing a scratch so fine it is no longer visible to the naked eye.Once this is achieved..use the Pledge.
My recomendation would be to swing the bike by a local auto detailer or body shop and they will probably be able to fix it for you in about 15 minutes.Do not go and by the super aggresive rubbing compound as you will only be compounding the problem.
 
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