My painter warned me a 100 times about satin and I said bullsh!t too.... He is the one however who recommended RatWax if I had to have satin paint. I completely love it. I suppose if you are an idiot and use the wrong products you could ruin it though. I love satin because I dont feel the constant need to wash and wax it....
Denim Black Paint Care
- Thread starter D94
- Start date
I have the sand camo denium and I have had no complaints. My wife has the amber whiskey, and hers is a month older. We live in Arizona, but keep our bikes in the garage when home. We are quickly approaching 10,000 miles in eight months of riding, so we do ride. We use the same soap, and the same non-ammonia foam glass cleaner. Both our bikes look awesome, and neither is hard to maintain. She has chrome, I went black, but the window cleaner is remarkable on both. All paint fades, look at the cars around you with faded, peeling paint. They didn't start out denium. The only concern I have with denium is touch-up paint. I have a rock chip on my front fender that I'm getting used to. I had a black denium iron 883 in 2013, and I loved it so much I got the FLHXS.
my dealer sells a simoniz paint sealer. its like a permanent wax, without the buffing. the put on all their new denim bikes. i bought mine before the product was available and they wanted 1200 bucks to put it on now.. i found the product with applicator on ebay for 25 bucks. i watched the youtube video and the independant poduct test and it probably will help make it easier to get things like bugs and grime off without having to scrub.
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I've had my Denim Black 2015 FLHXS since last December and have put 11,000 miles on it. Shook hands to buy the charcoal pearl but they were bringing the denim off of the truck and I just had to have it. The paint is tougher to take care of in that there is no smooth gloss finish so stuff wants to stick to it. If I have been on the road for awhile and collected tons of bugs, after I get home I soak a chamois (a real deerskin one), then I drape it over the front fairing and let it sit for about 1/2 hour to loosen the bugs. I then spray on Windex (ammonia free), then wipe clean with the chamois. After that, I use the HD Denim cleaner with a micro fiber towel to bring it streak free. 1 bottle of the HD denim cleaner used in a year is certainly worth the 9 bucks. I have a couple of bottles of Wizard that I have used too and it works pretty well. I have washed the bike (with a hose), and I use water and Dawn dish soap. I use the same on the wheels, dry, then have used mothers aluminum polish on them to keep the gleam. This is the same method I used on my low rider with Jade Green paint. Of course once you bust the hose out, you're in it for at least 4 hours labor. But once it's done----DAMN! THAT is why you bought the SG.
With all said, I totally dig my denim SG because it is serious eye candy- just a bad ass look. I have a rub mark on the rear fender from a hat I took to Sturgis and I don't like it, but no big deal. I got a very small rock chip (about the size of a grain of sand), on the front fender that DOES bother me... so I'm going to replace it with a Klockwerks wrap fender with OEM paint and pin stripe with some Arlen Ness black Hot Legs, and progressive mono tubes. So, I guess I'm gonna spend upwards of $2,000 to get rid of that little eyesore. I am very meticulous about keeping my bike spotless. I bought it new and want to keep it looking new, and that takes time and $$$.
Get the denim, it's a bike, if you 'feel' it, do it!
With all said, I totally dig my denim SG because it is serious eye candy- just a bad ass look. I have a rub mark on the rear fender from a hat I took to Sturgis and I don't like it, but no big deal. I got a very small rock chip (about the size of a grain of sand), on the front fender that DOES bother me... so I'm going to replace it with a Klockwerks wrap fender with OEM paint and pin stripe with some Arlen Ness black Hot Legs, and progressive mono tubes. So, I guess I'm gonna spend upwards of $2,000 to get rid of that little eyesore. I am very meticulous about keeping my bike spotless. I bought it new and want to keep it looking new, and that takes time and $$$.
Get the denim, it's a bike, if you 'feel' it, do it!
Here is an issue that my buddy is dealing with and back is against the wall. He laid his bike on it's side when someone pulled out in front of him. Damage was superficial in most places but fairing required painting and removable trunk needed to be replaced (came denim from "Harley". When he got the bike back the fairing, trunk and the rest of the bike are 3 different colors and textures. NOW a couple days after getting it back, front brake reservoir is leaking and dripping on the tank leaving a streak down the side of it. He takes it back to dealer that did the work and they say the paint is extremely hard to match unless the whole thing is shot at once. They refuse to paint the whole thing because insurance will pay only for damage caused by accident. Point being is that it's a "harder" paint to match. If they fix the tank which at this point almost unnoticeable but can see the streak now it will likely be 4 different colors and textures. I say raise hell until they shoot the whole thing. They flat out refuse to shoot the whole bike. This is like the show WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
I have a 2010 sg and my dealer told me I could use baby wipes, that was good to know as in the next few minutes after talking to him I went and got gas and dripped gas on the tank ,used a baby wipe and no gas drops and no streaks . So I will continue to use baby wipes for quick wipe ups
Hey just mike we should try and meet up some time for some cocktails!! I'm in Urbandale waiting for the warmer weather to be able to ride........................
Okay dont know how many of you ride down south (SW Gulf Coast of Florida here) but a good day riding means another day cleaning this time of year. The bugs are vicious right now. So yesterday spent 6 hours just riding where ever the rods took me. Today it was "good go look at the bug guts". I have a 2018 with the industrial gray denim and have been looking for various cleaning methods. I also spent the few extra bucks to have a paint protector applied when I bought. Glad I did too, most everything just hosed off. I used the dish soap method and damn if the bike doesnt look great....waiting for it dry completely after blowing off what I could and drying then going to shine up all the chrome. Thanks for the ideas.
I usually just use a power washer then a leaf blower to dry. If I'm scrubbing it, dawn dish soap and a sheepskin wash mitt. I hit it a few times a year with Topcoat F11 too. That's it. Doesn't need anything more. I just put a wrap fender on a couple months ago. Had it painted and pinstriped by FactoryMatch. You can't tell by looking at it that the front fender has brand new paint and the rest of the bike has 4 year old tins.