Brand new tour pack - strategy

[Lance Mark]

I picked up the tour pack and have had it for about 2 months or so. The paint is pretty flawless still.

I'd planned on doing the following.

Wash
Clay Bar
Iron Remover
Wolfgang Finishing Glaze (not an actual glaze, it's a lightly abrasive polish)
Gyeon Prep
Gyeon CanCoat

My question is this, should I bother with the Wolfgang step. There are near zero visible defects, and the only thing I would hope the glaze would do is deepen the gloss.

Thank you for your opinions.

 

[Mike Phillips]

My question is this, should I bother with the Wolfgang step.

If it were me? And knowing I have a little skill for both hand and machine polishing plus all the right tools for the job - then "yes" I would do it.


Also - my standard rule is - if I'm claying - I'm machine polishing. Claying or anything like claying will tend to mar paint. Polishing will remove the marring.

 

[2black1s]

Assuming the tour pack is a new factory painted Harley part, I doubt that the polishing step would do much... Harley factory paint is typically some of the nicest factory paint around. It's really a judgement call on your part. There is no answer to "should I" or "shouldn't I". It's just a judgement call on your part. That said, if it was me - I'd do it.

As for the iron remover and clay, I'd skip the iron remover altogether and before claying, I'd do a baggie test. There's a good chance that isn't necessary either. But if you do clay, then plan on polishing.

Any of the steps you mention certainly won't hurt anything even if they aren't absolutely necessary. Therefore, my advice is to do whichever steps will make you "feel" good. The paint is going to feel good regardless.

 

[Lance Mark]

I'm glad I asked, I had not really thought it through, and learn something new every day. It makes sense that clay barring can mar a surface. I was thinking, awesome, it glides over the surface grabbing particulates. It makes sense that it could pull a particulate and then drag it across the surface. I do a lot of folding, twisting, and kneading when I'm clay barring, but I have to think some marring is inevitable. As well, I pick little bits off the surface as best I can, rather than fold them back into the bar.

I'm curious, 2black, why no iron remover? It's a quick easy step. Are you thinking it's a waste of time, not old enough to have a lot of iron deposits?

 

[2black1s]

I'm glad I asked, I had not really thought it through, and learn something new every day. It makes sense that clay barring can mar a surface. I was thinking, awesome, it glides over the surface grabbing particulates. It makes sense that it could pull a particulate and then drag it across the surface. I do a lot of folding, twisting, and kneading when I'm clay barring, but I have to think some marring is inevitable. As well, I pick little bits off the surface as best I can, rather than fold them back into the bar.

I'm curious, 2black, why no iron remover? It's a quick easy step. Are you thinking it's a waste of time, not old enough to have a lot of iron deposits?

Exactly! Plus the fact that Harley parts are packaged at the factory for shipment and are never exposed to an environment where you could get metallic particulate contamination. And even if there was any, claying will take care of it.

As for the clay marring, it's not really the dragging of a contaminant across the surface that causes the marring (although it certainly could in an extreme case), it's the clay itself causing it. Even if you were working on a perfectly clean surface without any particulate contamination, the clay can still cause marring.