Motorcycle Myths - Why not Lemon Pledge?

Lance Mark

Lance Mark

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On another forum I frequent, it's not unusual for there to be folks asking how to better clean and care for their bikes. Very few tend to offer really good advice. A lot of bike owners respond and typically rattle off a list of products and such that work magic and leave their bikes looking amazing. Almost invariably, folks pipe in and suggest we ditch all of the expensive baths, polishes, and LSPs and simply wipe the bike down with Lemon Pledge.

Some guys claim they've been doing that on every bike they've owned for the last 25 years. When the suggestion is made, a big group of silent approvers will 'like' the post. It's a thing. There are folks who think these products are all you need to care for you bike.

Mike, I'm not looking for you to convince me. What I'm looking for is a perspective from a professional detailer as to why these chemicals either fall short or could harm the finish on the bike. My best argument is that these products aren't formulated for that intended purpose.

From what I can see these are the ingredients in Pledge:


  1. [FONT=&quot] Naphtha, petroleum, light alkylate 5%-10% or (isoparaffinic hydrocarbon solvent)[/FONT]
  2. [FONT=&quot] Polydimethylsiloxanes (Silicon oil) 5%-10%[/FONT]
  3. [FONT=&quot] Water 70%-85%[/FONT]
  4. [FONT=&quot] Butane1% -5%[/FONT]
  5. [FONT=&quot] Isobutane1% - 5%[/FONT]
  6. [FONT=&quot] Propane1% - 5%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]When I look at ingredients of some detailing products, I see similar ingredients to those above. It looks like some mild solvents that mostly evaporate and some oil to enhance gloss and possibly lubricate?. Maybe these old timers aren't trashing their bikes as much as I thought?
 
CaffeineBuzz said:
Mike, I'm not looking for you to convince me.
Click to expand...


Good thing because YEARS ago I stopped trying to convisne anyone of anything. :cheers:


Here's the deal, just the act of rubbing SOMETHING over a surface has a cleaning effect, a polishing effect and a protecting effect. The real secret is actually using the product. We all know people that buy stuff but never actually use it. Could be the greatest thing since sliced bread but if it's just collecting dust on a shelf in the garage the for all practical reasons it actually doesn't work because it's not being used.

I've worked at thousands of shows. Car shows. Boat Shows. RV Shows. One time while working as the Meguiar's Rep at an RV show, I saw a salesperson wiping a car down in their booth with Lemon Pledge. I was astonished. I asked him why he was using Lemon Pledge. He pointed to the hood and said,

Look how wet the paint looks?

He was right. The paint looked wet. It was wet in an oily way as he created a film of product on the surface. Hey if it works for him that's all that's important. Over the course of the show I saw fingerprints and smudges on the hood from people "touching" it. (that's what people do to cars on display, they touch them). Of course at some point he would wipe the hood down and re-spray the Lemon Pledge to re-create the really wet looking finish.

Here's the deal, while this might look cool and work for a show, in the real-world if any of us tried this dirt and dust would land on the oily film and the act of cleaning the hood would risk grinding the dirt/dust into the paint. Might, might not cause a problem, kind of depends on how you wash or blast the car with water or a foam gun etc.

For me I would prefer a dry hard shine, not a wet oily shine. That said,

Just the act of rubbing SOMETHING over a surface has a cleaning effect, a polishing effect and a protecting effect.


So if someone likes using Lemon Pledge on anything - works for me. :cheers:


For small, intricate parts and even small panels, something like Lemon Pledge would probably be quick, fast and easy, (I like quick fast and easy), it will make these things look good, (that's the goal), and if the person is regularly using this product and process as a part of maintaining their motorcycle then it works.


:dblthumb2:
 
Thanks for the reminder.

Been seeing more and more riders
out and about, around here lately:
Time, again, to buy a few more shares.
________________________________

DF00572B-E2B4-4FC8-AA42-1744AACD6EE5.jpeg

________________________________


:cheers:

Bob
 
Thanks for the thoughtful reply.....appreciate you sir.
 
CaffeineBuzz said:
...
Some guys claim they've been doing that on every bike they've owned for the last 25 years. When the suggestion is made, a big group of silent approvers will 'like' the post. It's a thing. There are folks who think these products are all you need to care for you bike.

.... My best argument is that these products aren't formulated for that intended purpose.
...
Click to expand...

Something tells me if you were to look at their bikes in the sun, and then look at your bike in the sun, the results would very strongly point towards one being clearly superior...

Also: while you can take pride in your rolling black mirror, I guess if they're happy that their bike is cleaner than it was then that's a win for them.
 
First off, let me say that I have never used Lemon Pledge on any vehicle that I can remember, but I have certainly heard of others using it. I'm not going to bash it because, quite simply, I don't know... no experience with it here.

The discussion around Lemon Pledge as a car care/motorcycle care product has been around forever. I remember a boss of mine that swore by it for maintaining his car back in the early 1980s and I have to say that his car always looked pretty good. I never really inspected it but it did always look better than the majority of cars in the parking lot at a quick glance.

Since most furniture's are finished with products similar to cars/motorcycles, i.e., lacquers, urethanes, etc., I don't really see any risk with using Lemon Pledge on a vehicle other than what Mike stated above with the dust attraction. And maybe the lack of any UV protection in the long-term.

Back in the early days of this discussion, there were not any simple, quick, easy-to-use spray products marketed to the car care community. Or if there were any I'm not aware of, there weren't many. Therefore using Lemon Pledge back then was probably not all that bad of an idea. Certainly better than nothing at all if one didn't have the time and/or motivation to do a "real" process.

Fast forward to today and there are so many easy to use spray products available that Lemon Pledge loses some of the appeal it may have once had. Then again, those that have used it for a long time and are happy with the results just continue to march on.
 
I used lemon pledge 25 yrs ago on the front of my car when I was going to take a long trip to keep the bugs from sticking to my grill. It worked out very well. Some people also use Pam spray stick cooking stuff… The problem is it doesn’t last. It’s a very temporary solution.
 
FUNX650 said:
Thanks for the reminder.

Been seeing more and more riders
out and about, around here lately:
Time, again, to buy a few more shares.
________________________________

DF00572B-E2B4-4FC8-AA42-1744AACD6EE5.jpeg

________________________________


:cheers:

Bob
Click to expand...

LOl, wrong company. S.C. Johnson makes Pledge. Johnson and Johnson and SC Johnson are completely unrelated companies.
 
Plexus is a product I've used on my cycle windshields for decades. It smells like Pledge, covers like Pledge.....
 
I used to use Lemon Pledge on tires and dashboards back in the 70s when I was a teenager. It made everything look nice and shiny while it was sitting in the driveway. One highway trip and it would sling off of the tires. In a day or two, the dash would be dusty. That was okay with me because I got to reapply another coat and it was fun.
 
J n J is the medical products company Bob.

SC Johnson ( a family company) is still a privately held company that makes consumer products.
 
Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer is just as easy to apply and would outperform Pledge short term/long term.
 
Back in 1960's, before I had a drivers license, my motorcycle detail products came from under Moms sink. Oven cleaner for the pipes, Lemon Pledge for the paint. Free, available, convenient. I'm still amazed that I wasn't the only one using Lemon Pledge. Even more amazed that some folks still use it.
 
Now that I think about it back in the 1990's we used to use Regular Pledge, not the lemon version to remove water spots and shine clear vinyl boat enclosures. I remember it worked well but you had to be carefull with the application so as not to get overspray on the deck. Slippery decks don't work well on boats. I remember most people used Plexus bought from the boat store but Pledge was the Boat Captains insider secret.
 
before armor all we use to use clear floor wax on tires and vinyl roofs. before that on tires we would use ruglyde rubber lube on tires . thats like pledge on paint. before car wash soap was invented they used flax soap ie murphy oil soap to wash cars . they also used 1cup of kerosene to a bucket of water to wash cars . times have changed. there are many detail sprays and spray waxes that are better then pledge.
 
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