Motorcycles are amazing machines with many avid communities centered on their use, care, and culture. Unfortunately, due to their unique design, motorcycles are much more susceptible to road side contaminants, and can easily get dirty quickly if not properly maintained. However, there are many ways to combat this, from regular maintenance washes to installing a ceramic coating. Let’s dive in.
Since Motorcycles are so low to the ground and exposed to the road compared to cars, they can quickly accumulate hard-to-clean contaminants. If you drive your bike every day, it’s a good idea to wash it about every two to three weeks to avoid buildup that can lead to serious problems.
To clean and wash your motorcycle without damaging it, there’s a few things you need to know. First off, you won’t want to wash the bike right away. When you drive, tiny bits of road debris like tar, brake dust, small rocks, and other things fly up and cling onto your paint. If we go straight to washing the bike, we run the risk of dragging those contaminants across the surface, creating new scratches and abrasions.
So before we break out the wash mitts, we need some chemical decontamination. Fireball recommends looking into Tar Remover, Bug Cleaner, Iron Burn, and Wheel & Tire for your decontamination process. Each product has a useful how-to guide linked on their product page.
Once the decon is done, we can start washing. Fireball recommends a three-bucket method that contains potentially scratch-inducing contamination to a separate bucket, while keeping the water you use to wash your vehicle fresh and dirt-free. The details of this method are outlined in our maintenance wash blog post, found here.
Or, if you’re in a hurry, you can use a waterless washing chemical, like our product Waterless Max. Waterless washes are a simple spray-on, wipe-off formula that clean your paintwork just like a traditional shampoo.
Regardless of wash method, Fireball recommends the Terry Bear Towel for its extra soft, high-density microfiber and high-volume absorption capacity.
A pro tip for motorcycle users is to make sure you clean your battery as well. Batteries on motorcycles are often more exposed to the elements than they are in cars. If the battery posts get too dirty, it can impact its long-term performance.
Another motorcycle-specific tip is to clean the seats and other traditionally interior surfaces with specialized chemicals designed specifically for them. For example, we used Nappa Cleaner, our premium leather and fabric cleaner, to clean the seat and saddlebags on this Harley. Afterwards we used its sister product Nappa Coat to seal the freshly cleaned surface and protect it from wear and weather.
One more thing – if you use riding gear, don’t forget to clean that as well! Your gear is exposed to the same elements your bike is, including brake dust and iron slag thrown up into the air by surrounding vehicles.
The perfect capstone to any vehicle is a paint protectant, like a sealant, film, wax, or ceramic coating. While films are mostly to protect against physical damage, waxes and ceramic coatings offer many more benefits.
Automotive waxes are mostly made from carnauba wax, which when mixed correctly can enhance the gloss and color depth of your vehicle. Waxes also change the texture of your bike’s surface, making paint work luxurious and smooth. Certain waxes, like all of our waxes, have ceramic particles mixed in, giving waxes the ability to repel water and protect against minor physical damage.
You can think of ceramic coatings as harder, better, longer lasting waxes. While waxes typically last for 4 to 6 weeks, premium ceramic coatings last for up to 10 years. Ceramic coatings are liquid solutions which carry ceramic silica particles. They fill in microscopic pores in your paint, which lets the surface repel water and reject micro contaminants like that pesky iron slag and brake dust. What does stick to ceramic coatings will sluff off easily with almost no effort. Ceramic coatings will give you enhanced gloss, extreme color enhancement, and will make coated surfaces feel as smooth as glass. Ceramic coatings can be installed by a professional or installed at home by yourself! DIY coatings like our new Angel Tears coating are gaining in popularity as nano-ceramic technology progresses.
Lastly, sealants are a light spray-on compound which provide limited hydrophobicity and visual enhancement. Some are infused with ceramic particles, like our top-selling sealant Pirouette, but even ceramic sealants don’t last very long, and can’t protect your vehicle from physical damage.
The best news about paint protection is that you don’t have to choose one. You can put coatings on top of PPF, and you can put waxes on top of coatings. If you want, you can even find short lived ceramic coatings like our Tourbillon coating to go on top of your wax. While these sorts of customizations may require help from a professional, with so many options available, you can customize your bike’s look to your heart’s content.
If you do choose to coat your bike, there are a few things you should know. First, not all coatings will work for all areas of your bike. Many ceramic coating users have reported foul smells from their exhaust and engine components as low-grade general use ceramic coatings burn off. Also, general use coatings will stiffen the fabric of your seat and saddlebags, limiting their flexibility and ruining their texture. Instead of using one general use coating, we recommend using at least 3 coatings, or simply leaving some parts of your bike uncoated. First we have Angel Tears, a great, flexible coating for paint and plastics. Next, Aegis is our premium interior coating, perfect for leathers and fabrics. Last, we have Talon, a ceramic coating made specifically for high-heat and extreme friction environments. Talon will maintain integrity in up to 500 Fahrenheit, the perfect coating for your exhaust and engine elements.
While Talon and Aegis are only available through certified installers, Angel Tears is a DIY product, available through our online store. When applying a coating yourself, be sure to bring along a Jet towel or Eclipse towel to wipe off the excess coating!
You’ll also want to be careful not to use certain products when cleaning and washing your ceramic coated bike. Be careful to use pH neutral shampoos, like our Snow Foam or Tropical Shampoo.
Lastly, while you can install ceramics on your own, you should know that bringing your bike to a Fireball Certified Installer will let you register a warranty on your coating, featuring a quality guarantee and complete coverage, backed by Fireball USA.
If you feel you need more information, you can always contact your local Fireball Coatings Installer. Fireball Installers are all hand-selected, vetted, and certified in extensive training regimes. We only offer our product to knowledgable, skilled professionals, so that no matter where you are, you know your Fireball Ceramic Coating will be of the utmost quality. Our installers are friendly and customer focused, and would be happy to discuss ceramic coatings with you! You can use this page to request our headquarters match you with an Installer in your area.
