Light Scratches (how to polish out)

Magic_x_uk · 3 Apr 2013 at 14:54

Rather annoyed at moment and looking for some advice.

used the bike for work yesterday as car in getting some work done.

used my tank bag (which has magnets etc to fix it to petrol tank)

Went to use bike today and noticed light scratches on tank, down to white (tank is red). Looked at tank bag and underneath where the magnets are under the leather of the bag are tiny bits of metal, which must have been picked up at work in the changing room floor.

Which I find unusual as I work in a hotel, not a metal factory etc.

Anyhow, Did not notice them yesterday as dark when I got home.

What is best to polish them out with ? just t-cut ? or polish?

you can 'just' feel the scratch with your finger nail.

Really really has annoyed me. Never thought for one minute (till now) to check the bottom of tank bag before fixing it onto the bike.

PS: any of those polishing pads that fit on Drill's any good? if so, any particular ones ?

hlxbravo · 3 Apr 2013 at 16:41

Can't offer any advice really, only as far as to say that you aren't the only one to have done this, I did it too a while back, black tank, so I no longer use my tank bag...it's gonna end up on the bloomin Bay when the missus gets round to photographing the thing.

wazza300 · 3 Apr 2013 at 16:58

t-cut as it will cut through the top layer of clearcoat,it wont damage original paintwork,then use polish after

work hard to polish the scratch out

agnes · 3 Apr 2013 at 19:23

wazza300 said:
t-cut as it will cut through the top layer of clearcoat,it wont damage original paintwork,then use polish after

work hard to polish the scratch out

This, elbow grease will fix it. Just keep going, don't rush, just lots of time and it will go.

Or take it to a body shop, pay £100 and have the tank re sprayed?

Dogbreath · 3 Apr 2013 at 20:36

T cut will take a long time to get through scratches unless they are very shallow. It's worth starting with it though, but if you are getting nowhere then one of the cutting compounds designed for removing scratches will help, e.g. Meguiars ScratchX

Skynet-T800 · 3 Apr 2013 at 22:19

Magic_x_uk said:
PS: any of those polishing pads that fit on Drill's any good? if so, any particular ones ?

I would say a drill has to high a rpm for polishing, can easily burn through the paint and do more damage (heat builds up rapidly).

I have a dual action polisher that oscillates so heat isn't an issue and can happily remove my marks, light scratches from my car/bike!

Cost about £85 plus extra for polish but well worth it, made my R6 look new again!

did my sisters freelander around the handle looked a lot better!

Depends how much you love your bike I guess!