No matter what you ride or drive, there are going to be various parts on the outside of it that need special care. You look at this motorcycle, and we have a windshield that’s made out of one type of plastic, we have a painted surface with a different type of plastic, we have rubber; all sorts of things. And they all require special care. And here to give us some pointers is Lyndon Abel, General Manager of Patriot Harley-Davidson in Fairfax, Virginia. Lyndon, welcome back to the show.

LYNDON ABEL: Thanks for having me.

PAT GOSS: Alright, we’ve got all of these different things. Give us some pointers.

LYNDON ABEL: Absolutely. So the windshield that you mentioned is a really big one. While glass cleaner and some newspaper might work great on your car’s glass windshield, it’s going to be a terrible thing for your motorcycle’s Lexan or Plexiglas windshield. It will quickly come up with haze, and foggy windshield, and require repair and replacement. What you want to use is a product that’s designed for Lexan or Plexiglas, and a good quality micro-fiber cloth. Leave that newsprint for your glass.

Also, Rain-X is another thing that can really degrade that surface. It may work great on glass, but it is not designed for Plexiglas, and again will degrade it. There are products that are made for Lexan, or Plexiglas, that will achieve a similar result.

And you mentioned the other surfaces. This is the same for a car; but a car has mostly painted metal showing. A motorcycle: lots of different exposed surfaces. And you want to treat those things with the appropriate products for them.

PAT GOSS: Ok, now. Our shiny parts.

LYNDON ABEL: Right. So right here we have three different parts. All are made from aluminum, but this one is a chrome finish; this is a bare aluminum finish; and this is a clear-coated finish.  And they all need to be treated separately. Chrome, of course a good quality chrome polish will do a great job. But use that good quality chrome polish on the bare aluminum and it’s going to be fairly ineffective. It’s not going to do a good job cleaning that. For that, you want some metal polish that’s designed for cleaning bare aluminum. But take THAT polish, and use it on this clear-coated aluminum part, and you will damage the clear-coat in time, and you’ll, again, have to replace the part. That can be expensive.

PAT GOSS: Alright. But how do we determine what we’re dealing with?

LYNDON ABEL: Great question. Chrome, pretty easy to tell apart from other finishes. If you’re not sure, check with your shop or somebody that’s a little more clear on the topic. But clear-coated aluminum and bare aluminum are very difficult to tell apart. One way to do it is to take some aluminum polish, and start to, in a small, inconspicuous area, polish the aluminum. If you don’t quickly see some black material  coming up; this oxidation coming off of the aluminum surface, you’re dealing with a clear-coated part. Stop, and treat it just like it’s a painted part.

PAT GOSS: Well, ok. Simple enough. Alright, Lyndon, thank you.

LYNDON ABEL: Thanks for having me.

PAT GOSS: And if you have a question or comment, drop me a line. Right here, at MotorWeek.