GP AutoSpa - 1999 Harley Davidson Electraglide Classic Detail and Paint Correction

We had a great guy come to us to breath new life into his 1999 HD Electraglide Classic. He's a "get on and ride" kind of guy, so needless to say, it needed some work to bring it back to life!

Onto the pics and some description on the process and products used.

Getting ready to dive in!





Not much shine in the chrome!



Much grime and brake dust on the chrome wheels. Yup, there are whitewalls hiding in there.













Caked on paint from striking something...


Through the windscreen.



The paint didn't have any depth with many random scratches and swirl marks.







Letting the Meguiar's Detailer Grade Degreaser get to work...





Starting to see some progress. Many different applications of cleaner and different brushes were used to loosen and remove the caked on dirt and brake dust. Westley's Bleach White was used on the tires to clean the sidewalls.



A medium density brush worked well to get into (yes all) of the spokes.


Clean/Dirty - Rolling the bike forward helped to reach all areas.



Wheel cleaned!



S100 Total Cycle cleaner was liberally applied and left to soak to help loosen the dirt.







The entire bike was then mitt washed with Meguiars Detailer Grade #62 wash. Many different brushes were used to get into all of the hard to reach areas. There really is no replacement for good old fashioned elbow grease in this situation!





Saddlebags were removed to help clean the rear wheel/tire/suspension


Pulling her into the shop for clay and inspection.



Here you can get a glimpse of how bad the paint scratching/swirling is.





One of the saddlebags



Here you can see the contaminants on the clay.



Lets get ready to polish!


Reflection of our halogen work lamps...


Here is after the first pass with an Uber Yellow pad and Menzerna PowerGloss Compound MEN-POS34AP. You can see many of the deep stuff is gone.



Here's the next pass with an Uber Orange Pad and Menzerna Super Intensive Polish PO83. It's really clearing up nicely!



The final pass was with an Uber Blue Pad with Menzerna Final Polish PO85RD for an amazing shine and depth! To make sure only a small portion is polished at a time, we mask off the area. You don't want the compound drying so working in a small space helps keeps you aware. Also, it provides a nice 50/50 shot when the tape is removed. Here are some shots showing the polished/non-polished areas. Notice the depth of the reflections!













Here is my favorite picture of this detail. This is the top of one of the saddlebags!



Getting ready to pull it out for one more wash to remove the compounding/polishing dust.











Here are some great evening (when everything looks best!) shots of the final polished areas. No wax has been applied.













Getting ready for wax application.





Swissvax Onyx Carnauba wax was applied by hand (no pad) and left to cure for approximately 2 hours. Then it was removed with a microfiber towel.



The bolts for the windscreen and washers under the mirror stalks were a little worse for wear, so a fresh coat of black paint was in order.





While the Swissvax was curing, all of the chrome was polished by hand with Turtle Wax Chrome Polish.

Before:



After:





Finally, everything was finished up, wiped down, and polished for the last time and fully inspected both inside with halogen and fluorescent lighting, but then outside in the gleaming sun! Needless to say, the owner was quite pleased and was proud to ride their bike again!

























I hope you've enjoyed the (many!) pictures showing what can be done to really revive a machine to its best! Thank you for looking! Feel free to PM me or email at [email protected] if you have any questions!