Hi, hope you don't mind my sticking in here. I'm Roy, and I run the AllYearBiker site. Saw the hits we were getting from this post so thought I'd have a look. We've been treating bikes with ACF50 for over 18 months now so I figure we know a little about applying it, if it helps Caveman, I've put some info below to answer you questions.
ACF50 is classed as an Ultra Thin Fluid Film coating. Ultra Thin means it's designed to be 'active' at a coating thickness of two thousands of an inch! At that thickness you literally can't see it other than a sheen. Fluid Film coating means it stays fluid during its application life. Most people assume as it's a liquid you need to see liquid on the metal it's applied to, not so. When too much is applied the surplus simply congeals, road dirt thrown up then embeds in it and it becomes like trying to clean sand out of jelly. As someone said this makes it a bugger to clean off later on, and you risk trapping corrosive particles directly in the ACF50. At the right thickness dirt should easily wash off with water.
When to apply it? ACF50 is primarily a moisture displacement and repellent treatment to prevent corrosion. Moisture doesn't just come in rain form. Washing, condensation, dew, even moisture content in road traffic film and thrown up animal waste all contain moisture. Winter periods have the added element of corrosive road salt, but throughout the year stuff like sulphur traffic fumes, industrial fallout, animal waste and road spray are also corrosive. As the treatment lasts for months, we'd say treat it at anytime and simply top it up as and when necessary.
Application:
Shake the can for a good two minutes. It's a hydrocarbon based product so the heavier elements can settle if it's been stood awhile.
Forget spraying directly from the can onto the bike. There's only 2-3% propellant in the can so it just comes out as a pink froth or a very coarse spray. You'll end up with a mess on the floor. Spray onto a microfiber cloth (these are great because they 'hold' more content than an ordinary cloth). Aim to get the cloth damp, not wet, then wipe onto all the areas you can reach. When finished you can stick the cloth in an airtight bag or container and re-use what’s still left on it several weeks later. For hard to access areas, spray into the lid until you have a little liquid in there then use a brush to dip in the liquid and apply to the bike. A long handled radiator brush is ideal to reach into recessed and awkward areas. Again don't overload the brush. Overall you're looking to apply a 'sheen like' coating.
Don't over fuss about getting it in nooks and crannies. ACF50 'creeps' like mad. Put it on, go and have a cup of tea for an hour. It'll have pretty much worked itself into everywhere.
There's no need to apply to paintwork. It's designed to protect metal, so paintwork benefits more from a decent wax or glaze coating. It won't do any harm but you'll find waxes won't 'bond' as easily or efficiently on top of an ACF50 coating. You can safely apply it to plastics and rubbers, in fact being hydrocarbon based it re-conditions them, (the original 1970's formula used to dissolve latex rubber, don't find much of that on a bike and it's been updated since anyway). Wipe on, allow to stand for a few minutes to be absorbed, then use a clean microfiber to buff off. Leaves a nice sheen and brings the colour back.
Note: using this method you won't be able to access and treat all areas of the bike unless you're prepared to strip it down to get behind fairings, under the tank, in all electrics and electronics, etc. As a rule of thumb, if you can get your hand on it, it's an 'exposed' area. Treatment on these areas will need occasional topping up as the coating degrades with riding conditions and regular washing (good indication is when water no longer beads on the surfaces). If you can't get your hand on it it's an 'unexposed' area. Coating in these areas should last a good twelve months as it's not being directly degraded.
Tips:
When you buy your can of ACF50, stick a label on it with the date. It has a shelf life of two years after which the active ingredients start to decompose. It says on the can "a little goes a long way". One can contains enough to give your bike a full initial treatment and maintain top ups through the year, 'fact you'll probably have some left
Using the wipe on method you shouldn't need to mask anything off. Just take care wiping around tyres and brake pads/discs. If you do get any on these, treat the tyres as if they were new and scrub them in for a few miles to scrub off the ACF50. With brakes, pick a safe section of road, get up to 20-30 mph to maintain airflow over the brakes and apply and release the brakes repeatedly until it's burnt off. We avoid applying to handlebar grips, doesn't do any harm but if it gets on your gloves it'll make the visor smear when you wipe it.
Finally, maintaining the coating. Best thing for the bike is avoid a build up of dirt in the first place. Use a garden hose to rinse the bike down fairly regularly. The coatings a water repellent so no need to dry it other than on paintwork to avoid water spotting, (waffle weave microfiber clothes are 10 times better and faster and can be got for a few quid). Clean down once a week or so using a neutral PH bike or car shampoo, bike cleaners such as Autoglym Motorcycle Cleaner, SDoc 100 and so on, contain a slightly more aggressive TFR (Traffic Film Remove) designed to strip oil and dirt off the bike, so will degrade the coating much faster. Feedback we've had from our customers is that after ACF50 coating and decent wax application, cleaning is a doodle and much faster.
That's about it, happy riding. I won't always get time to post on here but if anyone has any other questions feel free to email me on
[email protected] and I'll be happy to see if I can help.
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did you not mean to type "you are the authority on acf50 and getting better looking with age" ?
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