my girl is about to buy a kawi zx6-r and the owner before her had taken off the ninja stickers after id assume 2 years of being parked outside. As you can guess all the pain is slightly faded except where the ninja sticker was. What is the best way to go about getting it cleaned up? Any special polish or abrasive wax? Please dont say wet sanding

 

My '99 F4 had a pink hue to it when I bought it and it was supposed to be red! I used the Turtle Wax rubbing compound and good old fashioned elboe grease to even out my paint. I did the entire bike about 10 times front to back. It works awsome on paint, aluminum, stainless, plastic, anything but wood. It 's a cleaner aswell, on my Yoshi can, the end caps were dull and lusterless, about a half hour with the rubbing compound and they were gleaming! After the rubbing compound, I did about 15 coats of hand rubbed Turtle Wax, I didn't just put it on and let it dry and wipe it off either. I worked in sections and just kept rubbing the wax in untill each stroke of the cloth was making the paint gleam deeper and deeper with just a bit of wax swirl in the surface. I did a final buff with an old bedsheet (no lint and is light cloth as to not pick up surface dust and scratch in the wax), I did't use any pressure, just gently wiped it. Then, I stood back and put on some shades to look at her.

It was alot of work, but worth it.

 

+1 He's got the right idea. Just find a wax that is designed for darker colors. That will help bring some depth back to the paint. Its going to take some time so i hope you have the day off and a nice cool garage.

 

Meguiars #3 (it is a light polishing compound) will bring color back and take out fine to med scratches / scuffs... (with a wheel it does a great job) by hand works nice but for ultimate use a wheel.... if that doesnt work start off with meguiars # 2 - a med compund then go over it with the # 3....wash bike first so u dont rub in any dirt left on it...