How to make motorbike dust and scratch free?

Most of us like our bikes – be it a dirt bike, a sports bike, or a cruiser. Though some of us lazy souls don’t mind a scratch or two on our bikes. In fact, I personally feel that it makes a bike look cooler. However, most of the riders prefer to keep their bike clean and shiny. And it’s not that difficult to keep a bike dust-free and scratch-less.

There are a few methods at our disposal that allows us to attain just that – various types of coatings, lamination, etc. In this article, we aim to mention a few of these methods and highlight their pros and cons.

Table of Contents

• Various ways to keep a bike scratch free
• Coating Vs. Lamination: Which is better?
• What is the best Coating for bikes?

Various ways to keep a bike scratch free

Some of the most famous methods used to keep a bike scratch free (and of course dust free by extension) are:

• Coating – There are various kinds of coatings available in the market, e.g. Teflon, Ceramic, etc. It is also often known as PPC (Paint Protection Coating).
• Lamination – A transparent plastic sheet is applied over the bike. It can be done all over the bike, or just on the gas tank. It is also often known as PPF (Paint Protection Film).

Coating Vs. Lamination: Which is better?

Well, the answer to this question is not binary. It will depend a lot on your personal preference, the kind of your bike, and how you intend to use your bike.

• You cannot get any coating done on Matt paint bikes. If you do, then it will no longer remain matt – it will rather become shiny/glossy. So, for matt bikes you should opt for matt lamination.
• If you have laminated your bike, then you should avoid keeping it in the sun for long. Heat and sunlight destroys the elasticity of the lamination pretty soon. So, if you have to keep your bike exposed to sun and heat for long durations of time, you should rather opt for coating rather than lamination.
• You have to remove the lamination after a certain time, otherwise it will stick on the paint of your bike and it would really be hard to remove it then (this is not an issue with coating). So, whenever you are getting your bike laminated, ask the workshop guys – After how much time should I remove this lamination? Make sure you remove the lamination then. Thereafter, you can get your bike laminated again.
• After sometime lamination may change in colour – it may start looking yellowish and also may wrinkle a bit.
• Coating generally looks a bit better than lamination. Your bike will look like a newly purchased one for a long time.
• Some laminations have designs on them. Putting them on your bike may give an entirely new look to your bike, without you having to get it repainted.

In general, people prefer coating over lamination. But you may try out both and see what suits you more.

What is the best Coating for bikes?

As already mentioned, there are a few coating options available in the market, viz. Teflon, Ceramic, Nano, Titanium Nitride, etc. But what should we opt for?

We will compare the two most famous types of coatings here – Teflon Vs. Ceramic

Teflon Coating

• It originated in UK and herein synthetic wax (polytetrafluoroethylene) is used.
• Teflon coating is very common and you can easily get it done. It’s pretty cheap too.
• It lasts for 3-5 months. So, you will have to get it done again and again pretty frequently.
• Teflon coating removes minor scratches in the paint on your bike.
• Protects your bike against rust, dust and scratches.

Ceramic Coating

• It originated in USA and herein clear coat of Silicon Carbide (SiC) is used.
• It’s more expansive than Teflon Coating (4-6 times more expansive). It’s generally done on cars and so you may have to look out for car workshops to get this coating done on your bike.
• It lasts for 12-24 months. So, it lasts longer than Teflon Coating.
• The coating thickness is more in case of Ceramic (around 2 microns), as compared to Teflon (around 0.02 microns).
• If done professionally, it takes a bit longer to do ceramic coating (may take 1 to 5 days), as a lot of processes and steps are involved (cleaning, polishing, buffing, etc.). Teflon coating process is much quicker.
• Apart from rust, dust and scratches, ceramic coating also protects your bike from UV rays.

Warning - Scams

There are a lot of scammers in the market who just wax the bike or just apply some solution to make it shine, rather then properly coating it with Teflon or Ceramic. So, go to reliable and authentic workshops, or just do it yourself.

Also, if you have a matt painted bike, and your workshop guys are recommending coating for it, just walk away. Matt bikes are not supposed to be buffed and coated, as they will lose their matt look thereafter – your workshop guys are either novice or fraud!

Winding Up

Laminating our bike, or coating it with a solution not only makes it look awesome, but also helps keep it clean and dirt free. These protective layers also keep it scratch free, and increases the durability of the paint on the bike (though all these things are valid for cars and other vehicles too).

Moreover, you need not even go to a professional to get it done. You can do it yourself – especially the coating solutions. There are also many DIY (do it yourself) videos and guides available on the internet when it comes to coating. If you are doing it yourself, then make sure to wash the bike thoroughly, remove all mud/dust and let the bike dry thereafter – only then you should apply any coating. It won’t take you more than 1-2 hours.

Moreover, if you want to keep things really simple and cheap, just apply polish. Your bike will look just fine and will remain protected from the elements.