Advice on cleaning bikes frames

[Fatty]

Originally Posted by weisan

I love Meguiar's cleaner wax. Really does clean and protect anything painted. Cars, bikes, toolboxes.

[Clancy]

WD40 Bike Polish works great. I'm sure the car specific products work as well.

Been using the bike polish for couple of years. A little PIA to apply, think thick liquid paste wax, but great results. Applies a wax coat that seems to not only protect but also resist dirt and grime.

[ultraman6970]

Makes sense, you have to scratch the surface to remove all the gunk stuck over the surface.... thats why u have to pick the right polishing compound because some creams can get rid off of stuff better than other ones. For example diamond cut pretty much will clean all the way up to 3000 grit... other ones will clean 600 grit fine but if you look they will leave some swirl if you look really well under the sun...

Originally Posted by dgauthier

If you scrub a clay bar back and forth over the paint every piece of contamination pulled off the finish will leave hundreds of scratches that will need to be polished out afterward. That's why the guy keeps talking about "polishing the car right after" using the clay bar.

For paint in excellent condition you use a clay bar like an eraser. If your paint is clean and feels like glass, but there's just a few dots of contamination stuck to the surface here and there, you mist the surface and dab lightly with the clay bar on each individual bit of gunk using short strokes. This shears the dot of contamination off the paint without dragging it around and leaving a huge scratch.

This is admittedly more about cars, but hey, the same would apply to a bicycle.