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Clean/Restore vinyl seat

Jalaird

Beemrdrmr
Hello- I spilled a little solvent on the seat of my R1200RT and the spot, which is about the size of a half dollar, is now lighter in color. Any suggestions on what I can do to restore that area?
Thanks
 
Sadly :bangheadthere is not much else you can do, and I know you didn't want to hear that. With all the paint chips, dings and accidents like spilling solvent on a seat cover, consider them part of owning machinery. I often am asked what happened for something that I did, and my response is Just another "Battle Scar".

Merry Christmas.
 
I detail a lot of bikes for Nick's BMW. Some commercial products work well for their advertised intent, some not so good. When I get a seat on a bike that is stained or marked up, I first take the seat to the wash tub in the shop and bare hand scrub it with GOOP hand cleaner or some similar hand cleaner with pumice like product in it. The hand cleaner scrubs off the oxidation, removes oils/grease etc. After it dries I apply "Back to Black" from Meguires. Seem to work well on many seats except leather of course.

Suede, like that in a 76 Chrysler Cordoba, fortunately is absent on most BMWs. Shouldn't be used on any bike anyway.
 
Vinyl Seat

You do not want to put Armor All on a motorcycle seat. It makes the seat slippery and you will slide forward when braking or rearward when accelerating. Both conditions may upset your balance/equilibrium and cause you to lose control.

Above all, do not put Armor All on motorcyle tires. Your sidewalls on your tires should be able to make contact with the road surface while turning. Armor All would decrease this friction and cause the tires to slip away from the road surface.

Bill
 
You do not want to put Armor All on a motorcycle seat. It makes the seat slippery and you will slide forward when braking or rearward when accelerating. Both conditions may upset your balance/equilibrium and cause you to lose control.

Above all, do not put Armor All on motorcyle tires. Your sidewalls on your tires should be able to make contact with the road surface while turning. Armor All would decrease this friction and cause the tires to slip away from the road surface.

Bill

1+
 
I put armor all on the seat of my Z1 Kawasaki. I didn't stop sliding until I got stuck on the luggage rack. It's a good thing I have long arms.
 
I don't put Armor All on tires but never had an issue with it on seats. I've done it for 25 years. Never flown off the back accelerating nor gone through the windshield braking!
 
I did it once on my '74 Norton Commando (red/white/blue MK-III edition, the one that worked..) The Norton had pretty much a flat bench seat. First time I took off, my butt headed for the back of the bike. My hanging on caused me to open the throttle. Ended up doing my first wheelie on a street bike.

Never used Armor-All again. I suppose if you have a bucket seat you'll be OK (except for the crap getting on your riding clothes and slowly destroying the vinyl).. but if you have a flatish seat.. I'd avoid it like the plague.

OP - it might be worth finding an auto detailer and seeing what he can do for you. Good ones can make awful looking leather and vinyl look like new (at least long enough that the dealer can sell the car..)
 
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