I posted this thread early this morning and had 0 replies out of 85 views so I changed the title. Here is my question: my Nightster is gloss black. When a stone grazes the tank at 70MPH I know what happens. I've always wondered the same scenario with denim black painted bikes. Your replies are appreciated since I'm about to help my local dealer thin out his '15s.

 

If you're asking if denim paint chips and scratches the answer is yes. And when it does you're stuck with said chip/scratch. I think it's easier to keep clean if you can live with a scratch if it happens.

 

That's what I'm asking and thanks! I want to confirm that with no clear coat, there's not much chance of making life's everyday nicks and chips disappear.

 

This is my second black denim street glide and my third denim bike. In general, black denim is much easier to care for than vivid black (had one of those too). I just wash with one of the recommended products and dry with a micro fiber cloth.

As far as deep scratches or stone chips you can't polish them out as you can with scratches in conventional clear coat. HD has denim touchup paint in a vial with a small brush. You can hide a scratch with the touch up paint to a certain degree but otherwise you are stuck with it and it requires a complete repaint to put it back to original.

 

I loved denim paint. My Blackline was and I had a lot of comments on it. But...if you touched it enough on one place, it'd start shining and you're stuck with it. Like my right knee touched the bottom edge of the tank and turning on the ignition side too. Both spots got shiny but I lived with it since it wasn't that noticeable.

But I never had a scratch or rock chip.

 

Okay, that one (shiny spots) I've never heard of and I'm real glad you posted...I commute every dry day on my bike so there would be some real wear happening!

 

Denim paint has a clear coat.

 

Have a couple of scratches on my "pewter denim" NT. The scratch goes right through the gray and shows a black scratch. Not a big issue in my book. I'll take the ease of cleaning it over being able to effectively hide/paint scratches.

 

Denim does have a clear coat, but Chicken is right, it also starts to shine when "touched" enough in one spot over time and there is no fix for it.

 

When denim first came out, I remember someone here saying he rubbed his denim into a glossy shine. Why...I don't remember why. I was just stunned someone would do that.