Car Wash for R3s ??????

[RocketFuture]

I'm the proud new owner of a 2008 R3 Classic and I'm wondering if it is safe to wash it at a manual car wash with the soap and high pressure car wand? My 2004 Yamaha 1100 does fine with it but I have heard you can't do that with a Harley or you will get water into engine or components. How about the R3 car wash or no?

Thanks!!!!

 

[idk]

Pressure washers on any bike are a bit of a problem. There are so many parts that water under pressure can get into that can cause problems.

 

[TOMCAT]

Just laziness and you won't find that loose part that's about to fall off while pressure cleaning.

 

[TURBO200R4]

i have done min with the pressure washer a couple of times with no side affects but i tend to be careful around the gauges,ign switch and don't spray it up the exhaust
if you have after market air filters i would not wash with pressure.

 

[RocketFuture]

Yikes!!! is sounds like I may have to pull out the old bucket and soap!!!! ( I'm on well water so I better do a little test on it to make sure it doesn't have too much minerals in it I couldn't stand to get hard water spots on my baby!!!

 

[Bedifferent]

I use regular car wash and wax on my R3T and just a garden hose. I would not pressure wash. I cover my handlebar controls with some plastic bags from the store and make a point to not to hose a lot of water under the tank. A fine mist works best for a rinse. They also recommend you cover the exhausts but I don't spray a lot of water around my pipes anyway. After washing, I use an electric leaf blower to blow off most of the water from the surfaces. A final wipe down to finish it off and your done. I also use aluminum wheel spray, some Meguire's Motorcycle Spray and Wash, back wash my radiator to get the bugs out and a variety of other things as needed.

 

[Mittzy]

Is your bike THAT dirty?
If you must use a car wash dont use the high pressure - use the final rinse water to hose down as this water is usually cleaned through reverse osmosis snd wont leave water marks when dried.

 

[TOMCAT]

Yikes!!! is sounds like I may have to pull out the old bucket and soap!!!! ( I'm on well water so I better do a little test on it to make sure it doesn't have too much minerals in it I couldn't stand to get hard water spots on my baby!!!

Bottled spring waters what I use .... .... no I don't

 

[Tripps]

What exactly is this "washing" you speak of?

 

[Wrecka]

I pressure washed mine in Torquay last RDU , I kept the nozzle at least 1.5-2 metres away and didn't use full pressure , I wouldn't use one if I had alternate means to wash .