Ducati Panigale V4 916 25 Anniversario Build Thread

[BMW Alpina]

Congratulations DucatiKev on your 2020 Panigale V4. But what/which stickers did you remove?
And did your paint have lot of swirl marks?

 

[DucatiKev]

Congratulations DucatiKev on your 2020 Panigale V4. But what/which stickers did you remove?
And did your paint have lot of swirl marks?

totally, swirls all over and even straight line scratches. It’ll come out with the polisher. I’m going to apply THIS (after paint correction) soon but in the meantime I cleaned the paint up with ipa and applied Hydrosilex cause it’s bug season and that stuff slicks the surface so the bugs while right off, even after drying on

the Stickers I removed were all the silver homoligation ones. Hate that stuff
My cars r totally debadged cause I don’t want anyone knowing anything, but these Ducati ones are here to stay. Maybe the cars wouldn’t get debadged if they were really special

also, the Ducati logos on this bike are solid white, on 1299 they looked like brushed stainless

I love this bike, but I still love my 1299 and my triumph. didn’t trade the triumph in like I thought and now there isn’t any room in the garage for anymore bikes

 

[HKMP7]

Now I am really intrigued , seriously...

This past hours, I was reviewing this YouTube video:

At 4:03, the detailer used what I believe is a BigFoot Nano iBrid HR81ML (Long Neck): iBrid Nano - RUPES USA to polish the tank,
but at 4:16 he switch to Flex polisher with extension (can't identify the model).
I believe this is due to the position of the surface to be polish but I could be wrong...

Life is a never ending learning session

Thats correct.
Being able to remove the fairings helps a lot.
Most detail shop aren’t going to go that far.

 

[HKMP7]

totally, swirls all over and even straight line scratches. It’ll come out with the polisher. I’m going to apply THIS (after paint correction) soon but in the meantime I cleaned the paint up with ipa and applied Hydrosilex cause it’s bug season and that stuff slicks the surface so the bugs while right off, even after drying on

the Stickers I removed were all the silver homoligation ones. Hate that stuff
My cars r totally debadged cause I don’t want anyone knowing anything, but these Ducati ones are here to stay. Maybe the cars wouldn’t get debadged if they were really special

also, the Ducati logos on this bike are solid white, on 1299 they looked like brushed stainless

I love this bike, but I still love my 1299 and my triumph. didn’t trade the triumph in like I thought and now there isn’t any room in the garage for anymore bikes

Congrats man.
Now if we can just get the dealerships to stop “wiping” down bikes.

 

[DucatiKev]

Congrats man.
Now if we can just get the dealerships to stop “wiping” down bikes.

u know, all I do anymore on my ceramic coated bikes is wipe them down with ProtectAll and a microfiber, the bugs come off 1 wipe. Is that bad to do with super slick coated paint?

got the helmet coated too, greatest move ever

wish I could get the leather Ducati jacket super slick coated too cause the bugs down here in Florida are insane

 

[TsaiCo]

Meanwhile I’m over here with the goo gone bottle removing adhesive from all the stickers i just removed
Just took delivery of a 2020 PV4 and the paint wasn’t cared for by the dealer. They probably wiped it off with a greasy rag b4 bringing it here

Wish @HKMP7 lived down the street

OMG! CONGRATS!!

Let me know in other threads how your builds going to be!

 

[DucatiKev]

Let me know in other threads how your builds going to be!

I was thinking this one is just going to be a placeholder till 2026 (U guys know y that’s a special year to buy a Ducati) but after my inaugural ride, I realized that the only thing this bike really needs is a 1285cc engine. So we’re gonna get that project underway in the next week or so now that I have all this time on my hands

If u can find one go make a deal b4 the economy catches fire again (or collapses and we all die) I can’t tell u what “invoice” on these bikes is but if u multiply retail by .85 it’s real close.
It a great time to buy a motorcycle cause they got that PPP money to help them and us. Times running out tho and bikes seem to be scarce

do we know if these bikes are detuned or restricted before the 621 miles service?
Or does the bike just love to live over 10k rpm? The 1299 is a rocket from 3,000 RPM. This thing at 5,000 feels like it’s waiting for the turbo to spool up or something

 

[Sherpa23]

Thank You for the information Sherpa23, I never knew the Superleggera V4 will have different shade of Red. Good to know.

I guess you're not super familiar with the special models over they years so hopefully you find this helpful:

Ducati always changes the red on the special bikes. The 996R and 998R are not the then-standard red but a different color called "Anniversary Red." The D16RR is the team red that was on the team bikes at the time so they looked the right color on television. The 1199 Superleggera is a fluorescent red and the 1299 Superleggera is the same color but in matte paint. The V4 Superleggera is getting last year's Mission Winnow paint job which is several different reds and it's a color palette created and spec'd by PM's motorsports marketing team and not Ducati.

I work in Formula 1 and I have several carbon parts painted in these Mission Winnow reds and they're quite different when you put them up against the current normal Ducati red.

As I said, if you think that you can buy that piece and it will look anything close to your bike, I am afraid you will be disappointed. It's going to look very off compared to the rest of your bike.

 

[BMW Alpina]

I guess you're not super familiar with the special models over they years so hopefully you find this helpful:
Ducati always changes the red on the special bikes. The 996R and 998R are not the then-standard red but a different color called "Anniversary Red." The D16RR is the team red that was on the team bikes at the time so they looked the right color on television. The 1199 Superleggera is a fluorescent red and the 1299 Superleggera is the same color but in matte paint. The V4 Superleggera is getting last year's Mission Winnow paint job which is several different reds and it's a color palette created and spec'd by PM's motorsports marketing team and not Ducati.
I work in Formula 1 and I have several carbon parts painted in these Mission Winnow reds and they're quite different when you put them up against the current normal Ducati red.
As I said, if you think that you can buy that piece and it will look anything close to your bike, I am afraid you will be disappointed. It's going to look very off compared to the rest of your bike.

Hi Sherpa23,
That is a very interesting information. I had been away from the motorcycle worlds since 2005 when I closed my Aprilia and ItalJet Distributorship Business due to the Euro currency goes up so high against my country of origin currency (that made all imported bike from Europe become too expensive overnight due to 40% increase in exchange rate). So I am still trying to catch up with all this information

However, after reviewing this information from you, I still plan to purchase the Superleggera V4 carbon tank cover, even if the shade of red is different because it will be much easier for my painter to just apply the right shade of red on top of a red painted piece to match my bike. If she has to start from the bare carbon fiber of the Ducati Performance Carbon Tank Cover, then my painter will need to prep the surface with base coat first.
And if somehow, turn out I like the shade of red of the Superleggera V4 carbon tank cover shade or red, then I might just keep it and just put sticker then clear coat over it.

At this moment, I am also waiting for the Ducati Performance Carbon Fiber Sprocket Cover to be available again sometimes in September (maybe October) so hopefully Superleggera V4 parts will be available for sale by the end of this year so I can buy them together.

 

[BMW Alpina]

I will be busy this weekend

More parts arrived this past few days and I finally have all the parts to install the rear suspension modification (Lower Rate Spring, Lowering Link and MotoCorse mounting bracket) plus Sprocket Chain 520 conversion along with the related stuff

SITTA 520 Sprocket Kits with Quick Changer (I will sell the chain that came with this Sitta Kit since I have the 3D Gold Chain):




Moto Corse Suspension Bracket and Frame/Subframe Bolts and Cover:


Beta Chain Removal and Install Tools:



Brembo 17RCS CORSA CORTA:



ILMBERGER Dashboard Carbon Cover and ILMBERGER Right Side Cover (the left side is still back ordered):




SPRINT F1-85 Air Filter:


Bonamici Racing Dashboard Cover and CNC Racing Screen Protector:


Continued below due to limit of 10 pictures per post...

 

[BMW Alpina]

Rizoma handle bar grip with CNC Racing ZERO SLACK throttle bar (like the Throttle Spacer but without that spacer)




Ducati Performance Rear MudGuard/Hugger (I sold the original carbon unit that came with my bike so I can have this one with the "Ducati Performance" Label on it).
Cannot let HKMP7 rocking "Ducati Performance Label" on his rear mudguard alone



Ducati Performance Carbon Generator Cover:


Ducati by Rizoma Front Axle Slider (which I temporarily install right away)


More coming in the next coming weeks, unfortunately 16RCS CORSA CORTA Clutch Master Cylinder is delayed until Fall/Winter 2020 and maybe be 1 more month for the Brembo T-Drive Rotors.
and of course some few more ideas coming soon

 

[HKMP7]

Ha ha awesome

 

[DucatiKev]

Just one question for @BMW Alpina
Are u doing all this work yourself or do you have a good friend that is a Ducati master mechanic???

 

[BMW Alpina]

Just one question for @BMW Alpina
Are u doing all this work yourself or do you have a good friend that is a Ducati master mechanic???

Hi DucatiKev,
I am going to do all this myself. I already bought the ABBA center stands to do this and also several Snap-On Torque Wrenches.
So I can save money on install and buy more parts
And of course, I will be very very very careful (unlike some "Master Pro Mechanic" who is chase by time) and if something goes wrong, I can only blame myself (which I usually pretty lenient since it is myself) hahaha

Here are some of my past (car) projects since I return back to USA:
My Front Brembo Gran Turismo 6 Piston Type III Rotor - Unofficial Honda FIT Forums
My JDM DISK BRAKE RS Rear Axle conversion - Unofficial Honda FIT Forums
My JDM Fit RS OHLINS Coil Over - Unofficial Honda FIT Forums
2013 Honda Fit Build Thread (Sony, Zapco, Dynaudio...

I also can do car alignment myself with the simple alignment tools, I have bearing presses, lot's of jack stands, OBD tools etc.
Oh, when I own my Aprilia distributorship, I also like to assemble Goodridge custom brake line for my customers and balance their wheel with the manual balancer, rehaul their front fork, tune their suspension, install Arrow's exhaust (which I also represent mostly for RS250/RS125 although sometimes for RSV Mille R too) but usually I let my mechanic do the engine work (with all factory Aprilia special tools) so this is again a trip down memory lane.

 

[DucatiKev]

Wow, I’m going to have lots of reading to do tonight!
thanks for giving me the full scope here, I don’t know why I was expecting a 1 word answer!

the snap on torque wrenches are supreme, I love the digital readout/notifications. Some of these bolts are only 3nm, must be careful with the beautiful magnesium

now I have another question, what car do you have your eyes on for your next car project? It’s interesting now because any car that is on par with your beautiful Ducati is probably at least $400,000

New 2020 Mclaren 720S For Sale in Philadelphia | Stock: #LW005403

View this New 2020 Mclaren 720S from McLaren Philadelphia in West Chester, PA. VIN: SBM14FCA0LW005403

www.mclarenphl.com

 

[BMW Alpina]

Wow, I’m going to have lots of reading to do tonight!
thanks for giving me the full scope here, I don’t know why I was expecting a 1 word answer!

the snap on torque wrenches are supreme, I love the digital readout/notifications. Some of these bolts are only 3nm, must be careful with the beautiful magnesium

now I have another question, what car do you have your eyes on for your next car project? It’s interesting now because any car that is on par with your beautiful Ducati is probably at least $400,000

New 2020 Mclaren 720S For Sale in Philadelphia | Stock: #LW005403

View this New 2020 Mclaren 720S from McLaren Philadelphia in West Chester, PA. VIN: SBM14FCA0LW005403

www.mclarenphl.com

Hi DucatiKev,
At this moment, I don't dare to think about getting nice car, and if someday I get one, maybe I just change the keychain on it I am too old now for this stuff, I think this Ducati projects is my last "Mid-Life Crisis" projects.
Back in 2008, I lost everything when the market crash, and have been trying to build my life back since then... I am still far behind though...

I now need to concentrate all the money I make on 2 projects (of course after I finished with this Ducati),

First project: my 2 sons, the oldest one just received his Valedictorian medal yesterday and going to college this fall, so I better prepare money when he is ready to transfer to good University.
my parents paid for my education at USC (that same one Lori Laughlin daughters school case mess up situation hahaha)... now if I want to beat my parents, I need to be able to send my sons to an even better school.
When I received this yesterday, this is the proudest moment I ever had in my life by far:


If right now, someone put a gun to my head and tell me to choose between my son's medal above and my Ducati, I will choose the medal above!!!
I can always buy another limited edition Ducati with money, but you cannot buy that Valedictorian medal at all
(hopefully that never happened, knock on Carbon Fiber)

Second projects: I really need to own my own business again if I want to buy all the cars that I used to have and hopefully I can start my own business in 2 years time... at least that is my goal.
Working for other people is so... 1930's hahaha

 

[DucatiKev]

So cool man, congrats! So no McLaren for a couple years???

school is crazy expensive now a day, I say it’s only worth going if your parents can write the check. Too many friends have more education debt than I owe on my house! That is a bad situation

what is your son going to study?

mall u need to do is open a disinfecting company, and you’ll be making record revenue

 

[BMW Alpina]

So cool man, congrats! So no McLaren for a couple years???
school is crazy expensive now a day, I say it’s only worth going if your parents can write the check. Too many friends have more education debt than I owe on my house! That is a bad situation
what is your son going to study?
mall u need to do is open a disinfecting company, and you’ll be making record revenue

I am a Chemical Engineer because I want to make my father happy and fit our family business.

So, following that tradition of making father happy, my oldest son will study Electrical Engineer and my younger son will study Mechanical Engineer because I am selling Robot now (and maybe related things in the future),
and both my sons wants to make me happy
Seriously, both my sons like those fields above, my oldest sons always glued to his computer learning Python Programming and compete worldwide, my younger son always glued to his computer too, with CAD program and then 3D print it on our Dremel 3D printer (and compete too). I have a subscription like relation with 3D printer filament supplier because of this hahaha.... but I am happy.
I actually need to tell them to get off from their computers to either work out (we have weight lighting equipment) or to accompany me watching news on TV.

I am very lucky and the only missing things in my life right now is just money...

From what I see in my area (Silicon Valley), unless you get a master degree (or decades of experience), you will not make it,...
and the reason why I survive so far is because I have my degree.
No matter how large the debt for education, it can be easily paid if you choose the right major and the right job.
Even if my sons end up having their own business, a Prestige of having a degree in engineering is worth it.

 

[DucatiKev]

The engineers are the practical ones. Think rationally instead of emotionally. The problem solvers.

Chemical engineer makes it sound like your username should be Dr. @BMW Alpina
totally cool man!

We were discussing super slick coatings for our bikes the other day and you mentioned ONE that costs more than 4x than the Gtechnique that (until now) I though was the best an at home detailer could acquire.
As a mad chemical scientist, would u say my new favorite coating is worth the big $$$??? As a consumer suffering with OCD I’m all abt it

 

[BMW Alpina]

The engineers are the practical ones. Think rationally instead of emotionally. The problem solvers.
Chemical engineer makes it sound like your username should be Dr. @BMW Alpina
totally cool man!
We were discussing super slick coatings for our bikes the other day and you mentioned ONE that costs more than 4x than the Gtechnique that (until now) I though was the best an at home detailer could acquire.
As a mad chemical scientist, would u say my new favorite coating is worth the big $$$??? As a consumer suffering with OCD I’m all abt it

Hi DucatiKev,
Not worth it at all in term of logic, in fact I think my favorite logically price ceramic coating will be this one: Ultra High Definition Ceramic Coating
It's manufactured by Autoglym, world known brand that had been around for decades and have ISO quality control in place: https://www.autoglym.com/pub/media/pdfs/ISO_9001_2015.pdf

However, I am doing this just to satisfy my hobby, sentimental reason and (not shy to admit) ego, so I don't want to be too logical in deciding which one I choose (although it can't be too illogical because I can't let my self become too stupid )

Back to logic, none of this companies (Kamikaze, Gtechnic, ceramic pro) really have large chemical manufacturing facility or world class research lab or a subsidiary of a large petrochemical companies to be able to create their own polymer compound.
These companies are basically just mixing polymer compound and maybe adding some additives or even small amount of dye (coloring)... , package it very nicely, market it well with fancy video and lighting effect and use fancy car which already have ultra high quality paint finish from their factory to begin with.
I am not sure if the owners of this ceramic coating companies ever take organic chemistry classes. (I did but I already forgot everything, since it was about 25 to 26 years ago)
I think what they did was call maybe (just for example) this company: https://www.dow.com/en-us/product-technology/pt-specialty-polymers-compounds.html
As the Application/Sales engineer there on which polymer is suitable for their coating application and then buy a bunch of variation then try to mix and match...

Like, if today, you want to make cleaning product, just go to Henkel, tell them you want to build a factory for cleaner, and will buy raw material from them and ask for advise on the right basic formula and Henkel would give them to you and you can start marketing and packaging on what is basically Henkel base material with your own dye (coloring), fragrance (for nice smell) and your own packaging and labeling and marketing... that is it.

Heck, I can even build a robot now, since I know where I can source the controller, servo motors, wiring harness, casting etc...

These ceramic coating products are all more on the "experience/life style" side. Take a look at the packaging of all this ceramic coatings... they make it look so luxurious which in turn make people already amaze even before they apply it. All of this claim their coating can last certain time of time like 12 months or 24 months or more but how do they justify it in controlled environment?

When you test rust resistant of a material, the standard is using salt spray test for example but there is no standardize test to measure the claim about these ceramic coatings. Beside different environment and climate will affect differently...
I know you like high end audio, and many times the tactic to sell high end audio is with the "packaging eye candy effect" of the equipment, but when we do double blind test, you might not be able to really tell the differences.

Ok, there are some videos where they use some small meters to measure the glossiness... but again it also depend on the preparation/polishing before the coating. And unless you use highly repeatable robot with super sensitive torque sensing equipped end effector to polish the sample plate surface (running close circuit to monitor the RA (Roughness Average) level while polishing), then how you can be so sure that the base plate sample coated with coating A have the same RA level during polishing as the other base plate that was one coated with Coating B?

These companies must make a lot of margin in each of their product. Even on distributor level, the owner of the Esoteric Car Care have nice fancy cars, and this product does not have the $ value of a capital equipment... maybe tops a few hundreds dollar per sale on average,... and I don't think he sell this car care products in the same quantity of Coca cola, so the margin must be very high for him to make that kind of money and sustain his operation.

But, sometimes, (like for this ceramic coating project of mine) I just want to throw away my logic, waste my money and be happy... I think wasting $1,000 on multiple coating and cleaner for this project is better than some other who waste even more in Drugs...Both make you feel happy, but one is harmless to your health I know someone took advantage of my "desire" and make a lot of money out of it... but it's ok.
So, I still going to choose the Kamikaze Zipang + Miyabi multi layer coating just because I want it due to the "desire" factor.

However, just to be sure, I am going to try to do a very good job during the "paint correction" preparation step so the result will be great, and I can say to my self (to justify my spending), this Zipang/Miyabi coating is really the best
Once in a while, for me, it's ok to play tricks on my brain, I just won't do it too much though hahaha