Keeping Your ATV Shining
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Owners of all-terrain vehicles understand that because of the nature of the beast, their ATV is going to get dirty. Whether it is used as a utility vehicle on the farm, a recreation vehicle on the trails, or a racing vehicle on the track, dirt, or desert course, it is going to get messy. Also, probably ATV owners wouldn’t want it any other way.

However, then there are times when you want your pride and joy to look as shiny as it deserves. So you may rely on all purpose cleaners you can buy at the hardware store. Usually, these formulas fall short of achieving the best shine. No doubt you wonder why no one has come up with a substance that has been formulated to specifically improve the finish of ATVs.

Well, actually there is such a product. It is called Plastic Gloss, and it is offered by a company called Nova Fluids of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The owner of the company, James Anderson, owns an ATV, and he is passionate about it. He wants it to look good, and he has discovered that other ATV owners want their machines to look good, too.

So he came up with Plastic Gloss, a shine product. Once applied it acts like Teflon. Dirt and grime can be removed by simply spraying the ATV with water from a hose. He mixed the formula himself. The process evolved over time as he would keep improving the formula in the garage of his home and then test it on his compost --or recycling--bin. He had discovered that the material used for the outer portion of the bin is made of the same material as an ATV. “So I would come up with a formula and then test it out on my compost bin. As I improved the formula, I would test it on the bin. Eventually I had the shiniest recycling bin in the region.”