Iridium visors or mirrors are probably the coolest looking visor out there and they come in some color variants that also look sick. However, there’s another side to the coin, it’s super easy to get scratches on this visor and it looks terrible with those scratches all over the visor.
That is why it’s a must to maintain your visor and clean it on a regular basis, along with the helmet itself.
So, if you get a new helmet with an iridium visor or a new iridium or mirror visor for your helmet. Or, it’s been a while you got that and you feel like this must be a good time to clean the visor. Cleaning it will eventually expand the lifespan of the visor, not to mention these aren’t so cheap. So, you gotta be extra cautious with these iridium visors.
First of all, I’ll tell you should check out the manufacturer guide before you start cleaning your helmet. Depending on the helmet producer and model, there might be some anti-fog coating or UV coating on the visor. You don’t want to ruin that and the last thing you want to do with your helmet is voiding its warranty.
So first, check out what the maker has to say about cleaning this shield.
And for Pinlock insert lens, detach it from the visor before cleaning it, or the anti-fog treatment might get damaged. You also need to know what you shouldn’t do at all to your precious iridium face shield. Otherwise, the shield might get damaged or you might end up with a visor covered with even more scratches than earlier.
You should absolutely avoid cleaning products containing ammonia or rough cleaning products. Even for the interior, you shouldn’t use anything more than mild shampoos or baby shampoo like Johnson’s or Cetaphil. And do not start wiping the visor surface with a dry paper towel or cloth, you’ll definitely get some scratches if you do that. Specially, if you own a sports helmet, you needs to be more careful about cleaning.
Before you start any cleaning that includes water or liquid cleaning agent, be sure to remove the electronics from your bluetooth helmet.
Instead, get some soft microfiber cloths you can also get a mild visor or glass cleaner if you want to. You need to wet all the hard dirt particles and bug guts from the outer surface of the shield. To do that, wet the microfiber cloth and let it sit over the visor. It’ll soften the dirt and bug guts from the surface. To learn more about that, check out our How To Get Bugs Off Visor.
Duh! Of course, you gotta detach the visor before or after you let the wet microfiber sit over the visor.
Now that the dirt particles on the visor are softened, wash it with warm water if the manufacturer says you are allowed to do that. And gently wipe the visor with a dry and clean microfiber cloth. Be further cautious, because you are dealing with an iridium one. It’ll take care of most of the cleaning and you shouldn’t really get ahead of yourself and apply the cleaning products if it’s already cleaned.
Yes, you can use some visor or glass cleaning products but make sure they don’t contain any ammonia. Or even petroleum-related materials and alcohol might ruin the visor. Such as when we are talking about an iridium face shield. And, for small size helmet, you need be careful, too.
You can use some visor or glass cleaning products but make sure they don’t contain any ammonia. Or even petroleum-related materials and alcohol might ruin the visor, especially when talking about an iridium face shield. Something like Muc-off Visor cleaner works great here. You can use this on a supermoto helmet as well, people love it!
So, there you go, I think this should take care of the cleaning process of the mirror visor as well as a clear or a smoked visor. And face shields usually have a decent lifespan if you maintain them on a regular basis.
Watch out if you use a dual-sport for a tour or adventure ride, they tend to get dirty real quick. Also, you can keep a portable CarbonKlean Peeps Cleaner kit with you always, this a thumb-drive like kit to help you in case of emergency cleaning.
So, take care of your helmet visors frequently and they’ll provide you decent performance. Take care and keep the wheels rolling!!