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Post by whiting101 on Aug 7, 2007 17:21:05 GMT -5
hi there all, does anybody know what the best stuff is to use to get the crap off my forks. It was obviously not cleaned very often by the previous owner. There is black sort of mouldy stuff all over it. anybody got any ideas of what i need?  cheers all ;D bonjour... matt |
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Post by hovis on Aug 8, 2007 14:49:28 GMT -5
Thats not mould mate its character  Hovis |
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Post by kipper on Aug 8, 2007 15:42:44 GMT -5
I think you're referring to aluminium oxide - i.e. corrosion! Stone chips get through the lacquer and salty water gets to the aluminium.
Cures - if you've plenty of time polish it out. then again. and again.
Or, polish it out then lacquer it. (clear spray paint).
It it helps my forks are in a similar state...
kipper
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Post by derbyshirebill on Aug 9, 2007 4:22:27 GMT -5
Hi Whiting. Mine were the same- the lacquer don't last for ever. I just dropped the wheel and mudguard and set to the forks with a razor blade type scraper. After getting it down to metal I used a couple of grades of wet-and-dry paper to smooth it out. I finished it off with Solvol Autosol metal polish. Unusually for Jap alloy, the metal takes a good shine. One the Solvol has been worked in, it takes little more effort to keep shiny. It don't look standard but I think it looks better. Cheers, Bill  |
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Post by Jake on Aug 9, 2007 9:34:41 GMT -5
Bill,
I may give this a try....
Saw a similar method in Ride or Bike magazine.
They recommended paint stripper to remove old lacquer, wire wool and wet-and-dry sandpaper. Then autosol to polish, followed by a new coat of lacquer....
Your method sounds simpler though....
Jake.
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Post by jimr on Aug 10, 2007 9:00:22 GMT -5
I have done the same thing on my old trusty Yamaha SR 500.
Off with the forks, use paint stripper, then polish on a large stationary drill with a cotton polish 'wheel' attached. You can by a stick of white hard polish that originally is used for polishing stainless steel. You turn on the drill, put on some of the hard polish on the wheel, then let the machine do the polishing. It gets really clean and shiny and if you give it a good layer of wax (I used AutoSol which makes it shine like crome) it will last some months before needing attention again. You could also choose to paint off course with a clear coat.
br.
JimR
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