Seraph
28th September 2006, 15:34
As there don’t seem to be any threads on here about cleaning and polishing on here I thought I'd make one:beer:
When I first got my bike, the engine case was covered in a layer of dirt and oxidation, the paintwork was dull, and the front forks covered in stone chips and scum.
My first step was to remove the worst of the unwanted scum from the engine case using steel wool (I'm not too sure of the grade), scrubbing in a circular motion until bare Aluminium showed through
After the worst was removed I went on the hunt for something that was capable of restoring some of the shine, but also slightly abrasive to get rid of the tiny scratch marks left by the previous step, what did I find? A scotch pad! With a few drops of braso, this all but removed the light scratches and embedded dirt making for a rather spiffing shine.
But this was not good enough! It still did not look new! The final step was an hour of buffing with a soft cloth and braso, Now I can say, when I look at my engine, I not only see pride with the wonderful work I had done, I also see....myself :cool:
The same basic theory was applied to the forks. Except first, the stone chips etc were removed with some very very fine wet/dry sand paper used wet, followed by steps 1-3 as above, the same chrome-like shine was the result.
As for paint-work, "Repo Extra Cut Cream Polish" was used on a polishing cloth applied following the instruction on the tin, an hour of polishing rejuvenating the paintwork to almost new.
These steps lead to a nice, clean, shiny bike that you can be proud to say you own :)
P.S although manual polishing may make your arm feel like it's going to drop off, it's worth it in the end (and if your arm DOES actually drop off, just pop into your local hospital and I’m sure they'll only be too glad to sew it right back on! during the recovery time at least you won't have to be staring at a dirty, scum covered bike! :lol: )
When I first got my bike, the engine case was covered in a layer of dirt and oxidation, the paintwork was dull, and the front forks covered in stone chips and scum.
My first step was to remove the worst of the unwanted scum from the engine case using steel wool (I'm not too sure of the grade), scrubbing in a circular motion until bare Aluminium showed through
After the worst was removed I went on the hunt for something that was capable of restoring some of the shine, but also slightly abrasive to get rid of the tiny scratch marks left by the previous step, what did I find? A scotch pad! With a few drops of braso, this all but removed the light scratches and embedded dirt making for a rather spiffing shine.
But this was not good enough! It still did not look new! The final step was an hour of buffing with a soft cloth and braso, Now I can say, when I look at my engine, I not only see pride with the wonderful work I had done, I also see....myself :cool:
The same basic theory was applied to the forks. Except first, the stone chips etc were removed with some very very fine wet/dry sand paper used wet, followed by steps 1-3 as above, the same chrome-like shine was the result.
As for paint-work, "Repo Extra Cut Cream Polish" was used on a polishing cloth applied following the instruction on the tin, an hour of polishing rejuvenating the paintwork to almost new.
These steps lead to a nice, clean, shiny bike that you can be proud to say you own :)
P.S although manual polishing may make your arm feel like it's going to drop off, it's worth it in the end (and if your arm DOES actually drop off, just pop into your local hospital and I’m sure they'll only be too glad to sew it right back on! during the recovery time at least you won't have to be staring at a dirty, scum covered bike! :lol: )