Hey guys I have a bunch of build up on my front forks... I have tried to buff it out/ Scrub it/ Credit card/ CLR/ WD-40 and this nuts will NOT come off. If anyone has had this problem before or knows how to get rid of it that would be so tight. Heres what it looks like

Yes,.. the oxidation is happening under the clearcoat...  You'll buff the clear off before you get to it...

If you dont coat it, it will oxidise. & develop that calcified look.

I have exactly what you have, and started doing exactly what you want to do, but fear and common sense,......and help from the crew here, made me decide to leave it alone before I really screwed it up !
If I had wanted a brand new perfect looking bike, I should have bought one

aircraft stripper pulls it right off with out work.
then buff, see the tech section, couple of posts on that.

verslagen1 wrote on 07/09/10 at 18:22:03:


+ 1 for the use of chemical stripper I used it on my side covers and it works amazing ... The kind I used was actually a fine furniture stripper but it worked so easy it is a shame anyone would try to sand it off.   The way I used it was brushed it on waited around five minutes and wiped it off easy as pie ... I followed that with a felp wheel on a dremel tool and lastly with some Blue Magic metal polish.

Use a mild stripper to take off the clear coat.  

Me, I don't like to use normal caustic paint stripper because it discolors the metal underneath making more work for later polishing steps.  

You notice the boys keep saying "air craft stripper" but where do you buy such like stuff out in normal land ????  

If you can't find air craft stripper just get some 320 and 400 wet or dry sandpaper and use the 320 to remove the eat up clear coat and get an even appearance to the aluminum corrosion underneath.

Keep sanding with the 320 over a few weeks until you have it all off and the surface seems stable, then switch to 400 until the surface gets nice and smooth and shiny looking.

Here's the trick, the same old piece of 400 will  begin to polish after a while as it wears out.  And you will find that "polish" quickly becomes keeping an even small pattern of scratch marks in the same grain orientation that appeals to your eye while removing oxides and ugly spots.

Once it looks right to you, mask it in place and paint it with a clear rattle can from Wal-Mart auto section.



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Bill's method given below would only take 2-3 weeks worth of of endless rubbing to go nowhere, so normal people will want to stick with the fine fine 400 grit sandy side .....

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 07/10/10 at 00:26:42:


I'm pretty sure using ANY mechanical abrasives will be much more work than using a substance designed only to remove what you want removed.  Also getting even sanding in small nooks with sandpaper is next to impossible.  The factory surface under that clear is almost perfect if you don't go and scratch it up ... YMMV