SuzukiSavage.com - PItted Aluminum

VOLKY YaBB Newbies Offline 2006 S-40 Boulevard Posts: 49 Florida Gender:	PItted Aluminum 09/06/11 at 12:36:31 I bought a used 2006 and the engine side covers are corroded (pitted). Is there anyway to get them smooth and shinned? or snaded them down and paint them. Any suggestions?
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EJID

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Re: PItted Aluminum
Reply #1 - 09/06/11 at 12:52:49

The problem is, the cases are covered with a clearcoat. And the clearcoat gets corroded/pitted causing corrosion. Some members have been able to use a chemical agent to dissolve much of the clearcoat and clean them up that way. Others have taken to the sanding route as well. As said other places, there's more than 1 way to skin a cat Grin

I've never stripped my cases Shocked

but I'm sure one of the other members who have will be willing to share the details.

Here's a good read on polishing aluminum http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1298262515

BTW, did you get your petcock/vacuum issue resolved?

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VOLKY YaBB Newbies Offline 2006 S-40 Boulevard Posts: 49 Florida Gender:	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #2 - 09/06/11 at 12:58:40 EJID: the shop is looking at the petcock issued and at the same time they are installing a new rear tire. I will keep you posted.
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Oldfeller--FSO Serious Thumper ModSquad Offline Hobby is now "concentrated neuropany" Posts: 12671 Fayetteville, NC Gender:	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #3 - 09/06/11 at 13:13:34 Yeah, like that shop understands what they are looking at. You just bought yerself another $80 stock vac petcock ....
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Routy Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2280 Winston Oregon Gender:	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #4 - 09/06/11 at 16:36:40 I started down the pitted aluminum road, untill I learned about fighting the heavy clearcoat. All of the sudden, I don't see those few pitted spots anymore OF, quit tryin to start a petcock war :
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phantom YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #5 - 09/06/11 at 17:05:15 I've been down the pitted road. My eng. is black except for the side covers. I removed the covers and inspected the inside, then removed the clear coat with paste paint remover. I then started with 00 steel wool and a heavy grit polish which I bought at a hardware store. It took sometime but rewarding. Have Fun! Phantom.
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #6 - 09/06/11 at 17:49:39 I helped polish a bell housing when I wa a kid,, wet sanding is not too bad, but some kinda wheel on a dril would just hafta be better.
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kernel ken

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Re: PItted Aluminum
Reply #7 - 09/07/11 at 08:37:30

My engine cases were a real mess. Very corroded. I stripped the clear coat off using a spray type I got at Home Depot. Also tried the paste type. It all worked pretty well.

After all clear coat was removed I sanded the pitted surfaces. I started with 1000 grit then went to 1500 and finally 2000. It takes a while to do it this way but it leaves a nice smooth surface. I put the cases on the buffing wheel as the finishing step.

I sprayed them with clear coat (also from Home Depot) to keep the shine. I've read here that some people don't put anything on them after the polish step. When they get a little dull they Wink

just polish them.

BTW, don't try to speed up the job by using a corse sandpaper to start off with. It'll take much more work to polish out the deep scratches ... trust me on this one.

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MotoBuddha

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Re: PItted Aluminum
Reply #8 - 09/07/11 at 12:23:29

I got Rustoleum Clear Coat Stripper at AutoZone. It's not as noxious as aircraft stripper and it works great. Spray on, wait a few minutes for the clear coat to bubble up, wipe it off. Repeat for the places you missed.

That's the easy part. The sanding is tedious and messy. And you discover a lot of spots Suzuki cut corners on surface finishing. I did every bright aluminum part on my bike, but it's what I wanted.

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mmosel Senior Member 2005 No Login Offline My bike is officially THUMPING now. Posts: 415 NW Oregon Gender:	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #9 - 09/08/11 at 03:14:01 Wow nice pics. I'm gonna have to do this sometime. My cases are starting to show weathering. The clear coat seems to be a bit of a pita. I'm not sure I'd bother putting another clear coat on them, if I polished them all up.
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ralfyguy

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Re: PItted Aluminum
Reply #10 - 09/08/11 at 04:40:53

Well I polished my clutch cover for the same reason, crappy clear coat.
Thing is, you have to protect it with car wax and watch that if it gets wet to wipe it dry as soon as possible. If you leave it wet for a few hours or so,it will already start pitting again. Then you have to polish again.
Other than that, with car wax on it it will stay nice looking for a long time. I redid mine several months ago, and it still looks the same.

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MotoBuddha Serious Thumper Offline Let's roll! Posts: 1416 Charlotte, NC	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #11 - 09/08/11 at 04:41:26 Bare polished aluminum will start to lose its shine after a while and need to gone over with polish again. That's not a problem with easily accessible parts like engine covers and fork bottoms. Wheel hubs are a different matter.
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splash07 Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 911 Charleston, SC Gender:	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #12 - 09/08/11 at 07:24:11 I am currently polishing as much aluminum as I can get to on my bike. I know that clear coating is one option but I also remember someone posting a link to a polish that also seals or something. Maybe Zimol. Anyone?
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splash07 Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 911 Charleston, SC Gender:	Re: PItted Aluminum Reply #13 - 09/08/11 at 07:40:46 found it Zoop seal http://www.zoops.com/index.php/zoops-car-truck.html?cat=488
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MotoBuddha

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Re: PItted Aluminum
Reply #14 - 09/08/11 at 09:18:59

splash07 wrote on 09/08/11 at 07:40:46:

found it

Zoop seal http://www.zoops.com/index.php/zoops-car-truck.html?cat=488

It looks like Zoops is out of business. I got frustrated with crappy site linked above, so I did a fresh search for ZoopSeal. I found this:

Zoop no more

A link in that forum post leads to ShineSeal, which sounds like it does the same thing.
http://www.shineseal.com/

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« Last Edit: 09/17/11 at 19:44:11 by verslagen1 »

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