Just bought a 2009 S40 with 8000 miles on it and appears to be stock, I plan on leaving it that way for now. It has its share of rust and corrosion apparently from sitting outdoors. I’m going to be busy for awhile cleaning it up. There are spots of corrosion on the forks, triple tree, etc… I polished a few spots which came out fine but then there is anodize? on the parts which makes it impossible to match. I’ve read about several ways to take this off from sanding with 300grit then progressively finer sand paper to 1500, or oven cleaner or lye then polishing. I’m not sure which method to use, has anyone done this? Any advice would be appreciated.

I would take the clear coat off with aircraft stripper 1st.
Then go at it with the paper.

Once you have the clear off, put a green 3M scrubby pad on an orbital, kept slightly damp with a squirt bottle.
Then see about a higher quality clear coat than rattle can. Talk to the paint store that sells to body shops.

I use clear powder coat on silver jewelry that I make. It holds better on a brushed finish than it does on a polished finish. I think I will strip mine and do a brushed finish and some hand engraving and then a clear powder coat.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I’ve been working on it as I have time, experimenting a little. Fast 650’s works best for me. On the pieces I’ve taken off so far, paint stripers and oven cleaner won’t touch the finish and it comes off fairly easily by sanding. It has to be sanded anyhow to smooth out the pitting from corrosion. I didn’t step up in sand paper grit after 400 though. I found that a buffing ball made of scotch bright to get around all the curves works great to take all the sand scratches out. I followed that with polishing compound, mothers aluminum polish, then a stick of Jewelers polish? Not sure what it is I had it sitting around my garage so long the paper it’s covered with deteriorated. It looks like chrome after the last step. I kinda doubt if any paint type clear coating will stick to it for protection. I’ll cross that bridge when I’m finished with the task at hand.

yup, everything else is meant for stripping varnish off of wood.

for getting real paint off of metal you need aircraft stripper.

and it will tear the skin off of you too, so wear gloves.