Stripping & Polishing Fork Lowers

CitizenLee

A'up,

This is a bit of "thinking out loud" post so please bear with me...

I'm thinking about stripping the paint of my 2005 888 RC lowers and then polishing them up, with a view to then replacing the decals and getting the forks proffessionally rebuilt.

I saw a set like this on eBay and they looked amazing (check if you like, there's only a few sets of 888 on right now).

Before I start does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to do it?

All I can think of is Nitromors & steel wool, or even a wire brush drill bit.

My biggest concern with this would be the wire brush marking the metal... but then I could get some fine wet & dry sand paper to smooth them out I suppose.

Another concern would be getting Nitromors inside the lowers as I reckon that would be bad news. What would be the best way to mask them off? Nitromors will eat though masking tape and gaffer tape.

As for polishing... I was going to get a polishing kit for my Dremel and do it that way. The only problem is the contact area of the buffing bits will be quite small so it will take days to finish. Another option would be Autosol as that's pretty good for polishing things up.

Again, I was wondering if anyone had any other polishing suggestions?

Also, will I need to clear coat them once the polishing is complete? I know the lowers wont rust but to I dont want to have to keep polishing them to maintain their shine.

Finally, are there places that do this sort of thing for you? I'd happily pay for someone to do a proffessional job of it.

All hints / tips / suggestions welcome.

Cheers,

Lee

Steve_b77

If you're very careful with the nitromorse that'd be the best thing to remove the paint.

As for polishing, nothing mechanical required, start with relaitvley fine wet 'n dry and then work your way down to nigh on smooth paper. then use metal polish until it's proper shiney.

You could then key them very very lightly, apply your graffix and then clearcoat the metal. You can get some very kool pearlescent clearcoat spray that gives off awesome reflections depending how the light hits it.

Before you apply any clear coat jet wash the forks to make sure there is absolutley nothing on them that could contaminate the painting, make sure the room you spray them in is dust free and warm so you get a good finish.

This is how I used to do custom rocker covers for Honda DOHC VTEC engines.

CitizenLee

Thanks for the advice mate, that's a great help.

I like the sound of the pearlecent clear coat! I know the stuff you mean it does look awesome when done well.

One thing I'm unsure of is when you say "you could key" them. What do you mean by "key"

Sorry for sounding like such a noob!

Cheers

Lee

The Big Cheese

I *think* keying them means sightly roughing the surface to give grip for decals - ie with a very fine grade sandpaper. But I could be wrong - it has happened before!

CitizenLee

cheers Cheesey!

Steve_b77

Cheesey wrote:

I *think* keying them means sightly roughing the surface to give grip for decals - ie with a very fine grade sandpaper. But I could be wrong - it has happened before!

You be right 8)

CitizenLee

Cheers Steve

I reckon I'll do it over xmas when I have some time off work.