Will it polish...

3488 Views 32 Replies 15 Participants Last post by BigJohn141, Jul 3, 2010

BigJohn141

Discussion Starter · Jul 1, 2010 (Edited)

2

Here is the link to the polishing thread.

http://www.furyforums.com/forum/fury-diy-area/3827-guide-polishing-parts-fury.html

Well after going for a ride on the Fury for the first time in a week I was about to put her in the garage whn a idea popped into my head. I was standing there looking at the front of the bike at all the shinny pieces when my eye just kept going back to those two big dull fork tubes. Now I am no stranger to polishing things, I polished my frame and various other parts on my hayabusa one winter and that was no easy task. Anyway I grabbed a 4" buffing wheel, some white rouge and tried a spot on the very bottom to see what would happen. Low and behold after just a few seconds of polishing a shine started to appear on the tube, so the answer is YES it will polish. I also tried a little spot on the wheel (can be seen as a white spot in the 2nd pic) and with some stiffer polishing wheels I have I believe they will polish too but that might be a winter project, I havent decided yet. It seams that the finish on both parts might just be some sort of spray coating with will make the job so much easier.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, I will get better ones when finished. You can see the large spot I managed to get in a matter of a minute or two...
The black spots on the wheels are polishing compound from the buffing wheel.

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1 - 20 of 33 Posts

mental

· #2 · Jul 1, 2010

Yes the lower forks are coated to give it a brushed look and then clear coated. This is really interesting, could you keep track of the time it takes you to polish the lowers, problems, and material used, process, and post with results pictures?

BigJohn141

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 1, 2010

Not a problem. From the looks of it, it shouldn't be hard to do at all.

Snuffdog76

· #4 · Jul 1, 2010

I chromed mine. Didn't like the dull look either.

BigJohn141

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 1, 2010

I thought about chroming mine too but decided to try this first. I will work on getting pics and a write up tomorrow or friday.

Dave Maher

· #6 · Jul 1, 2010

What did you use to polish through the clear coat on the front forks? Now that the clear coat is no longer I would suspect this would be a weekly polish job on the forks to keep them from tarnishing unless you clear coat them again.

phlaug

· #7 · Jul 1, 2010

Dave Maher said:
Now that the clear coat is no longer I would suspect this would be a weekly polish job on the forks to keep them from tarnishing unless you clear coat them again.

I was thinking along the same lines as Dave. It will be interesting to keep track not only of how long it takes you to bang this out, but how well they hold up if you don't apply any sort of coating.

Thanks! and good luck!

mental

· #8 · Jul 1, 2010 (Edited)

While talking to my chromer, he stated that the alloys used by Honda are top notch, which means they have low impurities and are tight grained and has low porosity. Same with the rims. A simple coating on these of Plexus or Pledge, which has a small amount of wax should do. Spray on, wipe off.

Richard1

· #9 · Jul 1, 2010

Not to change the subject, but did Painter ever get his forks straightened out? Remember it appeared the clear coat came off with his reflector. Where’s Painter been anyway?

mental

· #10 · Jul 1, 2010 (Edited)

Already sent PM to alert him of this thread. Never worked out from what I know. He could not find out the brushed coating they used. He was just going to chrome them off season.

BigJohn141

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jul 1, 2010

When I polished the frame on my last bike people said the up keep would be bad also but I applied more metal polish (by hand) to it about once every 3 months or so and it really didnt need it then. Seeing how the forks catch a lot of bugs and some brake dust, I will probably seal them with Zoop seal or a simular product.

Texas Fury

· #12 · Jul 1, 2010

All most all of your quality polishes have wax in them now a days.I use the blue Mothers polish on my fuel tanks and wheels as well as all the shiny parts of my rig and a good polish will last me 5 or 6 months before I re-polish the truck.That's through all kinds of weather and road conditions.I have a 18 inch chrome drop bumper that kills many bugs and the wax in the polish makes it very easy for cleaning them off.I know there's a big difference between forks and my rig but a quality polish should be all you need,I don't think getting it re-clearcoated would be necessary.

BigJohn141

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 1, 2010

I am going to leave them raw for now just to see how they react to the conditions. I think I am going to do the wheels too but coat them with Sharkhide when I get finished, I have heard lots of good things about the product.

Painter

· #14 · Jul 1, 2010

Richard1 said:
Not to change the subject, but did Painter ever get his forks straightened out? Remember it appeared the clear coat came off with his reflector. Where’s Painter been anyway?

Not yet, haven't had time to do much of anything but paint and ride. WHAT A GREAT THREAD FOR ME!!!! Now I can't wait to polish my forks! Just waiting now on the specifics of how it is done.....

HURRY UP AND POST AND EVERYONE WILL BREAK OUT THE POLISH!!

PS. Thanks Mental for the Head's Up!

No time to post much but check in everyday to get my Forum Fix.

Getting rid of the lollypops tonight and installed a Memphis Shade last night cause I got real tired of the Bugs, Bees, Birds, Rain...etc...

Keep em coming guys. What a great Forum here!

Dave Maher

· #15 · Jul 1, 2010

Painter said:
Not yet, haven't had time to do much of anything but paint and ride. WHAT A GREAT THREAD FOR ME!!!! Now I can't wait to polish my forks! Just waiting now on the specifics of how it is done.....

HURRY UP AND POST AND EVERYONE WILL BREAK OUT THE POLISH!!

PS. Thanks Mental for the Head's Up!

No time to post much but check in everyday to get my Forum Fix. Getting rid of the lollypops tonight and installed a Memphis Shade last night cause I got real tired of the Bugs, Bees, Birds, Rain...etc...

Keep em coming guys. What a great Forum here!

Hey Painter, I always wondered how you made out with your forks and what the caused the problem but I thought I missed the thread. Nice to hear from ya.

RedspawnSilver

· #16 · Jul 1, 2010

Dave Maher said:
What did you use to polish through the clear coat on the front forks? Now that the clear coat is no longer I would suspect this would be a weekly polish job on the forks to keep them from tarnishing unless you clear coat them again.

Interesting, I would love this write up! Hate my forks and my rims... anyways, I read in a magazine when I was on an airplane about a guy that didn't put any paint on his whole bike to give it that old school look. Anyways, he would often treat it with WD-40 to keep the rust down or to slow the rust down, however you want to look at it.

Maybe another idea would be to polish these out, then put a layer or two of clear coat on top to inhibit the rust and the fading... don't know if that would work... but it sounds logical in my head anyways.

Schmud

· #17 · Jul 1, 2010

I am also interested in this write up! Of course I'm always interested in the free and cheap mods

woodenhorse

· #18 · Jul 1, 2010

Schmud said:
I am also interested in this write up! Of course I'm always interested in the free and cheap mods

right there with you on that!

Snuffdog76

· #19 · Jul 1, 2010

The polishing will definitely save money over chroming. When it was all said and done with labor and seals and stuff I spent around 800.00 for them.

Dave Maher

· #20 · Jul 1, 2010

Snuffdog76 said:
The polishing will definitely save money over chroming. When it was all said and done with labor and seals and stuff I spent around 800.00 for them.

I was thinking the exact same thing.It will cost me $500 around her to have the front forks I have now swapped out with chrome ones with the exchange program and polishing them up might just work out a little better on the wallet. I'll have to keep an eye on this post for any updates for those who do this as I'm very interested in what time will tell to the upkeep and condition of the forks for this upgrade.

1 - 20 of 33 Posts

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