Painting fork legs

As I've finally got around to sorting out the fork seals on the GSX600F,
I thought I might as well sort out the paint on the lowers while they're
in pieces.

I'm guessing stripping off the remaining loose stuff shouldn't be a
problem, just stick a fine sanding disc on the angle grinder then use
the Dremel for the nooks and crannies, or something.

But painting it, I'm not sure about: aerosol? Spray gun on compressor?
Tiny little paintbrush and a pot of Humbrol enamel paint?

Also, what do I need to do to prepare the surface before painting? I
suppose that slightly depends on what sort of paint I'm going to use.

 

I wouldn't use a sanding disc and angle grinder.[1] The alloy's hellish
soft and it's easy to get unsightly gouges and nicks.[2] Nitromors
paint stripper is quicker and easier and doesn't damage the surface.
Wear rubber gloves! Then folded wet & dry paper takes care of the nooks
and crannies.

Then rub down the naked alloy with wet & dry, and give it a good blast
with contact cleaner and wipe it with a clean rag.

For painting, Sperex black exhaust paint gives a nice matt finish.
Aerosol Smoothrite gives a nice gloss finish. Your choice.

[1] Heresy! I know.
[2] Not BGN

 

Yeah, I thought about that. Some of it's already been sanded (I assume)
by the previous owner.

OK - I'm not sure it's worth stripping the whole lot, as a lot of the
paint is sound, as long as I can get it smooth enough so you can't see
the edges of the existing paint.

OK, I can manage that.

Well, I think they're meant to be "silver", so black exhaust paint is
out - Aerosol Smoothrite it is, then. Will one tin be enough for both?

Actually, the factory's just round the corner; wonder if they've got a
factory shop?

 

You will want to use an etch primer like this one
http://www.seamarknunn.co.uk/catalog/items/item655.htm

then go over the top with your chosen colour.

 

Enter a beach race, start at the back.

Should get the entire bike back to bare metal.

 

Smoothrite doesn't need a primer though, does it?

I was thinking of something fairly muted, actually.

 

Oh, right. I used silver aerosol Smoothrite on the swinging arm of
Jamie's DT50MX, and it gave a damn good finish. People have thought it
was a factory job.

 

Excellent.

Of course, the only problem with making the forks tidy is that the rest
of the bike's going to look even more tatty, but hopefully that
shouldn't be a problem for much longer.

 

The whole point of an etch primer on an alloy, is that it makes the
paint stick really well. I don't know if Smoothrite is the right sort of
paint for alloy, I suspect not.

Silver, or grey?

 

Hmmm... all the Hammerite info just says "metal", it doesn't make any
reference to a particular type.

Yes. Where "silver" equals "gloss light grey", rather than "shiny chrome".

 

I did a whole VW beetle in silver-grey Hammerite many, many years ago.
Looked as bas as it sounds, but it kept the rust together[1] and hid the
fibreglass[2]. This was also the only car I ever had which ran (after a
fashion) with a broken crankshaft.

[1] Until it finally failed an MOT in spectacular fashion[3]
[2] I rolled it two weeks after I got it. Knocked out the big dents and
covered the small ones.
[3] MOT tester puts car on lift, up it goes, puts lever under body,
levers up, body lifts off chassis. He said "Needs a bit of welding", I
said "Do you want to do it?" and he said "Jesus, no".

 

Shiny chrome, what a horrid thought.

 

You could ask zymurgy if the hammerite has remained on the forks of the
VTR I sold him. That was from an aerosol.

--

Paul.
CBR1100XX SuperBlackbird
BOTAFOT #4
BOTAFOF #30
MRO #24

 

*A* previous owner, please.

 

NOOooooo! Don't use an angle grinder. Even with a fine sanding disk it is
likely to remove too much alloy from the fork leg. Use paint stripper for
old paint. If there is lots of corrosion that can't be removed by paint
stripper then consider a brass wire brush in a power drill at fairly low
revs (assuming its adjustable). This will remove most of the surface crap
and do less damage to the soft alloy than a normal wire brush.

Tony

 

Aye, thought they'd been painted. And what was that gaffa tape aound
the fork seal. ?

I bought it sight unseen anyway, rightly or wrongly. But it had a good
rep. on the group ;-)

Paint still seems to be in place, But it's only been out a couple of
times in anger since I got it ..

Cheers

Paul.

 

That plastic protector thingy is broke, innit? You can't fit a new one
with the forks mounted, so I just taped it up.

--

Paul.
CBR1100XX SuperBlackbird
BOTAFOT #4
BOTAFOF #30
MRO #24