Bandit Alley
MODEL SPECIFIC => SUZUKI BANDIT 250 & 400 => Topic started by: Vidrazor on February 16, 2008, 06:59:11 PM
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Between having to park my bike on the street and not staying on top of keeping it clean, my B4 (not surprisingly) has developed some rust. For some reason it's only really developed mostly on the top of the fork area. I don't have the ability to rip the bike apart to clean it up, so I'm wondering what a good approach might be to get this stuff off. I know this stuff 'll be pitted and all, but I'd like to try and get this off as best I can. I thought about using Noxon, which will probably work pretty good on stuff like this, but it can do a mambo on aluminum if it hits it, and I'm not entirely sure what's not steel around there. The rust on the painted area is another problem. Any suggestions with any of this is appreciated, thanks:
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/vidrazor/fork1.jpg)
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/vidrazor/fork2.jpg)
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/vidrazor/frame1.jpg)
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/vidrazor/wheel.jpg)
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For any bare metal use a metal polish, e.g. Autosol but i dont know if you can get that where you are. On the stanchions maybe give them a rub with fine grade wet n dry paper after using some metal polish to take the worst off, then after wet n drying metal polish again to finish.
For the painted areas you could give them a wee sand but tbh the rust aint that bad so a coat of rust inhibiting paint would do it, example would be Hammerite but again i dont know if you can get that. You will be able to get similar products tho.
Take the forks out, its so easy to do and would make it so much easier to paint and sand.
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Consider a product called Penetrol - it's recommended for rusty surfaces and acutally bonds with the rust to stop it. You can paint over the top of it too.
PENETROL LINK (http://imex.com/catalog/flood-c.html)
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>>Take the forks out, its so easy to do and would make it so much easier to paint and sand.<<
Thanks for all replies. Unfortunately I don't have th e tools or workspace (or experience! :grin:) to do that type of stuff, hence me trying to poke as best I can around those spots.
Is Penetrol a clear-based paint? If so I could mix it with matching color touch-up paint from Colorite and kill two birds with one stone. It says on that site that it "inhibits rust on painted steel surface", but doesn't say it STOPS existing rust that way other rust stoppers (claim to) do.
Oddly, I ran across a water-based rust stopper here: http://tinyurl.com/2fllgg
I'm not sure if this is water-based or not: http://tinyurl.com/2by8ne
Any fast-working suggestions for the wheels? Someone recommended this:
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/vidrazor/pad.jpg)
While it basically works, it's tortuously tiring trying to polish up a square inch of surface area! I see Autosol is listed on ebay, et al, I'll have a look. A review of it shows it to be similar in effort to this stuff above, however. I wish I could put Noxon on the wheels, that stuff is incredible in it's ability to remove tarnish with minimal effort.
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For removing rust, you can use CLR. It, and most other rust removal products are Phosphoric Acid. The reaction changes the iron oxide, which is why you can paint over it.
Here is my suggestion:
Chrome Fork Stantions and lower triple tree - CLR or similar rust removal, followed by a good metal polish (I like Autosol as well) followed by a good coat of automotive wax. For areas you can wax easily, use some Pledge, or similar furniture polish.
Frame & Painted surfaces - CLR, then some zinc chromate primer, then your top coat, and after curing, some wax.
Wheels - mostly yours look like they need a good clean with soap and water, with a stiff brush. If you have stains that won't come off, try the metal cleaner, or if they really won't come clean, you can use some automotive aluminium wheel cleaner, followed by the Autosol, followed by some wax.
Generally, washing and waxing regularly will keep the "iron oxide" monster under control.
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Dude, it really is easy to take the forks out, if you have a socket set you can do it in about 5 minutes.
Tell you what, you'll have a hard time trying to sand your stanchions or paint your yoke with them fitted. Itll be a mess and youll not be able to reach half of it. Good luck is all i can say lol.
Dont use the like of autosol on your wheels if theyre painted btw, just metal surfaces cos its metal polish and its abrasive.
That stuff you posted a pic of above looks like an ok metal polish, is it the stuff that comes already on a pad? Try to get just the polish on its own then you can put it on a cloth and use it in all the awkward wee corners. Any motor factors will have metal polish, it aint hard to get. I dont think you need to get it on ebay.
On closer inspection of the pic some alloy wheel cleaner and a stiff brush would probably do for the wheel.
As for chemical rust remover, i wouldnt bother id just sand or paint or polish depending on what part it was.
As for
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Dude, it really is easy to take the forks out, if you have a socket set you can do it in about 5 minutes.
You have to have some way to support the bike, tho...
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You have to have some way to support the bike, tho...
Put the bike on the centre stand and throw some 2 x 4s under the pan. Once the front wheel is off all the weight moves to the back... Ghetto but it works.
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You have to have some way to support the bike, tho...
Put the bike on the centre stand and throw some 2 x 4s under the pan. Once the front wheel is off all the weight moves to the back... Ghetto but it works.
Ah! I never owned a bike with a center stand so I forget about it. (My B4's was removed by a PO)
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Not sure about the height of the 400, but i've found that a lot of bikes rest nicely on a milk crate, this is of course if you don't have the centerstand or don't want to use it.
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>>Dude, it really is easy to take the forks out, if you have a socket set....<<
And a space to do it in. Not sure about 5 minutes, either. :wink:
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Well, it definitely takes under ten minutes lol.
Take off Mudguard
Remove Wheel
Unbolt Caliper and tie up
Loosen yoke clamps and slide out forks.
Thats all there is to it.
As for supporting the bike, i just put a wooden block on a jack under the downpipes, but my bike stays up without that lmao it just wouldnt be as steady and im paranoid lol
And you dont need space to do it, anywhere you can park the bike is fine u just take the wheel off and set it to the side then slide the forks out and take them away doesnt take up much room like.
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look for new forks, need a long bread bag to put seals on them lol
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look for new forks, need a long bread bag to put seals on them lol
That's the funniest shit I've read in a while. Pure jokes. I'm still laughing.
There are a set of forks on EBAY for cheap.
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I spotted rust on my Bandit this weekend. It really came out of nowhere. The bike has been garaged all winter and covered. I went out for a ride about a week and a half ago when the weather finally broke into the upper 50s. Maybe the residual salt on the roads caused it? I can scrape it off with a fingernail so I don't think there is any permanent damage, but I'm leary of it coming back. The only areas affected are the upper part of the forks and the handle bar. Will cleaning it and polishing it be enough to keep it from coming back?
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If you can clean it enough to remove ALL traces, you stand a chance, otherwise, it'll keep coming back and you'll have to start over again.
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orionburn get the metal polish to it, and get it off quick or itll pit the metal
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It's tough, but wipe it with CLR, clean it with polish, and then keep it well waxed. That will slow it down...once the chrome/nickel plating is pitted, the rust will likely keep showing up.
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Despite being in the 30s last night and trying to snow I managed to wash the bike and get it cleaned off. Didn't have any CLR at the house but used some of the chain cleaner I had and it helped, then scrubbed it down with soap and water and dried it off. Still need to get some polish & wax put on, but looks like it'll be ok. No permanent damage or pitting.
Just glad I had to move the bike out of the garage the other day. The way the weather has been again it may have sat untouched for another week or two.
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this is more than likely from years of bug juice splatter not being washed off among other things acid rain, salt, hell lets just blame it on the ozone. :motorsmile:
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Well the weather was finally nice enough for me to hunker down and get cracking on this. Someone over at sporttouring.net suggested using 000 fine steel wool with CRC or WD40. Man, that works great! I only got a chance to try a small area on the forks, but it worked like a charm. Got some tiny pits in there from the rust, but I can live with that, I'll just stay on top of that from now on.
What really surprised me is how well it works on the painted wheels. I was a bit leery at first, but if you're careful and use a good amount of lubricant it just blows the oxidation clear out of there in no time. It's would've taking me ages using wheel polish. I'm gonna try it on the rusted areas behind the fork on the frame to see how that goes. Once I get most of that off I'll treat it with a rust sealer and spot paint the area.
The only real problem area seems to be the gold on the front disk. I was trying to take the rust spots off it, but only the paint was coming off! Not sure why that was, as the steel wool was working like a charm everywhere else. I'm going to have to have a bit more finesse with that area.
So far I've done mostly the lower part of the bike. Gonna work my way up during the week. That steel wool is a chore saver. I don't feel so bad about tackling all the rust and grime that's built up on my bike now. This thing is actually going to look respectable again! :grin: