Aluminum case discoloration

[Anonymous]

Great resources for GS owners!! I have a 1981 GS750E that's been with me for 22 years. Sadly I have greatly neglected her cosmetically and have the problem shown on this web page. Anyone have an idea on what I am dealing with and how I need to go about restoring her to her original beauty. It's one thing for the 55 yo owner to look bad but completely unacceptable for her to be in this condition. Any and all comments appreciated.

http://users.adelphia.net/~wcroninger/gsresources/

Thanks to any who can offer a suggestion.

Bill Croninger,
Maine

[Anonymous]

Do a search for polishing tips. You are to the point of sanding out the corrosion and going from there.

[KGB]

I found this one, I think it came from here, awhile ago.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/5896/SatinLook.htm

[joe.d]

What you have there is the flaking off of the factory laquer on the cases use some varnish remover dont leave on to long....the stuff you put on with a brush use gloves....
once you have removed the old varnish the use some autosolve Crome cleaner and rub hard at the cases with your fingers its slow and its dirty work but your cases witll come up like mirrors eventually
some times there can be pits in the aluminium due to corosion this all can be removed with difernt metal polishes or compounds
good luck mate and happy polishing

[Anonymous]

CASE POLISHING

ONE WAY TO DO IT IS TO PULL THE COVERS AND HAVE A CHROMER POLISH THEM FOR YOU. YOU CAN COUNT ON THE COST BEING ABOUT 75% OF THE PRICE TO HAVE THE PART CHROMED. I JUST SPENT ABOUT 4 HOURS POLISHING THE LIPS OF THE WHEELS ON MY GS1150. EASTWOOD SELLS A NICE KIT FOR POLISHING ALUMINUM.

[robben]

As joe.d mentioned, it's the lacquer gone bad. Cleaned a set of covers on a Savage, and they looked as bad as yours. After using a paint stripper, I bought a bag of #0000 steel wool pads (reeaally fine steel wool) and polished them by hand with a metal polish - AutoSol. It was a lot of elbow grease, (literally hours apiece) but if you concentrate on a small patch at a time, you'll start to see results and not give up.

Some might cringe at using steel wool, but your lower left pic shows the contamination right in the surface of aluminum. Good luck.

Robben

[Anonymous]

My husband and I owned Star Chrome in Chgo for twenty years. It is the aforementioned laquer problem. Paint strip is a must. Taking it to the plater...or a respectable polishing shop is your easiest solution...but costly.
If you know how to polish and buff..and have access to equiptment...YOU"RE IN...Several polishings are necessary with different (finer and finer) polishing/buffing compounds. As for maintenance, I prefer a tube of the old Simi-chrome polish...and a LOT of babyblanket-type polishing cloths. then all it takes is ELBOW-GREASE,,,AND lots of it.

When I had my two 75 900 Kaws(Race and street bikes) I hand polished my cases so bright, people thought it was chrome. This was before I ever met the plater. I used Simi-chrome and elbowgrease..It used to cost $2.95 a tube. Now it's like 8 or 9 bucks!!!! Progress...ugh !

Hope this helps....pmint 8)

[Billy Ricks]

Simi-chrome poli is the best stuff I ever used. Once you get them polished a little work with the Simi-chrome keeps them looking great.

[robben]

Simi-chrome poli is the best stuff I ever used. Once you get them polished a little work with the Simi-chrome keeps them looking great.

And that's the main trick of it. Once you get them cleaned up, it doesn't take much to keep 'em clean. Just a little regular maintenance.

Me, I love my black painted engine... :twisted:

Robben

[Jay B]

Here ya go. Go to the Appearance Mod section and do a search. I posted this there and also a post about Caswell Polishing. Many people have used my method and ended up with great results as I did. The Caswell site will answer every question you should have. If it was me with all that pitting I would be heading for a salvage yard for a replacement, clean it up and then switch them out.

[Dink]

To save some time and elbow grease try wet sanding them with 1500 or 2000 grit "wet-n-dry" sandpaper first. Sand in one direction; I recommend across the case, then use metal polish rubbing in another direction; around the case, should give relatively quick results. I should have an idea I was a metal polisher.
Dink

[HiSPL]

Duncan, do you use a sanding block on something like this or just hold the paper in your hands?

[Dink]

Tim it really depends upon how intricate the piece I am working on is, generally I use a foam style sanding block.
Dink