Fork tubes

[tinman905]

Here's what I was up to today .





I spent a few hours on these tubes,well the one on the left anyway.They are almost ready to coat I just haven't decided if I want to spray with clear or powder coat with clear. I did another set of fork tubes last summer but the clear coat didn't last very long.
Has anyone had their fork tubes power coated with a clear coat? Rattle can clear coat seems to chip and crack easily or maybe I did something wrong?

[Crazcnuk]

Paint is paint, it all chips. Even POR15 chips, after a while.

It's too bad there wasn't a 'dressing' you could put on aluminum once in a while, like there is for stainless.

From what I have read, here, most people say that if you clean it regularily it should stay fine. Most of the patina on our old bikes is because the POs never cleaned them it seems.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Tinman,

That fork lower tube looks awesome!!

I polished the custom aluminum Godzilla name badges I made, painted the recessed area with gloss black, and then painted professional grade with hardener clear coat over it while I was shooting the clear for my tank and other parts. IT flaked OFF of the polished metal very quickly!!

Due to the polishing, etc., the surface is very slick and so it's hard/difficult for the paint/clearcoat to STICK to it....IMHO! SO...I think once you've done this level...Xstreme type of polishing, that it'll be relatively easy to KEEP it polished now, so the clear would not really be needed!
T.C.

[crazy steve]

Powdercoat will stick very well to a smooth surface with proper prep, unlike paint. But you have to CLEAN the surface extremely well to get it to stick. With a casting like your fork tubes, after polishing wash it with acetone, then bake it at 500 degrees for about an hour to make sure any gunk boils out of the metal. Keep doing this until it wipes clean after cooling. Don't touch the part with your bare hand after cleaning. I learned all this the hard way; powdercoat is extremely hard to remove.....

But clear powdercoat also tends to 'dull' the polished finish and can yellow over time, so there's a trade-off involved.

I partially powdercoated some chrome items (a surface at least as bad as polished to get paint to stick to) and I had to buff off my 'mistakes'. No worries about bonding here.

'78E original owner

[XSPastor]

I'm with TopCat. No clearcoat needed. A good wax and an occasional touch up with some polishing compound would be plenty.

[drooker56]

What the heck did you use to clean them??? Mine have never looked like that and I have scrubbed them like crazy. Whats the deal, is there a magic cleaner or pad out there? Also any tips on engine cleaning and polishing?

[ossjughead]

nothing will STICK to them when polished like that better off leaving them and just give them a quick go over with mothers metal polish every once in a while

Nothing magical its 3 to 4 hours a side and lots of sanding to make them smoooooooth so you get a good shine

[slow mo]

hi ya tinman

Here's what I was up to today .





I spent a few hours on these tubes,well the one on the left anyway.They are almost ready to coat I just haven't decided if I want to spray with clear or powder coat with clear. I did another set of fork tubes last summer but the clear coat didn't last very long.
Has anyone had their fork tubes power coated with a clear coat? Rattle can clear coat seems to chip and crack easily or maybe I did something wrong?

as usual your tubes looks so much better than mine.. i,ll just keep rubing and see what happens;; take care buddy;; ride safe; slow mo!!

[tinman905]

What the heck did you use to clean them??? Mine have never looked like that and I have scrubbed them like crazy. Whats the deal, is there a magic cleaner or pad out there? Also any tips on engine cleaning and polishing?

I used white ,brown and then rouge polishing compound . I used a power drill with white and brown then rouge or red as I like to call it on a buffing wheel. About one hour for each tube.

[DeanR]

If you spent only a short time every now and then keeping them looking good, they will stay pretty much as nice as they are now. That's all I do.