Corrosion on lower fork tubes

[dbutton12]

My 08 has (had) corrosion under the clear coat on the lower fork tubes. I did finally find a product that will remove the clear coat without damage to the aluminum. The product is Martin Senour Paints #6802. However, it will not even begin to work until you heat both the fork tube and the remover solution....if you try it at room temps it just sits there. I heated the (caustic) solution by placing it in a pail of hot water (about 120 degrees) and used a heat lamp to heat up each fork tube to about the same temp. Do not get your face/eyes over the solution as you paint it on or you WILL be in pain.

After removing the clear I wet sanded the aluminum with 600 wet/dry paper and polished using a Dupont polishing compound on a small foam power polish pad. (can find those at Harbor Freight)

The final result came out great and I have NO intention of putting clear back on,,,,the polished aluminum looks great and all I have to do is give it a quick polish in the spring. I was tired of people saying "hey get the bugs off those fork tubes" because that is exactly what it looked like.

 

[Bobby K]

I did the same on my 95 T-Bird, but just sanded the clearcoat off. Will do the same on the Rocket if I have to take the forks off for some reason.

 

[Trirocket3]

I did mine with automotive nitromors paint stripper
Then mirror polished for some added bling.

 

[HansO]

Great info guys, I was wondering what I was going to do about mine. I am actually a bit annoyed because I had my fork lowers a triple clamps all replaced while under warranty and now it all happening again, they must of used a crap clear coat process as there are no stone chips to have comprimsed the coating

 

[TOMCAT]

Easy fix ... ride it more can't even see the bottom of the forks while in the saddle. Just see wear and tear as a sign a bikes a riders ride. Just my thoughts.

 

[HansO]

Easy fix ... ride it more can't even see the bottom of the forks while in the saddle. Just see wear and tear as a sign a bikes a riders ride. Just my thoughts.

yeah I know what you are saying but I like have my cake and want to eat it too.
I like to keep her looking good, about to head of up to Canberra for ride with Russel to go stir richard up ... nah just pop in and see him, at a losse end today so I suggested to Russ we might just go for little ride up there

 

[CanberraR3]

Was good to see you both, and especially good to see you're bike looking even better than before. That was a very nice sound coming out of Ruzzle's bike as you left.

Catch up soon down there. Gonna see if I can get SteveX and Kiwi to join me.

 

[bruce aussie]

I had the same problem on my new Softail 22 years ago so it don't look like the quality of clearcoating has improved much. Not really relevant here but the bloke's at Morgan and Wacker couldn't have been more helpfull. They offered to remove and replace the inner and outer primary, rocker covers, gearbox cover and cam cover or remove them and get them polished. I opted for the polishing wich looked great but was impossible for a bloke like me to keep that show polished finish. Strangely the lower fork legs never went to crap they got a hell of alot of stone chips but never looked bad enough for me to do anything about them.

P.S. The Triumph people could learn alot about after sales service from the Harley people or atleast here in Brisbane anyway.

 

[HansO]

Was good to see you both, and especially good to see you're bike looking even better than before. That was a very nice sound coming out of Ruzzle's bike as you left.

Catch up soon down there. Gonna see if I can get SteveX and Kiwi to join me.

Yes Ruzzles bike exhaust has a much nicer note now even a bit quite for the Ol Lair, I think it might even be quieter than mine

 

[TOMCAT]

P.S. The Triumph people could learn alot about after sales service from the Harley people or atleast here in Brisbane anyway.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps they will , now that Wackers are owned by the same outfit that owns Team Moto. Wackers lost over 60 years of spare parts experience when all the HD spares guys quit when the takeover was announced. Guys in the workshop reckon the Wacker family were awesome to work for as far as taking care of staff.. TM want their pond of flesh i've been told .Wackers have always looked after me as well. I worked there when i was 16 years old, bought my first Triumph , a '73 650 Tiger from them when i was 16 yrs and 10 mths old ... that 2 months till i got my Learners Permit was murder.