How do I sort this out?

[Jngrbrdman]

I'll just let the pictures do the talking. It looks like peeling clearcoat of some kind, but I'm not sure what it is. What can I do to make this look better? If the solution is to replace the parts then I'm ok with that. I just want it to look as good as new if possible.





It is the only place on the bike that I have that kind of damage. It just sort of stands out when the rest of it looks nice and shiny.

[Brenton]

Uggh. Does look bad.
Perhaps use steel wool to remove the rest of the clear coat and create a dull, flat look. A friend did that with all his aluminum & chrome on his bik. It looked hot, and he brought back some of the shine on one part with 0000steel wool.
brenton

[CalgaryDetail]

My boss had the same thing on his bike. some bike guy told him to sand it off with emery paper. It should come right off. as far as i know its just a coating to protect the metal. It should come off and clean up no problem

[Tex Star Detail]

Ditto on the previous posts...
And if it screws up, just buy a new part....lol

[GearHead_1]

Very typical of 80's and a bit later vintage Yamaha. It's a clear coat and the only luck I ever had with making it look good again was to take it down and re-coat it. 0000# steel wool works fairly well though I'm sure fine sand paper would work equally well. The piece you are showing is pretty big.

[AL-53]

I would take the side covers off...strip them and polish them and re clear them...
I bought a side cover for my kids bike...and it was half the size of yours..and it cost 350.00..

I believe house of color sells clear coat for aluminum and magnesium..but use aircraft stripper to strip the paint ..found at any body supply or wal mart...strip them...polish them up and clear coat them...much cheaper...

also get new gaskets...

[Beemerboy]

on an older bicycle crank I had same thing happened I used 0000 steel wool to remove the clear, then polish your butt off and it will come back...however it will require a lot of attention to keep nice after that

[Poorboy]

Originally Posted by Beemerboy

then polish your butt off and it will come back...however it will require a lot of attention to keep nice after that

it will come back as others have said, but due to heat it will be hard to keep up unless it is re-coated.

[budman3]

Agreed on all of the above. I'm going to urge you against buying new pieces for a few reasons. Money, time, labor. The side cases hold most of the oil for the bike. So if you were to replace them, you'd have to drain all of the oil, take off the case, remove the old gasket (major PITA), put a new gasket on, etc, etc, etc. I think your best bet would be to do what you can with it while it's on your bike. You can sand it down to get it uniform or do the steel wool to shine up the damaged area. But then that'll be bare aluminum and you'd either have to polish it regularly or get it coated with something- which may mean removing them from the bike = not your best bet for the above reasons.

[Jngrbrdman]

Hmmmm.... It may not be worth that kind of effort then. One side is worse than the other and I think I'd rather have them match than have one looking not so bad and the other looking really bad. I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks for the tips! I've got a couple bike mechanics in my circle of friends, so I'll see what one of them might be able to suggest. If I can get one of them to take it apart and put it back together then it might be worth restoring the pieces. It's just a '95 so I doubt anyone is going to expect it to look brand new. Especially if this type of damage is as common as you say it is. Its good to know the details about this type of damage in case anyone asks me to fix it on their bike. Now I know it isn't something I can just polish off. Thanks!

[Jngrbrdman]

So let me get this straight... If I got some 0000 steel wool then I could clean up the parts that are exposed? That is something I might do this weekend at least. Most of the right side looks pretty good. The left side needs a little more love, but the side that has the most visibility and gets the most looks is the side I am really concerned about.



That part looks pretty good, so there isn't really any point in sanding it all down and restarting over. If I used the steel wool on just the exposed areas, then what would I need to do to maintain it so it doesn't get this nasty again?

[AL-53]

If you are going to do it on the bike ..I would strip the clear with a stripper...cover all parts that you do not want the stipper to get on...and then polish with 00000 steel wool and finish with a good metal polish like Maas or Wenol......the stripper will make fast work of the removal...sanding may leave a duller finish with sand marks...and steel wool may not remove the clear that easy..pretty durable stuff......

Al

[Poorboy]

Originally Posted by Jngrbrdman

then what would I need to do to maintain it so it doesn't get this nasty again?

It won't get nasty again , it will just get dull ...you'll just need to polish it often if you don't put another coat of clear on it

[Jngrbrdman]

Originally Posted by Poorboy

It won't get nasty again , it will just get dull ...you'll just need to polish it often if you don't put another coat of clear on it

Good to know.

So going back to the post above yours... Even though steel wool might be tough to remove clear with, on the parts that it is already just looking a little yellow and crusty it would still help make it look a little better, yes? That is my main concern right now. I just want to get the crusty flaky look gone and deal with keeping it relatively clean looking. If it was a more valuable bike then I might go a little further, but it is what it is.

[CharlesW]

You most likely have a chemical cleaner/polish on hand, right?
Very well might have some PB's Pro Polish even.
Why not try to polish some of the in between area where you have some clear and some bare aluminum. By polishing both, you could see how both surfaces react to the polishing and also be able to see how visible any differences might be.
Obviously, they won't appear identical, but the difference might not be terribly noticeable.

Unfortunately, the real fix is the same as for any clearcoat failure. Strip it, polish it, clearcoat it. Lots of work and time.

Charles

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