Fork cleaning?

[Notty]

Whats the best way to clean these marks off ? taking the forks off is beyond my skills 

[seth]

looks like the lacquer has got water under it letting it corode .
it will only get worse over time.
good thing is it can be removed easily and then you can polish the forks .
or paint them and it does effect the fork operation.
i rubbed mine down and painted them with harmerite smoothrite metalic silver and look good again after painting.
suzuki did replace forklegs and outer engine casings on both our K6 due to the finish going poor very quickly.
the std finish is a let down on the gsx1400 but can be made very nice with a bit of work.
go follow barmy's teachings on the subject.
good luck 

[IanH]

Mine are the same....not heavily pitted but look a bit ugly.

I'm calling round at the Harley shop tomorrow with my wheels. I want to fit new tyres as mine are about 50% down so I thought I would see about having the wheels painted. They quoted me about £120 for both wheels stripped back completely and powder coated. Don't know if that's good or not but they strip out all the bearings etc in that price and then rebuild everything so I just have to put them back on.
I'm going to ask them how much to polish my forks as well.

[Andre]

Sounds like a very good price, but then prices are different depending where you live. If they sandblast, make sure they leave the bearings in until they are done with the blasting.

[gsxbarmy]

Its as Seth says Notty, water has got under the lacquer - so it depends what you want to do as to what action you take next. You have the following options!:

- Do nothing!
- Find some stickers which will cover the marks (or most of them) and cover them that way (some have put Suzuki stickers on their lower legs)
- Sand the lacquer back so its smooth and then paint them
- Sand the lacquer off completely and mirror polish them

The first 3 options are pretty well straight forward, if you want option 4, then I can provide guidelines - its about a couple of hours work.

Of the last 2 options, if you go for either of those, then I would strongly suggest covering the front/leading edge of the lower fork with clear Helicopter tape (50mm wide) which is readily available of eBay. That will protect the finish from future stone marks or whatever the elements may throw against your lower fork legs

[Notty]

Thanks Dave - bugger but I think option 4 

[Paulpmy]

Strip all off you can Geoff

Rub down with 800 wet n dry till your happy all marks have gone re prime then get a silver base cote and clear lacquer put plenty of clear on leave a day or so then rub em over with 2500 grit wet n dry

Then t cut a shine back in

Easy

[Hooli]

I did option 4 once, then I followed it up with option 1 for another nine years. You can't tell I ever did 4 now...

[gsxbarmy]

Thanks Dave - bugger but I think option 4 

In which case.....the best way to do this is with the front wheel out and mudguard removed
- sand off all the old lacquer. Best done using medium grade flapwheels (60 grit) for the flat parts (you'll probably need one per wheel), and a scotch brite coarse mop to do the hard to get at parts (for example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-2-COARSE-GRADE-SCOTCH-BRITE-LAP-MOP-ABRASIVE-BUFFING-WHEEL-RUST-REMOVAL-/172743979030?hash=item283857f016:g:2IUAAOSwqBJXVwHq). Using these will also get rid of the areas that have been affected by water getting under the lacquer.
- Once all the lacquer is off, then sand down each leg using progressively finer wet and dry (wet) - starting around 480 grade progressing through to 1200, or even 2000/2500 grade to get a very smooth finish. Doing this will progressively reduce the amount (and depth) of scratches, and provide a good basis for polishing. A squirt of washing up liquid in the water will help lubricate
- Polish up using 3" polishing mops to get a mirror finish. Commence with Brown soap on a coarse wheel, progressing to blue soap on a soft wheel. A kit like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Alloy-Brass-Copper-Metal-Polishing-Buffing-Kit-8pc-3-x-1-2-/291465774826?hash=item43dcb6c6ea:g:Pn4AAOSwYvFZLu6v can be used with a drill but be very careful of catching the fork leg with the centre of the ferrule
- Finish up with Mothers Mag & Alloy or Meguiars NXT All Metal polish to put that final shine on.
- Protect the leading edge with 50mm Helicopter Tape (optional)

Reckon on about 2-2.5 hours to do both legs.

[Mick_J]

There is an option 5, which I did last month.  Strip off the old lacquer and rub the forks down until smooth and even and apply a little polish to give them a shine.  Much quicker and easier.

[Notty]

Thanks Dave - bugger but I think option 4 

In which case.....the best way to do this is with the front wheel out and mudguard removed
- sand off all the old lacquer. Best done using medium grade flapwheels (60 grit) for the flat parts (you'll probably need one per wheel), and a scotch brite coarse mop to do the hard to get at parts (for example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-2-COARSE-GRADE-SCOTCH-BRITE-LAP-MOP-ABRASIVE-BUFFING-WHEEL-RUST-REMOVAL-/172743979030?hash=item283857f016:g:2IUAAOSwqBJXVwHq). Using these will also get rid of the areas that have been affected by water getting under the lacquer.
- Once all the lacquer is off, then sand down each leg using progressively finer wet and dry (wet) - starting around 480 grade progressing through to 1200, or even 2000/2500 grade to get a very smooth finish. Doing this will progressively reduce the amount (and depth) of scratches, and provide a good basis for polishing. A squirt of washing up liquid in the water will help lubricate
- Polish up using 3" polishing mops to get a mirror finish. Commence with Brown soap on a coarse wheel, progressing to blue soap on a soft wheel. A kit like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Alloy-Brass-Copper-Metal-Polishing-Buffing-Kit-8pc-3-x-1-2-/291465774826?hash=item43dcb6c6ea:g:Pn4AAOSwYvFZLu6v can be used with a drill but be very careful of catching the fork leg with the centre of the ferrule
- Finish up with Mothers Mag & Alloy or Meguiars NXT All Metal polish to put that final shine on.
- Protect the leading edge with 50mm Helicopter Tape (optional)

Reckon on about 2-2.5 hours to do both legs.

Thanks Dave - thats my winter project sorted !

[Notty]

Getting there !! 

[ARH]

Looking good!

[gsxbarmy]

Looking good Geoff! 

[lil4399]

Fancy popping over to do mine?