Sliders done

[Grahamir]

So guess what I did for most of the weekend and some!! Finished and ready for new sliders/oil and the like on Wednesday. New tyres on Wednesday also. Hydraulic oils to be re-placed, brakes to clean, lost track of the number of latex gloves . . . . . .

[Mister Fishfinger]

They look really nice. What was your process to get them into that condition?

[grog]

Well done mate. Mine will need a re do soon, polish or paint? I can do either, not sure. I dont find polished bits a chore at all, but also thinking of Hammerite coat same as my crash bars. Sleepless nights thinking.

[Sweaty]

Great job 

[Suzuki boi]

Looks as good as new

[seth]

Nice job
They came up well

[Grahamir]

They took lots of elbow grease using 800, 1200, 1600, 2000 and 2400 emery with plenty of WD40. I'm leaning towards ACF50 rather than lacquer for protection, but open to suggestions.

[Mister Fishfinger]

ACF50 is brilliant, but you have to keep it away from the brakes.

I wouldn't ever lacquer them again. The stone chips always get through eventually and the corrosion lifts the lacquer up so it ends up looking like your "before" picture.

[gsxbarmy]

Lacquer is not an option - now you have mirror polished them the lacquer has nothing to adhere to (as the surfaces are now perfectly flat), hence flakes off quite soon after being applied.

All you can do now is either not ride it in the rain, or carry a micro fibre cloth under your seat and wipe them over when wet to remove moisture (as small rain drops will stain). To keep them sparkly, use Meguiars NXT All Metal polish or Mothers Mag and Alloy polish, applied with a make up remover pad and buffed off with a clean micro-fibre cloth. You'll need to do that about once a month to keep them looking that way.

What you could do instead to protect them is put helicopter tape (look it up on eBay) across the leading edge of the slider - some 50mm wide tape will do nicely. This stops dirt and stones hitting the alloy and keeps the brightwork underneath nice and clean (helicopter tape is used on the leading edge of helicopter blades, also on the sills of cars to stop scratching etc)

[Notty]

Look great  did mine and as Dave suggested I use Meguiars NXT All Metal - a damp cloth now and then -   I don't ride in the rain so no stains 

[turner]

looking good, nice and shiny

[Milts]

Excellent job!      That's another item on my wish list....... thanks for that