Aluma clear

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I would like to know also

Aluma clear
Aluma clear
 
Haven't tried that one, but those I have tried didn't work well for highly polished parts. The buildup of clear takes away from the shine. Some of them turn white and cloudy. There was one called Zoop Seal that was very popular with the rice boys for polished rims. I tried that on my timing cover and all I got was runs and sags.

Try it and tell us if it works...
I need to keep this shiny:

Aluma clear
 
I use wax polish, tried clearcoat and it only last 6 months before looking worse than before.
 
I agree with the polish and wax set.
Finishing with carnauba wax (the hard stuff in a tin) gives the best, long lasting result for me.
Clear coats seem to work well on new cars' wheels but maybe they don't see the temperatures?
 
Triumph deliberately did not coat the alloy on the new 1200 series engines. They felt the need to include a warning about this in the Owners Manual. It explains that the cases will require cleaning with aluminium cleaner. Those of us who grew up with bare alloy cased bikes already know that well, but Triumph has a lot of younger customers who aren't familiar with metal cleaning and polishing.

I guess not everyone read the owners manual as some got very upset with corrosion that occurred when using the bikes on salted roads in winter, no daily cleaning. With bare alloy, daily cleaning is a must on salted damp roads and it needs to be thorough.

These disgruntled owners wanted ( and some received) warranty coverage on what was actually their own lack of maintenance!

Triumph did coat the alloy wheels with a clear coat and it seems to be standing up well. It doesn't look as nice as bare polished alloy somehow.


Glen
 
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I got some of the California Custom Purple metal polish along with their "Deoxidizer" pre-treatment. It does a great job on aluminum with much less effort than Simichrome, etc and has not dulled at all. Surprisingly good stuff! I don't think any plasticky coating is needed.
 
Aircraft Spruce metal polish in big tins is the best I've found.
They came up with the recipe when restoring a DC3. Now that is a lot of alloy to polish!
Also works well on chrome and will remove exhaust blueing if you are patient.

Glen
 
worntorn said:
With bare alloy, daily cleaning is a must on salted damp roads and it needs to be thorough.
Click to expand...

Drip some sweat onto your primary cover and see how fast it turns into an etched white spot. Salt water is quite corrosive.
 
worntorn said:
Aircraft Spruce metal polish in big tins is the best I've found.
They came up with the recipe when restoring a DC3. Now that is a lot of alloy to polish!
Also works well on chrome and will remove exhaust blueing if you are patient. Glen
Click to expand...

So was a RAF Lighting which I saw a single white male polishing at Duxford 20 odd years ago. . . .
 
edgefinder said:
I saw this ACF-50 recomended on a Lotus forum but I haven't tried it yet.
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/cata...MIi-uOysvR5wIVA9vACh0dDQxkEAYYASABEgJpkPD_BwE
Click to expand...
I have been using ACF-50 for about 8 years now and it is great stuff at protecting against corrosion.
It is not, however, good for maintaining a "highly polished" look.
It will creep in and stop corrosion in nooks and crannies, like around timing case screws - I use it in applications like that.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I find good carnauba wax will keep shiny shiny.

So I think there are 3 things needed here.
1. something to make the alloy shine (I'm going to try that Aircraft Spruce stuff that Glen mentioned in reply #9)
2. something to stop shiny stuff going dull quickly (carnauba?)
3. something to prevent corrosion in corners you can't polish (ACF-50?)
 
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robs ss said:
So I think there are 3 things needed here.
1. something to make the alloy shine (I'm going to try that Aircraft Spruce stuff that Glen mentioned in reply #9)
Click to expand...

For stationary parts I've used Mothers or Autosol. But I'm gonna give that purple stuff another try. Whenever parts get removed, they get treated to the buffer with pink compound:

Aluma clear

Primary cover being one of those:

Aluma clear

Less accessible parts have been chromed on my bike. Z-plates and muffler brackets for example.

Aluma clear


2. something to stop shiny stuff going dull quickly (carnauba?)
Click to expand...

As in car wax? I'll try that next season.

3. something to prevent corrosion in corners you can't polish (ACF-50?)
Click to expand...

They'll still have to be cleaned first. Screw holes on the timing and gearbox covers come to mind.
 
If it was good enough for my mammy since 1958, its good enough for me.

Aluma clear
 
Time Warp said:
If it was good enough for my mammy since 1958, its good enough for me.

Aluma clear
Click to expand...
Yea, great for her INDOORS, but will it protect against the sun, rain, snow and salt?
If it does, what kind of a hovel did your granny live in? ( she must have had some really big holes in the roof) . . . . Dam, I cannot post a smiley e mo! :)
 
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Time Warp said:
Sounds like you are describing the UK so no wonder there is mass emigration to the land of milk and honey.
Think of all that polishing ]
Click to expand...
Not wrong there, hows the air in your part of the world now the rain has put most of the fires out?
 
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