Stainless steel fenders?

Chester · May 4, 2011

Hi Gents '74 MKIIA

I took my fenders in to get chromed (originals) and the fellow at the chrome pit said that they are stainless steel.
He seemed almost a little ticked off because he would just be polishing now instead of the $$ for chroming.

Took them to a neighbor welder and he stuck a magnet to them saying magnets don't stick to stainless.

What the............????

Have you guys been in theis situation?

bwolfie · May 4, 2011

Most grades of stainless are magnetic. It's only the highter grades that are not. Low grade stainless will eaven corrode.

pete.v · May 4, 2011

Chester said:
He seemed almost a little ticked off because he would just be polishing now instead of the $$ for chroming.

Let his disapointment be your fortune. Polished stainless fenders is truly a classic Norton look.
I got a set of ss caliper piston and was also confuse that they too were magnetic. All is well.

stockie2 · May 5, 2011

Well they are stainless, 316 grade does not attract magnets, but 304 does, so I would guess the Commando guards are some grade in between. And yes they do polish up nice, with the right grade of polish compound.
Triumph's of the era were chromed, but not he Commando.

Cheers Richard

Mr Bean · May 5, 2011

Up to around the '72 model they were chrome - i think it was the '73 models first had ss.

maylar · May 5, 2011

Some chromers will chrome stainless, some won't. I just had the front fender of my '74 850 rechromed after having been dinged in a fall. It came out beautiful.

Stainless polishes nicely but it scratches much easier than chrome.

Cheesy · May 5, 2011

stockie2 said:
Well they are stainless, 316 grade does not attract magnets, but 304 does, so I would guess the Commando guards are some grade in between. And yes they do polish up nice, with the right grade of polish compound.
Triumph's of the era were chromed, but not he Commando.

Cheers Richard

Are you sure about that? 304 and 316 are very similar, in fact noways most people would struggle to tell the difference between 304L and 316.... 304L being a low carbon version of 304.
The ferritic grades are magnetic... 3Cr12 etc
The martensitic grades are magnetic and hardenable 420J etc
The Austenitic grades are not hardenable and are not magnetic 304 etc, these tend to have good corrosion resistance
The duplex grades are a mixture of ferrite and austenite, 2205 for example is magnetic but others may not be. 2205 for example has about twice the yield strength of 304/316 and generally better corrosion resistance, in NZ its actually cheaper as well (less nickle)

swooshdave · May 5, 2011

Cheesy said:
stockie2 said:

Well they are stainless, 316 grade does not attract magnets, but 304 does, so I would guess the Commando guards are some grade in between. And yes they do polish up nice, with the right grade of polish compound.
Triumph's of the era were chromed, but not he Commando.

Cheers Richard

Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? 304 and 316 are very similar, in fact noways most people would struggle to tell the difference between 304L and 316.... 304L being a low carbon version of 304.
The ferritic grades are magnetic... 3Cr12 etc
The martensitic grades are magnetic and hardenable 420J etc
The Austenitic grades are not hardenable and are not magnetic 304 etc, these tend to have good corrosion resistance
The duplex grades are a mixture of ferrite and austenite, 2205 for example is magnetic but others may not be. 2205 for example has about twice the yield strength of 304/316 and generally better corrosion resistance, in NZ its actually cheaper as well (less nickle)

I now know more about stainless than I ever thought I would. :mrgreen:

Cheesy · May 5, 2011

swooshdave said:
Cheesy said:

stockie2 said:

Well they are stainless, 316 grade does not attract magnets, but 304 does, so I would guess the Commando guards are some grade in between. And yes they do polish up nice, with the right grade of polish compound.
Triumph's of the era were chromed, but not he Commando.

Cheers Richard

Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? 304 and 316 are very similar, in fact noways most people would struggle to tell the difference between 304L and 316.... 304L being a low carbon version of 304.
The ferritic grades are magnetic... 3Cr12 etc
The martensitic grades are magnetic and hardenable 420J etc
The Austenitic grades are not hardenable and are not magnetic 304 etc, these tend to have good corrosion resistance
The duplex grades are a mixture of ferrite and austenite, 2205 for example is magnetic but others may not be. 2205 for example has about twice the yield strength of 304/316 and generally better corrosion resistance, in NZ its actually cheaper as well (less nickle)

Click to expand...

I now know more about stainless than I ever thought I would. :mrgreen:

Could go off topic with bolts as well....

metric fasteners will have a code on the head along the lines of
A4-80 or A2-60

A4 = 316
A2 = 304
80 = 800MPa tensile strength, also as austenitic stainless has a continuous yield the design strength is a 0.2% offset which in this case is 600MPa............

Chester · May 6, 2011

Was just able to get back on line to catch you fellows valuable feedback.....and yes.....know lots about the stainless. Thanks much!

Now has anyone done it on their own....with the GREEN bar and a wheel. I tried a bit.....shined up some, but still all the brush-like scratches. Do the proffesional guys get those out?

Unknown territory here.

Thnx

DogT · May 7, 2011

Caswell recommends for stainless sisal wheel with black first, spiral sewn wheel with green next and then loose cotton wheel with green. If you are seeing scratches you may have to go back to sandpaper 320 then 600 and even 1000 if you want to get all the scratches out first. If you are seeing scratches after buffing with black, you might as well just go back to the sandpaper before buffing again. I find I can go right to black from 320 most of the time.

Dave
69S

steveyacht · May 13, 2011

I use dril and Dremel with buffs, using either Semi Chrome or Flitz on the Stainless and all the aluminum on the bike. Works great for me!

Stainless steel fenders?

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