What can i do to restore a badly polished frame

[drunkn munky]

Is there any kind of bead, vapour blasting that can restore the original look of a part polished frame? will i have to polish the unpolished parts first so it looks even after the blasting?

Or is the only way to have it powder coated?

[jayRC3045]

have you tried just using scotch bright ,try it 1st on a little area to see if it works

[bezzer]

Scotchbrite is used to give a "brushed" finish to alloy, be no good for a polished surface unless you want to go all over it to alter the whole lot. No kind of blasting will restore it to a polish finish or even as a preparation you've got to plan on rubbing it down with wet and dry before repolishing. Your options are DIY, get someone else to do it or get it powdercoated/painted if you don't want the hassle of keeping it pristine.

[jayRC3045]

whoops , i thought he wanted to get rid of the polished finish ,back to what it was as standard

[drunkn munky]

My mistake should have explained better, I'm trying to get rid of the polished parts and return them to standard or some kind of brushed look. It's also only been done on one side which as you can imagine looks crap.

[bezzer]

We're all dropping bollocks then on this thread . You might as well try the scotchbrite to see what happens, won't make it any worse. To get an evenish look you need the drill/polisher at a high rpm and just lightly go over the surface.If it doesn't work out at least you've keyed the surface for paint

[jollygiant]

How about some 600 or 400 grit emery paper?? lettuce snow if any good?

[Kayla]

I used green scotchbrite and WD40 on the polished swingarm on my TRX. It looks loads better and it's easy to do

edit- it will oxidise quicker, but it's less of a hassle to keep clean.

[fran9r]

I used green scotchbrite and WD40 on the polished swingarm on my TRX. It looks loads better and it's easy to do

edit- it will oxidise quicker, but it's less of a hassle to keep clean.

Sounds good...any pics?

[Kayla]

Sounds good...any pics?

I'll try and get some tomorrow (am at work now, sans bike)

[fran9r]

Sweet been thinking about that finish for a while. Look forward to the pics.

[fran9r]

Any chance of pics...really really would like to see please!

[2 smokes 4 ever]

Jap frames are anodised in clear, so you will need to prep it and have it clear anodised if you want to restore it to the original look

[fran9r]

Kawasaki's are painted.

[Kayla]

Any chance of pics...really really would like to see please!

Sorry I've been busy and the bike's a state. I'll try and get some sorted out this weekend

[2 smokes 4 ever]

Kawasaki's are painted.

OK, so I'll rephrase that then

If you frame is Al, and it looks like Al (ie not painted black like Kwak's and some Suzuki's) then its clear anodised to prevent salt corrosion

[fran9r]

Thanks...look forward to seeing them.

Kawasaki's silver frames are definately painted. Not sure of other manufacturers...maybe Suzuki's silver frames too (old SVs I think).

[johnnymack63]

Kawasaki's silver frames are definately painted.

This is true. I know this becasue as the strip down of my '91 ZXR750K1 continues, it seems the fuckwit that once upon a time polished the frame only did the bits he can see leaving remainders of a nice thick coat of silver paint in the bits he couldn't see. Tosser.

Once stripped, it's off to the powdercoaters with the swingarm and subframe to be blasted and coated. I'm gonna try aerocoat as they seem to know what their talking about especially with regads to exact colours and stuff.