Having spent 5 hours polishing my frame, I'm a little reluctant to leave it unprotected. Anyone got any ideas as to what I should use to "seal" the shine in. Please don't advise clear lacquer, it doesn't work. You spend hours getting a perfect finish and then spray gloop all over the frame that dries with a yellow tinge!!
It is oxidising as we speak so any ideas would be welcome!!
clingfilm
This is the exact reason i havent polished a frame, there isnt really an effective overcoat. I think the best way is to simply polish it up with a wax based polish of some sort and re-polish on a regular basis. Got any pics?? Id be interested to see it.
I will post a link to pinkbike soon where I will put pics. Still got the swingarm to do so it will be a few days yet. looks awesome, but I suspect it will end up painted i it needs polishing after every ride!!
RealMan,
I hadn't thought of that. I will give it a go after I have finished lacquering my sandwiches!!
How about a clear powdercoat finish the good quality stuff doesnt go yellow. I had a alloy motorbike petrol tank and oil tank clear powder coated and it looked the dogs wotsits till that car pulled out on me 🙁
Pants,
Sounds like a cracking idea, but I have polished it myself as I need to do it on the cheap
Clearcoat wont work for a number of reasons.
1. A polished surface offers little adhesion.
2. A chip will allow moisture to creep in and turn the surrounding area milky in colour.
The best thing to do, as mentioned above, is to just polish regularly. I stripped and polished my Orange 5 a few weeks ago, mostly because the powder coat was awful and i was very bored. It looks great but needs constant attention.
The wet weather has made keeping it clean a right pain. I've given up now, going to get it powder coated by Argos cycles at the end of the summer.
Would load a photo up buy Flickr is being weird!
I really want to polish my Msisle, but i dunno if i could put up with the amount of polishing.
I think it depends on the frame. Mine is a GT DHi, for those not familiar, this is it http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/2962130/. The carbon tower comes off but the frame is a monocoque with lots of angles and hard to reach corners. If you have something like a 222/3/4 with internal cable routing, its not so difficult to run an electric polisher over it, otherwise you have to remove cables.
Anyone got any idea of how much a clear coat will cost for the front and rear?
Loads of wax polish was the only thing that kept mine anything like looking OK. I think you just have to accept the fact that it'll go 'off' and you'll have to put in the elbow grease every now and again.
I'd recommend Belgom Alu followed by a good paint sealant like Chemical Guys Jetseal.
That's what I use on polished car split rims that are exposed to the elements 24/7, that will last about 2 weeks in the winter and any dirt will pretty much just rinse off. Keep up with it and you should be able to just top up with the sealant and skip the polish.
Otherwise POR-15 make a very good clear coat designed for polished metal.
I had a polished Azonic frame. That's how it came from the factory with stickers just slapped on. Not sure if there was any protection on it or not, but it didn't look like it. Looked good for the 3 or 4 years I had it. Maybe blasting it with the polishing beads that a proper polishers would do seals the alloy better or something rather than just getting out the Brasso.
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