restoring my forks and wheels

I got my new fork seals from Z1E last night. I can't wait to go down and work on my bike. I was supposed to go pick up my new 750, but that's gonna have to wait a few more days. So I think I'm going to get into the forks tomorrow unless it's ridiculously cold.
My question relates to the finish on my fork legs. They are kind of dull and at the top there is something that looks like corrosion, but not rusty. Short of replacing the part, is there anything I can do to polish or clean it up to look less bad?
Also,while the wheel is off I was going to clean it up also. I really like the look of the stock wheels, so i don't want to powder coat it. And the wheel itself is in really good shape, so I just want to freshen it up. I figured aluminum polish on the silver parts will probably work, but what can I do about the black parts?

Are you talking about the clear coat? After awhile it tends to yellow and look like crap. I used brake clean, spray on and wait a few seconds and spray again. Do this about 3 times (evaporates fast) and clear will start bubbling. Remove with some medium steel wool, then polish with cream of choice. On my wheels I wash and after they are dry I then spray some formula 2000,(just me preferance, use what you want) on a rag or sponge and wipe down all the spokes and then polish the outer rim. Black spokes come out real nice looking!


Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2007/11/17 19:21

should I put anything back on the fork after the clear is off, or is it ok to leave it bare and just polish it occasionally?

When you break your forks down for the seals, put the lowers on a wire wheel. It will eat the clear coat up quickly.

I would agree to the use of a stripper (mmmmm stripper) when they are on the bike, but when they are off the bike it is very easy to put them on a wire wheel.

Yea, just polish it up occasionally and they will be fine. My favorite is Simichrome but not easy to find so now I'm using Mothers which works good. Both leave a protective finish like wax. The more you rub the shinier it gets.

Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2007/11/17 23:34

Genesis check out this link.
kzrider.com/component/option,com_joomlab...,5/id,151298/#151298

For my forks, I used the strip down and then steel wool polish method. I was after that factory fresh look not a high polish. It worked great. I think I used aircraft remover to get the old clear coat off first. Then used progressively finer steel wool to get just the right sheen. When they looked good all around, I sprayed them with a clear coat from a can. It wasn't a real hard or time consuming process. Have a season of riding on them now and they still look great.