Salt corrosion on suspension

[toria]

Forza showing corrosion.jpg[/attachment]

The attachment Forza showing corrosion.jpg is no longer available

Can one of you lovely folk out there tell me how to get rid of what I assume is salt corrosion on the rear suspension of my Forza 300? It should be nice and 'shiny' metal shouldn't it? I keep the bike covered in winter/when it's wet (a good Oxford Products cover) but still it's showing a chalky white 'film'. Also, the centre stand looks a little rusty! I do give her a bit of a spray with water and leave to dry or try off if not sunny - I use a garden watering spray pump thing as I live in a second floor flat without an outside tap!!!

Any advice and/or details of products to a) remove and b) protect going forward, I'd be very grateful, thank you.

Safe riding out there - enjoy x

[iceman]

My bike is in a covered underground car-park at work and I keep it covered at home - even if it's been raining on my journey home the exhaust should be hot enough to evaporate most if not all water due to the cover being on the bike. Still, the centre stand will likely show signs or wear/rust as it spends a lot of time on wet surfaces in this country. Long given up worrying about that part of the bike as there is little if anything that can be done. My suspension shows similar coating - all the crap that gets thrown up from the roads - they do not seem to clean them anymore, just leave dust/oil/crap building up.

[sendler2112]

If you really want to baby the bike you can "paint" all of the metal with something like CorrosionX.
.
http://www.corrosionx.com/corrosion-inhibitor.html
.

[toria]

Thanks for your replies guys. The point is, I'm trying to sell it and one local dealer was 'put off' by the 'corrosion' and said he'd find it hard to sell and was concerned that it was like that on a bike so young (19 months old)!! I think in reality he didn't want it so why he couldn't just say that, Lord only knows. Thanks for the link to the corrosion 'stuff' - I'm in the UK so not sure if I'd be able to get that but will hunt online, thanks chaps :-)

[toria]

.....I'm thinking of trading 'her' in for her baby sister, the 125!!!

[WhiteNoise]

Baby sis' in the Blue n White? Nice!

[Jge64]

Seal the "hard to get at" components with Carpro Hydro2, spray on, hose off, sealed....great stuff.

[GeorgeSK]

Cleaning the oxidation off the white metal (or aluminum or whatever they are) parts will be tedious. Flitz is a great product. Since it is German, I expect you can get it in England. I am quite sure that there are other polishing creams (cremes?) available to you.

The hassle is that it is hard to get your fingers in and really get pressure on to get the stuff off. If you use a rotary tool (Dremmel, Proxxon, whatever) with a little buffing wheel, I'm sure you could do a nice job, but we are talking seriously tedious. In addition, one would have to be careful of doing too good a job in places. You wouldn't want a really buffed out mirror polish here and there. (Unless it was easy with the tool, and you could get the whole thing looking bling. That might be awesome.)

I would find some sort of polishing stuff and a couple of rags and give it a go for a half hour or so and see what you can accomplish by hand. If you are making progress, then continue. If not, well, it will look some better.

On your next machine, give those metal bits a bit of polish from the get-go and you will prevent the corrosion in the first place, and also create a smoother surface that dirt will have more trouble sticking to, and so be easier to clean.

[you you]

Autoglym alloy wheel cleaner and a stiff brush might tone it down a bit

[you you]

Cleaning the oxidation off the white metal (or aluminum or whatever they are) parts will be tedious. Flitz is a great product. Since it is German, I expect you can get it in England. I am quite sure that there are other polishing creams (cremes?) available to you.

The hassle is that it is hard to get your fingers in and really get pressure on to get the stuff off. If you use a rotary tool (Dremmel, Proxxon, whatever) with a little buffing wheel, I'm sure you could do a nice job, but we are talking seriously tedious. In addition, one would have to be careful of doing too good a job in places. You wouldn't want a really buffed out mirror polish here and there. (Unless it was easy with the tool, and you could get the whole thing looking bling. That might be awesome.)

I would find some sort of polishing stuff and a couple of rags and give it a go for a half hour or so and see what you can accomplish by hand. If you are making progress, then continue. If not, well, it will look some better.

On your next machine, give those metal bits a bit of polish from the get-go and you will prevent the corrosion in the first place, and also create a smoother surface that dirt will have more trouble sticking to, and so be easier to clean.

It's an aluminium alloy not white metal which is a tin/lead alloy

[gn2]

Tin of black Hammerite.
Just paint it on with a brush.
Sorted.

[GeorgeSK]

Good. White metal is a total looser material, but without metallurgy info, I can't tell by looking.

[Mister Paul]

Thanks for your replies guys. The point is, I'm trying to sell it and one local dealer was 'put off' by the 'corrosion' and said he'd find it hard to sell and was concerned that it was like that on a bike so young (19 months old)!! I think in reality he didn't want it so why he couldn't just say that, Lord only knows. Thanks for the link to the corrosion 'stuff' - I'm in the UK so not sure if I'd be able to get that but will hunt online, thanks chaps :-)

Ignore the dealer, he's just guffing to get your px down. Out of interest, what did he offer you?

[Alibally]

Acf50 after cleaning keeps the corrosion down and seems to get rid of the furry corrosion as well

[you you]

Good. White metal is a total looser material, but without metallurgy info, I can't tell by looking.

Eh, it's used for plain bearings

[Mister Paul]

I've just looked at mine. The bottoms are painted black. It's a 2014 Forza 300. Why is yours different?

[toria]

Cleaning the oxidation off the white metal (or aluminum or whatever they are) parts will be tedious. Flitz is a great product. Since it is German, I expect you can get it in England. I am quite sure that there are other polishing creams (cremes?) available to you.

The hassle is that it is hard to get your fingers in and really get pressure on to get the stuff off. If you use a rotary tool (Dremmel, Proxxon, whatever) with a little buffing wheel, I'm sure you could do a nice job, but we are talking seriously tedious. In addition, one would have to be careful of doing too good a job in places. You wouldn't want a really buffed out mirror polish here and there. (Unless it was easy with the tool, and you could get the whole thing looking bling. That might be awesome.)

I would find some sort of polishing stuff and a couple of rags and give it a go for a half hour or so and see what you can accomplish by hand. If you are making progress, then continue. If not, well, it will look some better.

On your next machine, give those metal bits a bit of polish from the get-go and you will prevent the corrosion in the first place, and also create a smoother surface that dirt will have more trouble sticking to, and so be easier to clean.

Thanks SO much for that, very good idea. I had a test ride on the Forza 125 (sorry, off-topic here slightly!) and whilst it was nice to look at (!), the seat was too high for me, the mirrors are very badly placed despite about 5 minutes of trying to adjust, and it just doesn't have enough grunt despite other reviewers saying it was 'powerful for it's engine capacity'! Perhaps my arse is too heavy, that's possible!!! I wonder if the new PCX might be an alternative, though I do appreciate that it too will not have as much grunt as my Forza 300! Thanks for the tips chaps

[toria]

Tin of black Hammerite.
Just paint it on with a brush.
Sorted.

Thanks GN2 but as other posters have said, it will be a bugger to get to without also painting the shocks!! Thanks anyway, appreciated x

[toria]

Good. White metal is a total looser material, but without metallurgy info, I can't tell by looking.

It's actually, I think at least, black painted metal - if it were unpainted metal, I suspect it wouldn't look so horrible! I'm so anal, sorry!!

[toria]

Thanks for your replies guys. The point is, I'm trying to sell it and one local dealer was 'put off' by the 'corrosion' and said he'd find it hard to sell and was concerned that it was like that on a bike so young (19 months old)!! I think in reality he didn't want it so why he couldn't just say that, Lord only knows. Thanks for the link to the corrosion 'stuff' - I'm in the UK so not sure if I'd be able to get that but will hunt online, thanks chaps :-)

Ignore the dealer, he's just guffing to get your px down. Out of interest, what did he offer you?

One dealer wouldn't touch it as he was 'concerned that it was corroded so early on in its' life' and my local Honda dealer (they're fab) offered £2,800 for a part-ex with another Honda - the question for me is, which model - it's so darn hard as I've had 650s in the past so having gone down to a 300 was a change and I think if I went to the PCX, that would possibly drive me nuts but I know all the reviews are amazing - everyone says slow but great fun and to be fair, all I'd use it for would be commuting in Oxfordshire so not much/any motorway/dual carriageway!! I like the LEDs on the PCX - they do give the bike a good presence on the road as I saw one behind me this morning and it really stood out!!!