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RADBMX.CO.UK  |  Technical & Reference Section  |  Tech and Restoration  |  Polishing ?
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Author Topic: Polishing ?  (Read 636 times)

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Offline Rusty 73

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Polishing ?
« on: April 13, 2015, 12:19 AM »
Need some tips on polishing up an old gt stem  "help". Currently white and wanna get it back to bare shinny finish, without losing the raised detailing. Any pointers ?
The wife says most blokes buy a flash car or a fast motorbike when they turn 40 ...........

Offline deeman

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Re: Polishing ?
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2015, 12:16 PM »
It is not generally a favoured process any more...most people like to keep their parts with the OG finish these days. Many a good part has been ruined by over polishing. A lot of people like the survivor look these days and buy parts accordingly, But......if you still want to go down this route the thing to do would be to remove the old powdercoat/ paint with paint stripper. Nitromors is not generally regarded with being any good these days but I have never had problems with it....just follow instructions.
Once all the powdercoat has been removed it's up to you what you do. You can either lightly polish with metal polish or if you want the mirror like show bike look you will need more work.....
You will need to work up the grades with wet n dry paper....I would start with something like 320 and remove all the casting marks/ imperfections. then work up the grades removing all the scratches the last grade left til you finish it with 1200 or 1500 grit. You should be left with very flat shiny metal which almost looks polished. Once you are happy with it use metal polish  like Autosol and a rag to finish it off. On such a small item it should be easy enough to do by hand. will take a few hours and plenty of elbow grease. the longest part is the sanding, once you have prepared the metal it doesn't take long to polish it. It may take a few goes with the polish before its mirror like and you will need to have got in the nooks and crannies with the wet n dry to achieve a nice finish. The beauty of doing it by hand is that you have control and hopefully won't polish out your lettering!
hope this helps
:daumenhoch:
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Offline bobbbbsy

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Re: Polishing ?
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2015, 12:35 PM »
yep- too much polishing going on .  :-\

Offline Rusty 73

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Re: Polishing ?
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2015, 12:56 AM »
Appreciated reply deeman, thought I was not gonna get any feedback so already fitted stem. Was talking about a GT freestyler stem, white on top with brushed effect bare metal GT and chrome bottom plate. Decided to give bottom plate a polish and leave the top as is. Wanted a group 1 or forklifter for my 85 master but this cheaper alternative don't look too bad. If I could work out how to put pictures on here.... Thanks again for taking time out to reply to a novice  (Johnny no mates ) new member.
The wife says most blokes buy a flash car or a fast motorbike when they turn 40 ...........

Offline bobbbbsy

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Re: Polishing ?
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2015, 01:46 AM »
Upload to photobucket . Paste in the img code from the 4  online share code options. You can preview your post here to. The image will show and you ll know it has worked beforehand.  8)

RADBMX.CO.UK  |  Technical & Reference Section  |  Tech and Restoration  |  Polishing ?
 

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