HOW TO POLISH GOLDWING PARTS

[sunnbobb]

I have polished a great number of Goldwing parts over the past few years. I have tried a number of different approaches and methods and have come down to the following system. I am a lazy bastard, so I wanted to find the quickest method for the best shine. Granted there are other methods that may work well, this is just the way I do it now.

First a few basics

1. Garbage in garbage out.
- Start with a trashed part, end up with a polished trashed part. Deep scratches and gouges cannot be removed easily.

2. Want less time on the buffing wheel?
- Spend more time sanding.

3. Polishing is dirty work.
- buy coveralls, a head mask, goggles and respirator. Not only is buffing compound greasy and gets everywhere, it has abrasives that are not good for your eyes, mucus membranes or lungs. That which ends up on your skin can be washed off with hot water and soap.

4. Let the tool do the work.
- If the wheel is not taking off the tarnish, don't press harder, instead use a more a aggressive compound. Sometimes you have to lightly tough the polishing bar to the wheel at the same time as you are polishing.

5. Do not mix wheels with abrasives.
- use the same wheel with the same abrasive. Clean the wheel once in a while with a wheel rake to remove metal that builds up in the wheel.

OK on to the game...

[sunnbobb]

First off, here are a few of the parts that go through Bradshaw Bikes on their way to finding a happy goldwing. I get bling envy just looking at them.

Ebay sales: (notice the difference in the 80 and 82 GL1100 valve covers re: "made in Japan"



Customer orders:



Full sets:

[sunnbobb]

The process:

The part, about as nasty as a part could be. I wanted to use this part as an example, so I could show you the full monty of polishing.



STEP ONE: STRIP THE CLEARCOAT
- Generously coat the part with paint remover and wait 15 minutes. In this picture you can actually see the clearcoat being removed.



- Rinse the paint remover off with mineral spirits. Also know as paint thinner. The "new" "safe" paint thinner is crap. Use good old fashioned paint thinner or mineral spirits. When you are finished, strain the paint thinner into a plastic Tupperware jar. Add a handful of stainless screws. Whenever you need to clean a small part, put it in the jar, close the lid and shake vigorously. Viola! a miniature parts washer with awesome cleaning solvent.



Note you can clean the part off with steel wool. Don't worry about scratches, the buffing wheel will remove them.



- Rinse the mineral spirits off with soap and water. In this instance I used a brillo pad.



STEP TWO - SAND

Now sand the part with wet 400 sandpaper. If the part is nasty, use 320 grit. I usually do this in the sink with running water.

insert picture of sanding here (dummy me)

Here is how your part should look when done sanding.

[sunnbobb]

BUFFING

Buffing is simply a process of grinding the metal with finer and finer abrasive. I use three abrasives:
- Rough Black rouge on a sisal wheel - (scratch and oxide removal phase)
- Medium Brown (iron oxide) rouge on a sewn wheel (polish phase)
- Fine white rouge on a floppy wheel (Luster phase)

Take your time with each phase. Use the compounds frequently and lightly. I touch the compound to the wheel approximately every 20 seconds or so.

Here you can see the sisal wheel with the black compound:



Do not press too hard on the wheel, you may end up with difficult to remove wheel marks!

Buffing has a "feel" to it. I believe it is a combination of the abrasive and heat that removes the material. When I have everything right, I can see a small halo advancing just ahead of where the wheel makes full contact.

I use a 1 HP pedestal mount buffer made by Grizzly. I wish I had a 3 HP. You can do this with a bench grinder, but to save yourself time, sand the part with 600 wet sandpaper before polishing.

When you have finished with the buffing, wash the part with mineral spirits again, and then wash the part with soap and water. Dry with a turkish towel.

Here is the part we started with:



Good luck!

[Roady]

Those are awesome instructions, very well done. Nice pics, good words.

And those shiny parts are mesmerizing.

(But I still plan to send my stuff to you.)

[JBz]

are you stopping at white?. JB

[sunnbobb]

JB, yeah, white is the final. You can hand rub with polish from that point, but I usually don't.

[vzuden]

Sunnbob, in your opinion what is the best way to keep these parts this nice? I have seen many posts here and elsewhere where some guys think clear coat is best and then another group with multitudes of polish or wax. These look absolutely fantastic!

[sunnbobb]

I believe the major reason for corrosion is moisture getting under the original clear coat. A small pit from a rock or such opens a pathway for water to get under the clearcoat and sit. I occasionally see the corrosion following a "veining" pattern indicative of this. Thus begins the typical corrosion we see on our covers. I have seen this on both well maintained and not maintained bikes. I did get a hold of a set of covers that had the clear coat removed many years ago. The corrosion in this instance was a uniform "graying" of the cover, not the usual blotchy crusty stuff. I advocate simply wiping your chrome down with Flitz or mothers once in a while.

[rcmatt007]

it is nice to see someone more anal than me

good work