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Metal polish


Nova Scotia Mike

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Hi,

 

So in a moment of 3 beer haze stupidity I thought it would be a good idea to use metal polish on my gas cap cover, not realizing it was painted to appear to have metallic finish. 

 

I realize there is no turning back now and that I'll have to strip/polish the whole cap now. 

 

Do do I need to apply a clear coat or anything else when I'm done? I've never metal polished anything with a finish before. 

 

Thanks

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Polished aluminum is a bitch to maintain, especially on a piece with detail like the gas cap. Your best bet is to stop short of a full, chrome like finish and leave some texture for either clear coat or some other finish to adhere to. 

 

In your position I would finish stripping it with no intent to "polish" and then apply a fuel resistant finish. 

 

 

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Or fully polish it and clear coat, or finish with NeverDull, it might hold up for quite some time between touch ups.  Or have it anodized.  Or re-paint.

 

I'd polish it and finish with neverdull and see how it holds up, if it turns shitty and you don't wanna maintain it you could paint it or clear it.

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In the mid-90's I had a V-Max I made the mistake of polishing a bunch of crap on- pretty much everything aluminum. It looked badass when it was fresh, but was a huge mistake. Unless better products have been developed in the last 20 years or so (entirely possible), clear coat doesn't adhere well to a full polish. It'll go to shit pretty quick.

 

Unless the bike never sees rain, condensation or moisture of any kind, upkeep is constant. NeverDull, polishes, and waxes help but need to be reapplied almost constantly for a regularly ridden bike. Even just sitting in a non-climate controlled garage shit will start to dull up after 2-3 weeks. I ran into the guy I sold the bike to about a year later and he hadn't done the upkeep- it looked like complete shit.

 

Bare aluminum is a straight up pain in the ass on any bike that actually gets ridden.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

LOL... 3 Beer Haze of stupidity... LOL.

 

Old fuckers are lightweights...

 

I'm amazed you can see that you fucked it up without your reading glasses on.

 

 

 

If you have not completely taken the finish off, in other words you just scuffed the clear coat, just re clear coat it.

If on the other hand you can already see bare metal... well...

flip a coin and pick an option from above, personally, I like the Camo Duck Tape suggestion... just because it's good for 200mph. lol

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An eBay find is probably the cheapest and least expensive option.  Check the part numbers, may be the same part across several models in that era.  

 

Or take it to a powder coat place.  Any color you want, and about as permanent as a coating gets.

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