Polished Scoops?

[rhyno]

I got a 2002 Max and am interested in polishing the scoops. I remember seeing a thread that explained in great detail along with pics on how to do that. Does anyone remember that? ANy help would be great guys.

Also.....what is your take on polishing...can the average wrench turner do this or should I spend my life's savings for someone else to do it.

 

[eatatjoz]

Polishing is just turning big scratches into small scratches.
I don't know of the link you're looking for, but you're going to remove the clear coat and then polish your ass off using gradually less abrasive products.

That's it in a nutshell. It's work!

 

[Dezeez]

Think hard about what you're getting into. I bought a 6" bench polisher for Xmas with the intention of polishing all of my Max parts. I started with the sissybar and a aluminum rear brake stay that I bought. They turned out just O.K. after too many hours. ( I'm pretty anal, that might be some or my problem ). Then I started on the Scoops. I tried to go for a mirror finish. I'm still working on them. After hours and hours with an electric polisher, I'm about to have them beadblasted to start over. I might just leave them with the matte finish from the beadblasting if it doesn't look too bad. Maybe I'll wait until I have the money to have them chromed.

There's a trick to polishing, especially with a crappy casting like the Max scoops. God help you if you're going to do it by hand.

 

[maxcruiser]

Think hard about what you're getting into. I bought a 6" bench polisher for Xmas with the intention of polishing all of my Max parts. I started with the sissybar and a aluminum rear brake stay that I bought. They turned out just O.K. after too many hours. ( I'm pretty anal, that might be some or my problem ). Then I started on the Scoops. I tried to go for a mirror finish. I'm still working on them. After hours and hours with an electric polisher, I'm about to have them beadblasted to start over. I might just leave them with the matte finish from the beadblasting if it doesn't look too bad. Maybe I'll wait until I have the money to have them chromed.

There's a trick to polishing, especially with a crappy casting like the Max scoops. God help you if you're going to do it by hand.

+ 1 to Dezeez - I too have gone that route before and for what it's worth, if you want a mirror finish that lasts, go with chrome - more money, but well worth it in the long run!

:cheers: Mike

 

[Lew L]

I've polished lots of aluminum and I just might do my scoops this winter also.
I'll start with about a 400 grit wet/dry paper used wet with a few drops of dish soap in the water. ALWAYS sand across the previous scratches. Then go to as 600 paper and maybe even one step finer befor the buffer.
I like the color that jewlers rouge give aluminum and it does cut fast so be gentle with the buffer and ALWAYS buff across the sanding scratches. Then Mothers makes a great aluminum polish to finish the job.
:biglaugh:Good luck,
Lew

 

[gleno]

I've polished lots of aluminum and I just might do my scoops this winter also.
I'll start with about a 400 grit wet/dry paper used wet with a few drops of dish soap in the water. ALWAYS sand across the previous scratches. Then go to as 600 paper and maybe even one step finer befor the buffer.
I like the color that jewlers rouge give aluminum and it does cut fast so be gentle with the buffer and ALWAYS buff across the sanding scratches. Then Mothers makes a great aluminum polish to finish the job.
:biglaugh:Good luck,
Lew

Everything you said. I've done this too and you can get a mirror finish. I did rims, swingarm scoops etc and they sure look sweet when finished BUT..unless you are doing this for therapy and need to stay in therapy, GET THEM CHROMED as soon as you have polished them up.

It's alot of work maintaining the finish.

 

[Buster Hymen]

I got a 2002 Max and am interested in polishing the scoops. I remember seeing a thread that explained in great detail along with pics on how to do that. Does anyone remember that? ANy help would be great guys.

Also.....what is your take on polishing...can the average wrench turner do this or should I spend my life's savings for someone else to do it.

I think the thread you are referring to had this link in it http://www.geocities.com/am20924/VMaxPolish.html?200728 , it shows the polishing process, step by step.

 

[richwrench]

My left scoop had some road rash on the front, so I dremeled out the deep scratches & have been sanding with increasingly fine paper by hand. My fingers are killing me this morning, but the road rash is GONE ! Today I will wet sand with 1000 & how ever it looks its getting bolted back on.:eusa_dance:

 

[lankeeyankee]

I got a 2002 Max and am interested in polishing the scoops. I remember seeing a thread that explained in great detail along with pics on how to do that. Does anyone remember that? ANy help would be great guys.

Also.....what is your take on polishing...can the average wrench turner do this or should I spend my life's savings for someone else to do it.

Think twice about polishing aluminum. When you remove the clear coat and not coat with anything afterwards and just polish your in for work for the rest of the time its bare.
You have 2 options.
1) Get them chromed cost about 250.00
2) Get them powder coated in Chrome and than clear coat em. 150.00
or 3. Wax On Wax off every weekend with aluminum polish.

 

[VeeAte]

Hey rhyno, thought that was you when I seen '02 max, and then your location, lol!

I did all polishing of my previous bike and this one by hand, starting from cc stripping to sanding 400 grit - up. Then I got smarter as hand sanding was taking all my weekends up, then polishing compounds.

Then I started using my air grinder with 2" fine sanding discs - saves HOURS if you get the technique down pat.

I agree with those who say "depends on the casting" because some are cheap. The forkbrace is the worst I've seen with diff colour grains that when you work them out, you get others in other areas :bang head:

My scoops turned out A1 like a mirror, but I hand sanded them. 2 days to complete, used them for the summer, then put the mega scoops on. My scoops had a fairly uniform casting grain, but there were a couple of voids that were hard to work out.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

I polsihed my original ones and they turned out excellent.
Keep wax on them and never ever leave water overnight on them tho'
A ten minute hand polish on each scoop kept them looking great.
But neglect them a couple of times and they get really awful looking and are a ton of work to bring back.

I don't have them anymore but the Baddan/exactrep scoops I have now are the same way as they are bare polished aluminum, Same as the Cybermax headlight.

I would prefer to pull all this off and chrome it, but it's not a big priority right now.

Rusty

 

[VeeAte]

Rusty,

After I polish aluminum to the white compound, I use Mothers aluminum polish, then Turtle wax Ice. So far after 2 years on some parts, I haven't had to recoat. On the Magna that I have (I polished all aluminum), I only went as far as the Mothers and no oxidation to date for some reason, but I reapplied the Mothers after 2 years on it anyways. I am attaching a pic of my bike when I had the polished scoops and side covers - they gleamed!

After polishing the forks, chroming the gauges and other stuff, I found it to be too much and then went black last year with the scoops and sidecovers.

 

[eggohead]

scoop polish

I know I should get the scoops chromed but what is the best way to get them to look like glass. I do not want to spend a day I could be riding to make the bike look young again...lolunk: 90 max/ 49,000+ miles......

 

[4gasem]

Merged...

Also see this...

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=1639&highlight=polish

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Rusty,

After I polish aluminum to the white compound, I use Mothers aluminum polish, then Turtle wax Ice. So far after 2 years on some parts, I haven't had to recoat. On the Magna that I have (I polished all aluminum), I only went as far as the Mothers and no oxidation to date for some reason, but I reapplied the Mothers after 2 years on it anyways. I am attaching a pic of my bike when I had the polished scoops and side covers - they gleamed!

After polishing the forks, chroming the gauges and other stuff, I found it to be too much and then went black last year with the scoops and sidecovers.

Hey, I agree about the Mothers. A friend turned me on to it and it's a pretty good polish. I've never heaqrd of Turtle Ice, is it a hard wax in a can? And is it available at parts houses?

Rusty

 

[4gasem]

Hey, I agree about the Mothers. A friend turned me on to it and it's a pretty good polish. I've never heaqrd of Turtle Ice, is it a hard wax in a can? And is it available at parts houses?

Rusty

I think it's a Nano technology wax. Many people make like waxes. :thumbs up:

 

[Dreamster66]

I think it's a Nano technology wax. Many people make like waxes. :thumbs up:

my walmart sells it

 

[Shuriken]

I'm going to attempt to polish up the scoops as well. They were painted a real crappy black when I got the bike, I suppose to cover up scratches. I don't need a mirror finish, just something nice.

I didn't know to sand against the scratches, then against what you just did, then against that, etc... basically a crosshatch pattern.

Any tips for polishing the wheels?

 

[Bill Kratzenberg]

I'm going to attempt to polish up the scoops as well. They were painted a real crappy black when I got the bike, I suppose to cover up scratches. I don't need a mirror finish, just something nice.

I didn't know to sand against the scratches, then against what you just did, then against that, etc... basically a crosshatch pattern.

Any tips for polishing the wheels?

Ben,
How bad are your wheels?
Did you get those shrouds yet?

 

[lankeeyankee]

I got a 2002 Max and am interested in polishing the scoops. I remember seeing a thread that explained in great detail along with pics on how to do that. Does anyone remember that? ANy help would be great guys.

Also.....what is your take on polishing...can the average wrench turner do this or should I spend my life's savings for someone else to do it.

Polishing Sucks!@
Its a lot of work and still looks like a polished tird
If you cant afford chrome I would have em powder coated in chrome and clear coated Woooo Lahhhh done for under 125 bucks and you now have a powder coating gun along with no more BS of polishing the scoops every week to make the scratches smaller IMO but buff away if you like