Clearcoat After Polish?

Higgy

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I've seen some very nice polish jobs on cases and whatnot here. Does anyone clearcoat them after polish? Seems to me that some clearcoat or clear powdercoat might be the way to go? Would that even work?
 
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The forks on this bike were covered with Glisten PC over 15 years ago. This stuff is crystal clear and tough as nails. After all the years, it still looks like I did it yesterday. It is an epoxy coating.

The down side is that the prep will knock the shine down a bit. If you polish to a mirror, it won't be after you prep for this stuff. You have to spray it for best results. It's also pretty expensive, as a lot of the best stuff is.

Aluminum gets a thin film of uniform corrosion on it and then the corroding slows to a crawl. Periodic polishing keeps it looking good.
 
I polished my carb tops and valve covers a few years ago. Covered them with a polyurethane clear.
Not as pretty as Marty's, and they're now starting to show just the slightest tint of amber, as per the warning on the can...
 

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As others have indicated, any coating over the metal will change its appearance. Also the more durable options are likely to cost more than those you can apply yourself.
Coating makes sense if you ride in all weathers or if you need to store your bike outside.

However if, like me, you are an unashamedly fair weather rider then leaving the metal bare (IMHO) is the best option.
Once buffed to the standard you want just apply a good quality non abrasive polish using a microfiber cloth . This will provide a protective film that keeps any oxidation at bay and only require the occasional polish to restore the lustre.
 
I don't clear coat mine. I don't want what happened to the original clear coat to happen again.
 
Yeah,
I'm with Max & 5T,
my clearcoated cases looked great until mebbe 7 years from new, when they didn't.
Half the clearcoat fell off in patches and the rest stuck on real hard.
The bare patches went dull gray and the clearcoated patches were still shiny.
It looked like a bad case of Galvanizing gone wrong.
But Jayzus! The remaining clearcoat patches did NOT want to die.
Effin' hours of alternating paint stripper and buffing wheel to get the cases nicely shiny.
Never again!
Leaving 'em bare and giving 'em a rub with Mother's once a year works for me.
 
I'm in the leave em and polish once a or twice a year. As the herd grows, spring cleaning takes longer......... The shed ain't bad for keeping em nice but it's not a heated garage either. One winter ride with dry salt/sand dust on the roads can wreak havoc.
 
Yep no clearcoat, just wipe down few times a year. I use Wizards Power Seal micro polish. Seams to seal to bare alum pretty well.
 
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