Swing arm paint strip

Hi guys has anyone stripped a black swing arm back to the bare alloy and then had it brushed??

I love the look of a brushed aluminium swing arm.

 

Not had it done - but basic process is to strip it of paint (chemical strip), polish and then wither anodise or clearcoat to seal it.

 

Sounds easy enough then mate

 

Not a black one but a silver painted one from a zxr750 and I'm in the middle of it. I'm going to be less encouraging

I started off cleaning the swing arm and then applying paint stripper to a large area of the arm and this didn't work that well so concentrated on small areas. This worked better but I still couldn't get all the paint off as it's really tough stuff. At this point I'd spent three hours on it and has got most of the paint off one side and needed a better approach. I've now bought a die grinder with some abrasive pads and I'll let you know how that goes this weekend.

You need to be prepared that the surface of the swing arm may not be perfect under the paint. If the original finish was paint then it's likely that the underlying alloy will need further work. Mine definitely does and i'm hoping that the abrasive pads will help me do that.

The good news is that once you get the paint off and down to a flat alloy surface then getting the brushed finish is really easy. You can either do this by hand with a scotchbrite pad (I used the brown ones on my test area) or you can use a scotchbrite wheel that I have coming today.

I'll let you know how I get on but my plan to do the swingarm and the frame.

 

thanks @dern , certainly sound like a bit of graft is involved, my other option is just buy an alloy one off ebay??

But where the fun in that

 

It's an option I've not written off yet.

 

So I bought this die grinder with a bag of abrasive pads...



...and tried it out for five minutes this morning and it pulled off the thick paint that I struggled to remove with paint stripper, a wire wheel and wet and dry...



...and it looks like I'll be able to polish out the marks in the metal.

This is what the section of frame looks like that was already polished by a previous owner but have been 'brushed' by hand using a brown scotchbrite pad...



There's a way to go but that's going from polished to brushed in a couple of minutes.

For a die grinder like that you'll need at least a 50l compressor which is what I have but a 100l compressor would be far better.

 

looking good mate, my misses is going to take a look at mine as she runs a paint shop

 

Done mine a few years ago. Lots of paint stripper an a scotch brite. Lot of work .

 

Mate that looks fantastic. Just what I'm after

 

I have done the reverse, I removed a scratched silver swing arm. Got it powder coated, but was slightly apprehensive due to the heating process. It came out well. I also took the opportunity to change the bearings, which turned out to be quite expensive. I also had to buy some special tools to ensure the correct torque was applied during assembly. It gave me immense satisfaction, as I feel it looks good with the black frame.

 

I've been pretty surprised about the cost of the bearings required. I think in total it'll cost about £150 in parts for bearings and seals for mine.

 

I never had the tools to pull the bearings, so I paid a garage. Cost £220. Powder coated £90, tools £25. But worth every penny. You have no powder coating to do, so defo cheaper, a lot of man hours, be nice when fitted though.

 

I decided to buy the tools as I figured I could always do the other bikes when needed. That said I'd got loads of tools kicking about the place I've only had to use once.