Fork touch-up

[silent_bob]

Hi hubbers,

 

The crown on a 2nd hand Fox fork I purchased, was damaged due to bad cable routing. On a few places the powder coating has been rubbed away completely (there are even slight grooves in the metal) and I was thinking about trying to touch his up somehow. Does anyone know how to go about doing this? Is it a case of stripping everything to bare metal and redo the powder coating or are there other tricks to covering the marks? Would appreciate your advise!

[droo]

Black marker.

 

Edit: Doesn't blend in so well on white forks. Nail polish works pretty well for small chips too.

Edited December 4, 2013 by droo

[V12man]

Powder coat is just a kind of paint that is applied differently - you can get any panel beater to match the colour and texture to some extent and do the touchup - probably cost more than you might want to pay...

[Hairy]

If you want to get ride of the "groove" formed by the cable in the base metal then give some typical body putty or some expoy filler a try, sand this smooth and then have it re-sprayed.

 

Should you be a handy kind of guy tape up, wrap the fork properly and spray it yourself.

[silent_bob]

If you want to get ride of the "groove" formed by the cable in the base metal then give some typical body putty or some expoy filler a try, sand this smooth and then have it re-sprayed.

 

Should you be a handy kind of guy tape up, wrap the fork properly and spray it yourself.

 

Thanks Hairy I think I'll try this. As the fork is white, I guess I'll have to apply a few layers of spray paint over the filler. Do you know if I need to treat the fork's surface with anything first or should I just be able to respray after the surface is cleaned properly?

[Hairy]

Thanks Hairy I think I'll try this. As the fork is white, I guess I'll have to apply a few layers of spray paint over the filler. Do you know if I need to treat the fork's surface with anything first or should I just be able to respray after the surface is cleaned properly?

There are a couple of D.I.Y spray threads on the Hub, but a light sand and a primer coat would go a long way to get a good finish.

 

Take your time and use even thin coats.....a clear coat over the finish would also be advisable.

[droo]

Powder coat is just a kind of paint that is applied differently - you can get any panel beater to match the colour and texture to some extent and do the touchup - probably cost more than you might want to pay...

 

Powder coat is far from being paint - it's a fine thermoplastic resin powder that's applied to the metal and then melted on in an oven to form a continuous plastic coating. Tough as nails, but difficult to repair. You can paint over it, but you'll need to use a plastic primer first.

 

AFAIK most forks are sprayed though.

Edited December 4, 2013 by droo

[solo65]

Sorry for the Hijack

 

Kashima coat on my fox fork come off in one small place. Is there a way to touch that up or get it redone?

[David Marshall]

Sorry for the Hijack

 

Kashima coat on my fox fork come off in one small place. Is there a way to touch that up or get it redone?

 

No. And that piece costs more than my bike

[Hairy]

Sorry for the Hijack

 

Kashima coat on my fox fork come off in one small place. Is there a way to touch that up or get it redone?

Sounds like you are in trouble ... pics?

[V12man]

Powder coat is far from being paint - it's a fine thermoplastic resin powder that's applied to the metal and then melted on in an oven to form a continuous plastic coating. Tough as nails, but difficult to repair. You can paint over it, but you'll need to use a plastic primer first.

 

AFAIK most forks are sprayed though.

 

I don't know if forks are powder coated or sprayed - but:

 

trust me - you don't need plastic primer to paint over powercoating with automotive paints - just have to make sure the surface is properly scuffed and not sensitive to the solvents in the paint, then you can paint it in the normal fashion - makes for a tougher base layer even than epoxy primers - if the substrate is flexible, then you may want to use an adhesion promoter under primer - SEM makes a good one.

 

And scuffing powder coating is a really time consuming job - the stuff is hard and does not cut well with finer sandpapers.

 

http://www.paintscratch.com/automotive-paint-tips.htm - do a search for powder....

[shaper]

Sorry for the Hijack

 

Kashima coat on my fox fork come off in one small place. Is there a way to touch that up or get it redone?

 

It will cost a fortune to get it redone, I gather they have to send it back to Japan. Similarly if you look to buy new uppers, you may as well buy a new fork.

 

If is just small pitting from stones or a shallow scratch, touch it up with clear nail polish and if need be wet sand smooth. You are mainly doing it to stop possible oil leaks.

 

Google repair stanchion scratches, will give you this and a few more options.

[silent_bob]

Black marker.

 

Edit: Doesn't blend in so well on white forks. Nail polish works pretty well for small chips too.

 

Hee hee noted

[droo]

It will cost a fortune to get it redone, I gather they have to send it back to Japan. Similarly if you look to buy new uppers, you may as well buy a new fork.

 

If is just small pitting from stones or a shallow scratch, touch it up with clear nail polish and if need be wet sand smooth. You are mainly doing it to stop possible oil leaks.

 

Google repair stanchion scratches, will give you this and a few more options.

 

Somewhere around 4k for the repair and rebuild. There's a place in the UK that repairs Kashima, but not here. The only option here is replacing the crown, steerer and stanchion assembly.

 

Slightly less than half the price of a new fork.

 

If it's worn all the way to the aluminium, it's just a matter of time before your fork's toast. If it's just a bit lighter than the surrounding bits, you'll still be ok - just keep up with the service schedule. And stay away from pressure washers and hosepipes. Bucket and sponge is the way forward.

[V12man]

Somewhere around 4k for the repair and rebuild. There's a place in the UK that repairs Kashima, but not here. The only option here is replacing the crown, steerer and stanchion assembly.

 

Slightly less than half the price of a new fork.

 

If it's worn all the way to the aluminium, it's just a matter of time before your fork's toast. If it's just a bit lighter than the surrounding bits, you'll still be ok - just keep up with the service schedule. And stay away from pressure washers and hosepipes. Bucket and sponge is the way forward.

 

Have you ever tried one on the ceramic coatings applied by powerkote - might be worth an experiment on a trashed fork. They are pretty helpful guys - they have a few pretty high tech coatings available - including some low friction ones.

 

http://www.powerkote.co.za/Home.html

[droo]

Have you ever tried one on the ceramic coatings applied by powerkote - might be worth an experiment on a trashed fork. They are pretty helpful guys - they have a few pretty high tech coatings available - including some low friction ones.

 

http://www.powerkote.co.za/Home.html

 

Definitely worth a shot, thanks. I'll follow it up.

 

My concern with recoating stanchions is that because they're pressed into the crown it's impossible to turn them back down to the right tolerances without pressing them out of the crown again. IMO this would need to be done since the wear on the stanchions causes the tolerances to be out over the area where the wear occurred, which would cause problems running through the bushing.

 

If Fox are nervous about pressing them out and back in again in such a safety critical area, there's no way I'm taking that on...