I have an 1986 250R that I'm fixing up. Question, the gas tank has a white-ish oxidation that has built-up on it. Does anyone know how to get rid of it without loosing too much shine? Wet sand with 1200 sandpaper? Polising compound.... ?

Rude Dog

 

First wet sand it with 400 paper, then with 1000. When you wipe the water off after you've sanded it, it will look scary WHITE. To get rid of that white, use 3M Machine polish, on an air/ buffer with a foam pad, cloth will get hot and turn your polish into glue, wipe all the polish off after you've buffed, and use some Turtle Wax Formula 2001, it's simmilar to armoral, wipe it on thick so you can see liquid on the surface of the plastic, and let it dry for 10 min, use a cloth rag, and wipe off the turtle wax with pressure on the cloth, and it will shine.

 

That's how I restored my Honda tanks, except I used a silicone based tire gloss. I normally wouldn't recommend using anything slick if I was going to ride it, but it worked well for storing tanks for future projects. If you've ever hit an errant mud/water hole and racked the nads on the handlebars you can see why slick stuff and water doesn't work that great for riding. ;-( Of course you're in CA, so it's probably not a big deal as it hardly rains here.

(And before I catch any crap for that from other posters I was up on the pegs in the rough stuff.)

There is a kit available that is supposed to be good, it's called plastic renew, it was in tested by one of the quad magazines.

I saw an ad for it in Dirt Wheels by a company called pc racing, www.pcracingusa.com in California. It's listed for 18.95 and they have good pictures of the process on the site.

 

Plastic renew is great. But it only works for temperary time. Don't get gas on it, it will bubble. Bubbling in one spot will force you to compleatly start over on the piece that has one little bubble, because you can't just do one spot it will be shiny and the plastic around it won't. If you are a careful rider I would reccomend it, but if you do hard trail riding don't go near trees, yeah it will scratch right off. Sorta looks like painted plastic when finished.

 

So it's more like a clear coat? I thought it was more of a protectant, with their suggestion to smooth it out with steel wool. Wouldn't that remove it?

 

Mop-n-glo!

Keeps the plastic pretty shiny for quite a while, and you probably already have it under the sink.

 

Thanks guys for all the help on this subject!!!!

Rude Dog

 

remember "wax on .... wax off"