I just received a pair of front forks to replace the leaky ones (that I may have ruined) on my bike . Got them off e-bay at a price I couldn't say no to .

On first inspection they appear to be in pretty good shape apart from a couple of specks of rust on the chrome tubes. I intend to strip them right down and will be better able to judge their condition once I get them apart , but the oil seals seem to be intact though the dust caps are a bit knackered.

Obviously I will replace all the seals and fork oil

Now before I set-to these forks with the scouring pad again , can anyone advise on the best way to polish the chrome without damaging them beyond repair? Or any other methods for removing the rust specks?

 

Give them a good clean in hot soapy water first.

Then grab a duster and some AUTOSOL or BRASSO and give them a good polish.
(none of these will kill or damage the surface of the chrome but will clean it properly)

Also try to work out if the rust specs are going to pass the seals in operation :

NO - just clean them up and touch in with silver paint.

YES - need polishing down below surface and can be repaired with a glass chip repair kit like they use on car windscreens.

 

Thanks for the tip Dean0 , can you buy the glass repair stuff over the counter like at Halfords?

 

Emery cloth is pretty fine, so it should work without taking off any metal.

 

Yep, I wouldn't touch the emery cloth to it. That chit is pretty rough stuff. At work, I think the finest grit we have is like 320 or something.... and that will definitely scratch it up.
I mean, if you could find some that was SUPER fine, it might work... but not just any emery cloth. Hell, I've used that stuff in like 120grit! It would screw that surface in short order!!

 

Yep regular non abrasive metal polish and a buffing wheel's the way I'd go too
on bumpy rust specks a scotchbrite 7448 can be used with plenty of polish to ever so gently
flatten it out don't worry about color spec's it the smooth consistency that's needed

My 2 cents

 

Not seen it at halfords - the kit i used on a windscreen was on fleabay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Windscreen-Chi...d=p3286.c0.m14

And if you absolutely must use emery cloth - you can get 1200 grit for polishing.

 

There you go. I figured you could get it finer, but I've never used it.
I know when I was restoring my screen the other night with a plastic headlight restore kit, it came with 3 sanding pads that had 2 different sides to each. They were all superfine, and the finest almost felt slick. If it would sand down a clear plastic screen to where there were no noticeable scratches, it may be something to look at? If you started with the most abrasive, it may work well. Just a thought. The kit only cost me $6 and it came with pads, wet-sanding solution, and a micro polish.