Swinging arm anti-rust, ACF-50 or Waxoyl?

[zx-boom]

Hi all,

I just picked up a 9000-mile 99 ST1100AX, apparently been in a garage for most of it's life. Anyway before I start riding it on the UK's still-salt-covered roads I thought I'd in-situ do some preventative work on the swinging arm. Now the weakest points for water ingress are the the ends of the weld-line facing the tyre, and the holes in the box section. When I refurbed my last one I squirted copious quantities of Waxoyl in all the holes. However, I've heard that waxoil should only be applied to prepared surfaces and the inside of the swinging arm isn't that. So I'm thinking now that quantities of ACF-50 may be a better way forward but would need re-application every year or so. Thoughts anyone?

Marc

 

[Ian Robinson]

Hi Marc, juts done mine and I increased drain hole size and put in two more then injected with hot waxoil at high pressure. Think ACF 50 is brill but not enough pressure to seak out all cavities.
Ian

 

[ST1100Y]

Also mind that ACF-50 is not resistant against washing detergents (AFAIK not a high exposure risk in the UK though... :-D), so it will thin and wash off. But its known to seep even into the smallest gaps and joints between parts, and the enforcements/cross members on the swing arm create quite a number of those along the welding seams. In summer Waxoyl might also start to drip out, just in front of your rear tire while parked...

 

[ealanm]

Here's a data point:

A couple of years ago I found a problem with the rear sub-frame on my racing car that required some welding. I sandblasted the entire sub-frame but, by the time I finished the repairs, there was hardly any time before the first race. To save time I opted not to paint it. I coated it with waxoil, planning to take it apart later and paint it. Racing being what it is, "later" turned out to be after the end of the season. The car ran all year with the entire sub-frame being bare, sandblasted steel. I raced in the rain several times, towed the car to and from the track in the rain several times, and even washed the car after each race weekend with a pressure washer. Six months later when I finally got around to disassembling it, the only rust I found was a tiny bit of superficial rust in a couple of places where tie-wraps had scraped the waxoil away. Other than that, once I removed the waxoil it looked exactly as it had when first sandblasted. That made me a convert.

 

[GitSum]

I think I would use something like POR-15, this stuff works!

http://www.por15.com/POR-15/productinfo/1GB/

http://www.por15.com/Data Sheets/por15sum.pdf

 

[Ian Robinson]

Also mind that ACF-50 is not resistant against washing detergents (AFAIK not a high exposure risk in the UK though... :-D), so it will thin and wash off. But its known to seep even into the smallest gaps and joints between parts, and the enforcements/cross members on the swing arm create quite a number of those along the welding seams. In summer Waxoyl might also start to drip out, just in front of your rear tire while parked...

Remember waxoil itself recommends only a thin film. Ian