Slick
Registered user
Hi all, after a treatment session a little while back a guy asked us how to clean his bike properly, how ACF50 works and how long it lasts. Thought you might be interested in the reply.
Cleaners such as shampoos/detergents/degreasers contain ingredients designed to lift and emulsify dirt and grease from the bikes surface. You apply them then lightly agitate with a brush or cloth and allow a couple of minutes 'dwell' time before rinsing off, the idea being not to 'scrub' dirt and grease off but to let the ingredients in the cleaners do the work. With heavy soiling there comes a point where the ingredients become saturated and can do no more, continuing to work it is simply swirling the dirt/grease around to no benefit. It is more effective to wash this saturated cleaner off and if dirt/grease still remains re-apply the cleaner and repeat the process.
ACF50 is a different process. On the 'Corrosion' page on our website I've explained as simply as possible how corrosion forms. From that you can see there are two main culprits. The corrosive type particles that get thrown onto the bike, not just road salt but also animal waste, vehicle and factory emissions and industrial fallout. Other than wrapping the bike in cling film you can't prevent these getting on it, but what you can do is wash it off by giving the bike a regular hose down (standard garden hose will do the job in minutes, as ACF50 is a water repellent there's no need to dry the biker other than paintwork panels to prevent water spotting, hose it, park it, get a cuppa). Then a shampoo, once a week/fortnight whenever, will shift the more stubborn stuff. Preventing it from building up will stop it being in place for moisture to dissolve and absorb it thereby forming an acidic electrolyte. The second issue is preventing moisture from coming into contact with the metal surfaces, and that's where ACF50 comes in. It lays down a protective barrier that actively displaces any water present and repels any more than falls on it.
So ACF50 isn't designed to neutralise or remove corrosive elements, it is a physical barrier, one side of which polar bonds to the metals the other side actively repels moisture. Water on it's own will do nothing or very little to break that barrier and the chemical make up of the stuff is designed to be highly resistant to corrosive elements.
How long the barrier lasts depends on a couple of factors. The concentration of corrosives (road salts etc.) or chemicals (shampoos, cleaners) falling on it, and the amount of exposure it has to these in either solid or liquid form. Hence regular hosing down greatly reduces the concentration, and where you have to use more aggressive cleaners, e.g. to remove oil splatter from the chain area or heavy brake dust from the wheels, it's recommended you run an ACF50 dampened cloth over those areas afterwards to 'top up' the ACF50 coating.
On areas not directly exposed to the elements or your cleaning, the protective barrier is strong enough to last 12 months, on exposed sections it will act as a sacrificial barrier and degrade depending on those two factors just mentions, which under normal conditions should be around 2 -3 months. Again a quick run over with an ACF50 cloth then tops these areas up again.
Cheers
Roy (All Year Biker)
Cleaners such as shampoos/detergents/degreasers contain ingredients designed to lift and emulsify dirt and grease from the bikes surface. You apply them then lightly agitate with a brush or cloth and allow a couple of minutes 'dwell' time before rinsing off, the idea being not to 'scrub' dirt and grease off but to let the ingredients in the cleaners do the work. With heavy soiling there comes a point where the ingredients become saturated and can do no more, continuing to work it is simply swirling the dirt/grease around to no benefit. It is more effective to wash this saturated cleaner off and if dirt/grease still remains re-apply the cleaner and repeat the process.
ACF50 is a different process. On the 'Corrosion' page on our website I've explained as simply as possible how corrosion forms. From that you can see there are two main culprits. The corrosive type particles that get thrown onto the bike, not just road salt but also animal waste, vehicle and factory emissions and industrial fallout. Other than wrapping the bike in cling film you can't prevent these getting on it, but what you can do is wash it off by giving the bike a regular hose down (standard garden hose will do the job in minutes, as ACF50 is a water repellent there's no need to dry the biker other than paintwork panels to prevent water spotting, hose it, park it, get a cuppa). Then a shampoo, once a week/fortnight whenever, will shift the more stubborn stuff. Preventing it from building up will stop it being in place for moisture to dissolve and absorb it thereby forming an acidic electrolyte. The second issue is preventing moisture from coming into contact with the metal surfaces, and that's where ACF50 comes in. It lays down a protective barrier that actively displaces any water present and repels any more than falls on it.
So ACF50 isn't designed to neutralise or remove corrosive elements, it is a physical barrier, one side of which polar bonds to the metals the other side actively repels moisture. Water on it's own will do nothing or very little to break that barrier and the chemical make up of the stuff is designed to be highly resistant to corrosive elements.
How long the barrier lasts depends on a couple of factors. The concentration of corrosives (road salts etc.) or chemicals (shampoos, cleaners) falling on it, and the amount of exposure it has to these in either solid or liquid form. Hence regular hosing down greatly reduces the concentration, and where you have to use more aggressive cleaners, e.g. to remove oil splatter from the chain area or heavy brake dust from the wheels, it's recommended you run an ACF50 dampened cloth over those areas afterwards to 'top up' the ACF50 coating.
On areas not directly exposed to the elements or your cleaning, the protective barrier is strong enough to last 12 months, on exposed sections it will act as a sacrificial barrier and degrade depending on those two factors just mentions, which under normal conditions should be around 2 -3 months. Again a quick run over with an ACF50 cloth then tops these areas up again.
Cheers
Roy (All Year Biker)
