Corrosion on GSA 08 Panniers

allthegearnoidea

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Groan its another corrosion thread. My bike (an 08 GSA) is coming up nicely when washed. The panniers (BMW GSA Panniers) sadly are not. Frankly they look shite. Now, I have thought about burning down the dealer and/or starting a worldwide hate campaign against BMW but on balance I think I need to get polishing and than ACF 50 them to within an inch of their lives.

My question, in short, is what is the best method/ polish to restore my 9week old panniers to something resembling acceptable condition?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
The thread happens every winter ............ so just try a search.

Basically bare aluminium panniers, of whatever type, corrode with salt etc.

This comes as a surprise to some but not to others.

ACF 50 will help prevent but doesn't look pretty. A good polishing will restore them. Frequent washing in the winter; take them off if not needed is the general concensus of advice.:thumb2
 
I tried the search with limited success. If you have better searching powers perhaps you could point me in the right direction.
 
best thing to do

Sell them!
Then get a new set and keep coated with acf50 from new.
Once there gone, polishing them never looks right.

You could sell them on ebay each year, get a new set inc. a small discount, and it wont cost much at all.
 
No matter what you do, they`ll corrode slightly. Ally + salt + use = corrosion.

Don`t worry, they are Ally panniers which live on a motorbike.:nenau

If it`s a real worry for you, you have 4 options:

Sell them and get some aftermarket ones.
Leave them in the airing cupboard over winter.
Cover them in vinyl a la POG
My preferred option.....Dont worry about it
 
Sorry to hear about this mate, but like everyone's said, this is a common thread this time of year.

There are a lot here that will say "my bikes for riding not cleaning" and wonder what you are complaining about, but if you are like me and value the things you buy and try to look after them you'll be disappointed at the state they are no in.

I tried a number of things to restore mine, but the basic problem is, originally they are brushed ally and if you polish them they will be polished, bright and very very shine, Nick's right, they just look odd like that. also the ally will be pitted and will take a bit of polishing to correct that.

I'm really surprised that dealers dont offer the ACF50 treatment to all new owners at this time of year - I should note here though that NOG have started to do something similar in that they are now offering a winter check over that includes ACF50ing your bike.

Good job guys!

Sorry I can't be of more help
 
If you're really concerned, you could get them vapour blasted and hard anodised - they would never corrode again. However, you'd have to disassemble them and I've no idea what it'd cost.

And FWIW, I'm with LiquidLAN - I know that GS's are for riding, dirtier the better, etc, etc :blagblah , but even though I've only got a lowly 1100, I do want my bike to stay looking nice.
 
Has anybody used coarse grade steel wool and tried polishing in straight lines for that 'brushed alloy' effect ?? It might work (then again it might look shite, anybody care to try ?):nenau.
 
Take the panniers back to BMW and get new ones and leave them in the garage till spring.
 
I have this simple fix which has worked. Polish up the cases then clean with celluose thinners. Apply masking tape and paint 3 coats with Silver Hook Lacquer. You can get it from ebay at 4.95 approx. Before trying it on the panniers I half coated an alluminium printing plate and covered with wet sand and grit. Left to cook for a week uncoated side black, coated perfect. Hope this helps
 
i suspect the lacquer will come off, and/or get corrosion underneath.

a) surface needs keying before application, but that wouldn't look nice.

b) priming would be nice too, i doubt the lacquer is meant to be applied to bare ali. but then it wouldn't look like clear lacquer :nenau

i'd get a professional opinion before applying.
 
VERY INTERESTING! I bought my bike new on the 20th November with new ali panniers. I removed the side panniers but left the top box. Went for one ride but didn't wash down after and now I have signs of corrosion on the rear and bottom of the top box. I am in the camp that tries to keep my bike looking nice like new condition, every chance I get I wash it clean. I must admit I was VERY unhappy with this problem. I used autosolve but with very limited results and it kind of made it shinny. I have since coated them with ACF50.

WHY the hell didn't my BMW dealer provide a ACF50 treatment? CRAP. I might pay BMW a visit about this - it's not good enough!
 
PH, save your breath... they really dont give a sh1t...

I dont know how long NOG have been offering the service, but the first I heard of it was in my first new letter (in 2-3 years) from them... great to see that they've started it, I know at least a couple of their guys are on this forum so its good to see some of them are paying attention. You never know others might follow suite.

I guess its a fine line to walk at they are all franchises and not BMW themselves. BMW dont see it as a problem, so I guess highlighting it as a dealer is contra to BMs wishes. NOG seem to have got around the whole issue as its offered as part of a winter check over. I guess its all down to how you approach the conversation.

There are a few people here who seem to have had some luck in the past going back to the dealers, but I think it really depends on who you are and your value to your dealer as my impression is, it's the dealer who takes the hit.

laquor, hmmm its a nice idea, I used to do it to front forks, looks great when new, but it will life and go opaque over time and you'll find that the ally will corrode if the laquor chips or cracks... over time, you would have to redo the process. Nice idea, but I'm with cookie on it.

wirewool for that brushed effect is an interesting one.. I might try it on the underside of my topbox, but I think it'll look a mess over the whole thing - :( getting around plastic trim and hinges, etc... worth a test though.
 
While ACF-50 is good stuff and does the job as far as mitigating salt corrosion on metals, it's not really a 'fix' for your problem of corroding panniers. As a permanent coating for panniers it's far from ideal (it forms a grubby oily film which will rub off on your clothing and anything else it comes into contact with and it'll need re coating).

The problem stems from the fact that the panniers are made of unfinished aluminium and short of powder coating or anodising there's no fix - it's just a fact of life with panniers of this type.
 
MattW said:
... the panniers are made of unfinished aluminium and short of powder coating or anodising there's no fix - it's just a fact of life with panniers of this type.
Click to expand...


Oh yes there is :thumb
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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