Well the good news is that Bristol Motorrad have agreed to replace the engine cover again as the replacement part fitted is covered by warranty (a 2 year warranty because I paid part of the cost - the new replacement will only inherit the balance of the warranty remaining
).
I'm going to leave it a while until either the corrosion creeps past the black plastic cover or my next oil change is due.....might as well get full benefit of the oil change they'll have to do
And there's the nub of the problem. Junk the sponge Andy. It makes no difference to mechanical noise from the engine; just sits there basking in damp and humidity rotting everything around it.
My dealer junked mine when they replaced my cover under warranty and say that they now do it as part of their PDI on new R1200's.
I'm not saying it won't happen without the sponge as clearly people are still having problems even when they have ditched the sponge, but, 15k miles on and my replacement cover is fine
Andres
I'll go with your advice, I've read before of people binning the sodding (sodden
thing! Is it actually there for sound deadening or some other purpose....anyone know for sure?
Why not just rub down the corroded area, treat and paint with some silver hammerite? Will only take a few minutes to do and save you the hassle of going into BMW
I had to do the same thing on an 1150 front cover and problem solved.
An idea but the corrosion is close to the point of being visible outside the plastic cover so if the paint job failed and the warranty period had also run out I'd be hacked off.........and anyway the hassle will be offset by a free oil change
Also I'm not sure how effective Hammerite (or any paint) would be, Aluminium requires a special undercoat/primer for paint to take properly?
When I get the new one I'll waxoil the whole area covered by the plastic cover straight away.
davem108 said:
Having just got my brand new GS back from the dealer and seeing this rust, I'm a bit concerned that mine will go this way. Someone mentions the pad has been removed on 08 version? Can anybody confirm this?
Can the cover easily be removed to prevent rust by using silver hammerite as suggested? I mit even dab a bit in the hex bolts to stop them going the same way or copper grease at least.
Interesting point, I wonder if there have been any changes for the 2008 model? The cover is easy to remove, 5 Torx screws, 2 minute job........post a photo of your engine cover please.
Hammerite/paint - see my comments above.
Waxoil and/or ACF50 ;-)
appologies 4 straying off topic but noticed you have ohlins fitted..
looking at doing the same how dya find it, worth the money?
Personally I didn't find there was a huge difference between the Ohlins and OE shocks but I swapped them at a low mileage when the OE units were still A1 (the Ohlins' were bargain 2nd hand items [used for less than 1000 miles] and came up at a time when I felt I needed a treat
). However I would say they are noticably better especially over rough road surfaces (result of better damping?). I've read plenty of 'reviews' by guys who've fitted Ohlins where they rant and rave about the big improvement - my somewhat reserved opinion could well be due to the fact that I fitted them at a time when I had been unable to ride the bike for a long time so no back to back comparison as such. I certainly have no complaints
If you need to replace your suspension Ohlins will most likely be cheaper than new BMW shocks! There are other brands of shock that 1200GS riders go for, Wibers and WP are popular (search the forum
. Watch eBay;-)
And after all these years BMW have not revised the design or improved the paint coating 
