....told not to jet wash bike by BMW!

sk8mutie said:
Pukker, you always leave off GT85 from your list...its tops, and i believe its a bit better than dubs....and as far as what gets it and what doesnt....the lot...and if the discs get it, they get a quick squirt of de-greaser, cos your bound to get some of the spray on there!!

http://www.gt85.co.uk/index.htm
Click to expand...


Your right GT85 is wonderfull stuff, as are TF2, Max oil and others.

These all contain teflon particles for lubricating things that need a lite oil and lots of lubrication, ie: mountain bike chains and other things that suffer from dirt and dust accumilation.

As you say GT85 does the same job as WD40 as a preservertive spray, but why on earth would you want to use a comparetively expensive and highly efficient lubricating oil for preventing corrosion when WD is cheeper and better for the job because it doesn't contain teflon particals.
 
I agree with most sentiments of previous posts. BMW dealer said ok to pressurewash (gently and keep away from seals), however I tend to agree that a light hose after a spray and a soak with muck off / fuchs off /flash concentrated shampoo (used to use it on the car) is good. A little flash shampoo, not the cleaner leaves the bike quite dry and streak free.

I do use WD40 and ACF50 for cleaning and general cleaning, however I feel the best product on the market for all year protection agains corrosion is Scottoiler FS365.
Have used it for a couple of years now on my two previous bikes and there was not a sign of any corrosion on anything, even after 2 winters. (I ride all year round)
I can thoroughly recommend it if you can spare £7.00 for a small litre spray think it was you wont regret it.
Check this link out for someone elses thoughts on it if you need more info
http://www.bobpickett.co.uk/bkit/fs365.htm

I hope this is of some help
 
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Right, same as Pukker...

1. quick blast with pressure washer just to wet the bike...(too lazy to disconnect hose to "just wet the bike")
2. soak in fuchs off or hein gerickes own brand on a small section of the bike..ie front wheel, engine cover, fairing (used muckoff...left it on a bit too long and it etched into the paint surface...my fault for leaving it too long, but dont use now as a result)
3. use soft brush (even old dish brush) and agitate area where fuchs off is, then i rinse it off before moving on to next section of bike...ie right hand side of engine as far back as rear shock...etc etc that way, no etching of paint surface :(
4. final spray with fuchs off all over, and a good old rinse with the pressure washer...i say rinse as the pressure washer nozzle is normally a few feet away, and the bike gets a rinse rather then blasted with high pressure water
5. in summer, soaked in gt85 or dubs, in winter, drenched in fs365 to neutralise any salt deposits i may have missed.

fs 365, top stuff, £7 for one liter, but Hein gericke do a 5 liter refill for just over £20...makes heaps of sense.

also Val, dont really care which i use, just depends which shop is selling what, but given the choice, gt85...have been using it for 18 years on my mountain bike, so has become a favorite..used on the gs, it displaces the water from electrics, but when it evaporates off everything else, leaves the teflon behind and saves polishing..whatever that is!!

as for price...

400ml dubs £3.70
400ml gt85 £2.49 or 5 for £13

http://tbx.toolbankexpress.com/prod...400&nx=3BC3BBE3498958317C4A8350951694A9a2luu4
http://www.wadescycles.co.uk/shop/asp/product.asp?product=1048&ph=related&desc=GT-85 400ML

so let me know where its cheaper and i'll be buying some
 
I think it's a matter of doing it or it being too hard. My bike lives by the sea, shows no sign of corrosion and all of the sealy bits are ok so far. Bike always looks clean too. It's now over 2 years.
 
I'd say not to jet wash is sound advice. Its all too easy to overspray and damage things.

As for Vines, I made them re-do the decals after they blasted the rear R1200GS logos from the tailpiece. I also experienced electrical gremlins after they'd wash the bike which would dissapear after it had dried off.
 
Well said Pukmeister!

WD = Water Dispersant. That's why it works wonders at getting old engines started on damp mornings! It's protective qualities are good too but not brilliant if left long term (eg winter storage). It will evaporate away over a few weeks and therefore needs reapplying regularly.

DON'T use it to lubricate things like locks (eg car doors). It'll work wonders freeing up a siezed mechanism, but what actually happens is it washes out any trace of real lubricant then dries out completely. Use a proper lubricant for this!

Think about where the overspray goes! I once used it to "cure" a screeching heater fan in an old Renault 5 I once had before I knew any better. I turned the fan full on and liberally sprayed it with WD40. Screeching was instantly, if temporarily cured, but see if you can guess where the overspray was going while the fan was full on! Let's just say there wasn't much damp on the inside of my windscreen or my upholstery! The fan was screeching again long before the smell dispersed from inside the car.

I just bought a can of ACF50 for the corrosion battle. Can't report on it's perfomance yet but I have a top tip! Warm up the can in a bucket of warm water for a few minutes before you go to use it.
 
Liberally coat in ACF 50, ride it, rinse down with cold water after the ride to dilute the salt, having let the bike cool down first. Leaf blower to get rid of all the surplus water lying in nooks and crannies, dry bike off with a towel, stick it in garage. Bike looks filthy where all the crap sticks to the ACF 50, but come the spring it will get a good dose of fuchs off and come up looking like new. I hate cleaning bikes and can't see the sense in doing it after every ride in this weather, all I want to do is ride the thing and keep corrosion at bay during the winter. That's my humble opinion.:)

JDH
 
Do you get S100 cleaner on your side of the pond? We use that to clean engines etc... it is a degreaser/detergent in a spray bottle but it is not caustic like some degreasers and doesn't hurt bare metals or rubber. spensive, but good

No one mentioned... not good to spray cleaners, oils, or cold water on a hot engine... best to let it cool down to the point you can touch all the bits without leaving flesh behind...forgive me for stating the obvious.

We stay away from pressure washers for all the above mentioned reasons (and so as not to have warranty problems, of course, as BMW says not to use it.

If you are nervous about spraying petroleum products like WD40 on your body work, try Lemon Pledge furniture polish...it is actually a water-based silicone prep, rather than a wax, and it not only shines the bike up nicely without stripping any wax you might have used (WD 40 will remove some waxes) but when you get it on the exhaust by mistake, you get a wonderful lemonny smell:-) It provides a very slick surface to help mud fall off... very good for the undersides of fenders for that reason also.
 
I always wash my 1200GS-A with a low power pressure wash as I do with my others. No problem as long as you don`t try to blast the muck off or concentrate the pressure lance on one particular spot. At the local garage, the washer is quite powerful so I kind of wave the washer at the bike rather than aim directly if that makes sense....!

I have to say that with all the salt and crap on the roads, the best way is to pressure wash and IMHO, if BMW can`t build a bike that can take this kind of wash, then we are all knackered!!

It`s never hurt any bike I`ve owned to date that`s for sure!

Having said all that, I always make sure that all electrical connectors are liberally sprayed with WD40...!!

:thumb
 
re: pressure washers...the devil is really in the details: if you can avoid forcing water and muck into places it had not already gotten, they are a great tool...but if you squeeze water into the wheel bearings or wash the grease out of the telelever ball joint etc etc etc you can do more harm than good.

I'm so glad that I no longer live in a salt-rich environment...but compared to my old airheads, I also really appreciate that BMW are now poweder-coating or painting the engine bits... when they were raw aluminum castings, the corrosion issues were certainly worse than they are now.

Unfortunately, due to environmental constraints imposed on the manufacturers, the quality of the plating on the fasteners being used now is absolute CRAP compared to what they were using back in the day... as though the locals were drinking the water anyway...
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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