Emery cloth to clean headers/remove paint?

Hey there,

First post and asking for some advice, how lame's that?

Have been lurking a while if that counts for anything though!


Anywho, just after a bit of advice really.. I've been the proud owner of an '01 SV for the last month and a bit (loving it!) but the previous owner has done some things to it that are now bugging me.. Example being badly, after closer inspection, painted front forks .. Black to be exact. Looks like he did it with a paintbrush and some gloss from homebase.. Either way it's flaking and I want it off, even managed to coat the bolts, the muppet.

Wondering then what I can use that won't be mean to the underneath, bit of a hug from some emery cloth perhaps? I'm open to ideas.

I also read that emery cloth can bring shine to the header pipes, what grade are we talking about there? I'm a bit of a tool (yeah, funny) when it comes to this kind of stuff but am learning


Thanks in advance, I'll thank again anyway but it's nice to say I suppose!

Will also put up some picture of this horrific paint job for anyone interested.

[squirrel_hunter]

Never cleaned the down pipes however have painted fork lowers before...

If I were going to do it I'd take the forks off the bike. Pop the dust seals up and then go about masking off the top of the lower and the stanchion as I wouldn't want to damage them while removing the paint you have on there. To remove the paint something like Nitromors, or a Cellulose Thinners, or other paint remover is what I'd try first. Without knowing exactly what it was painted with results may vary.

If the paint removers didn't work very well then lightly sanding the leg would be the next option. If the paint stripper did work then I'd imagine you will need to sand parts of the leg down anyway as I would expect the lowers factory finish has been flaking off and that is why it is was painted in the first place.

Once the fork lower has been tided up and all of the bolts removed I would stuff some tissue down the thread holes to stop the paint from getting in. Some use sacrificial bolt however I fear they might damage the new paint when removed, that's up to you.

Paint wise, silver Hammerite from a spray can gives a good finish. A couple of light even coats and a good 24hrs to dry I find gives a good even finish. It wont last forever and may chip, but if it does it will be less noticeable having used silver and its not terribly difficult to reapply.

However the better option would to be strip the fork lowers down completely and send them for powdercoating. But the above is the cheapest quickest option that has worked for me in the past.

Thanks mate, I did consider Nitromors but figured it'd be a bit too harsh on the underneath, I will however try the thinner and see how it goes.

It's literally a case of getting what's on top, off, and hopefully being able to leave it as is.. never that simple though eh?

For your downpipes just use sandpaper and start with medium and gradually work to finer and finer paper finishing with a very fine wet and dry followerd by autosol and a lot of buffing (get a buffing wheel and stick it in a cordless drill