Clear coat on forks?

[Teh_K]

I was wondering, does anyone know if the 98+ fork upper or lower tubes have any sort of clearcoat on them? I ask because I was going to use brake cleaner on them to get rid of any oils/grease/etc, and wanted to make sure I wouldn't be damaging any sort of protective coating.

Thanks!

[TheCandyman]

There is no protective coating on them. But if there is oil on there you need new seals. If that brake cleaner gets on the seals your going to need new seals.

[squiggy]

I have yet to read about a clearcoat on the stanchion. The lowers I can't say.

[Astro4x4]

Uppers are chromed, lowers are clear coated. I just finished stripping my lowers last week.

[Teh_K]

There is no protective coating on them. But if there is oil on there you need new seals. If that brake cleaner gets on the seals your going to need new seals.

I have yet to read about a clearcoat on the stanchion. The lowers I can't say.

I'm actually in the process of rebuilding my forks anyway, but the lowers is what I'm more concerned about... I don't wanna spray them and then start getting rust and stuff - anyone else know for certain?

Uppers are chromed, lowers are clear coated. I just finished stripping my lowers last week.

Oops, was replying when you wrote this - do you know if brake cleaner will strip the clear coat?

[kevin2502000]

They are made out of aluminum so rust is not an issue.

[Astro4x4]

Oops, was replying when you wrote this - do you know if brake cleaner will strip the clear coat?

Won't do them any favors that's for sure. Just clean them up with dish soap and a brush or your favorite paint safe degreaser, like Simple Green or something.

[The CyberPoet]

Uppers (i.e. inner fork tubes) should be stainless and have no coating.

Lowers (i.e. outer fork tubes) should be aluminum and depending on the year, may have had a coating (I think they started coating the lowers at the factory the same time as they added the fork protectors at the seals -- '04+ models). Easy way to tell: do they look uniformly gray all over? If there are white spots anywhere, it's bare aluminum, and the white spots are where the aluminum rusted... When I had my Kats, I'd simply take standard metal polish (Blue Magic) to the lowers once every 3 to 6 months and polish 'em back up. The polish contained a coating that would help keep them bright longer before needing to be polished again.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

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[Astro4x4]

My '00 forks are definitely cleared. The clear is thin as heck, but it's there.

[Teh_K]

Hm - I guess I'll assume they're cleared. Thanks, all!