My main points on this mod are:
You'll hear all kinds of stories about how difficult this is, how much time it takes, the difficult upkeep, and lots of other reasons why you should be too afraid to do it -- none of those are true.
I have NO expertise and had never done anything like this before.
I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, and almost no plan when I started. I had no special equipment. Yet I'm very happy with my results, and all I do now is polish (about 10 minutes) maybe once a month if the bike gets dirty.
Yes, I'm sure the experts out there will point out that "this" is wrong, and "that" is wrong in my advice to you. They'll say that there are 53 steps that I omitted, and it is not as simple as I say --- they'll make you think if you just do it the quick way, your bike is going to explode or something. Blah blah blah. So here it is -- this worked for me, so give it a try yourself, and you'll probably think of ways to improve on this simple project as you go.
Just keep it simple. This doesn't have to be a big production.
The more extensive your tool collection, the easier this will be. I got pretty good results, however, with pretty minimal equipment, as listed below.
But in honesty I stopped after 600-grit. See below: like I said, I'm not an expert, just wanted a nice shine, not a work of art. It IS a motorcycle after all, not a painting - don't forget to ride it.
Here is all I did. I did the fewest steps possible - the lazy man's method. If you really want superfantastic smooth as glass results, then you will want to do more steps and take all winter to do this. But my point below is just to give you the basic idea: start out with a coarse sandpaper and gradually work up to finer and finer papers. The more time you have, the more extreme you can make this process.
Start with a test area. You can see the rough, opaque areas of the stock anodized aluminum. Take the tank off, take an area normally hidden by the tank (in case you mess it up). Sand it by machine with 100 grit sand paper using either the FS350, or a sanding attachment on your hand drill. Sand it until it feels smooth. Then step up to a few higher grits of paper - only on this spot. Finally use your buffing wheel and compound on it for 1 minute, and then Mothers© Mag & Aluminum polish as a final step. This entire test spot should not take more than 15 minutes.
You'll see a result like this - a mirror-like finish, compared to the old rough frame. This will probably get you as excited as I was - excited enough to go on and tackle the whole frame.
Now decide how much of the frame you really want to do. The main issue is "will you be able to reach in there with your sander?" . You don't want to start a section and then find out you can't get a machine in a tight spot - then you're left with an area that's half done. For me, this cosmetic mod was NOT worth disassembling the entire bike. So I decided not to do the tail section of frame ( the part beneath the trunk. But the entire fore-frame (all parts in front of the seat , and under the gas tank) is easily accessible just by removing the tank. So if you just stick to this, you get the most benefit with the least work.
Sand the aluminum with low grit numbers first. You'll see that the progress is slow, but you want to see that dull anodized coating all come off before you proceed to a higher grit. Some guys start with 60 grit. Do not use 60-grit - it is too coarse!. It will scar the aluminum with deep scratches that will be impossible to take out and smooth-over later. It is best just to start with 100-grit.
Wipe off and inspect every few minutes. When all the rough, anodized layer is off, go to higher and higher grit number (this means a finer, and less aggressive, sandpaper). Just use each grit until you've gotten the surface as smooth as you can.
I'd recommend using 100 grit first. When the anodized layer is gone, move up to 200 grit. Then 400 grit. Then 1000, finally 2000. It's not really necessary to sand any higher than 2000 - because after that point you should be ready to polish the metal to a shine.
With each grit, sand left-right, then up-down - so that your sanding marks are perpendicular to eachother -- the idea is that you'll be able to leave a smooth surface that way, without any deep valleys. After you've sanded with 400 grit, the surface should feel totally smooth. If not - then go back down to a lower grit number and start again.
The picture at left shows the appearance when not enough sanding was done. Even when polished to a shine, the fine sanding scratches are very evident. If you see this, is means you have to go back down to 400 grit or maybe 1000 grit and wet sand again, then polish and inspect until you see some improvement.
There's nothing tricky here - wet sanding just means to use sandpaper that is continually being washed, allowing the water to remove the sanding debris. With very fine paper (400 and above), if you dry sand, the paper quickly becomes clogged and useless. So fill a bucket, get the paper wet, and sand. You'll see the black aluminum dust start to drip off with the water. Keep dipping your paper in the bucket every 30 seconds to keep it drippin wet and fee of debris.
Again, with grit 400 and above, you should be "wet sanding".
You may not be able to find any grit above 600 at your local hardware store. But if you check Meguiars.com you should be able to find 1000- , 2000- , and 3000- grit sandpaper, if you decide to go to that degree of perfection. The finer you go, the better your results will be. I've gotten good results by only going up to 600 grit. But I've gotten almost perfect results when I took the time go go up to 2000 grit.
When you're satisfied that the surface is as smooth as you can possibly get it, then it's time for buffing. The best way to do this is go buy cotton buffing wheels at your local Ace Hardware Store. You'll also find different grades of buffing compounds for use with these wheels. The cotton wheels will attach to your power drill, and you'll shine the metal to a mirror finish this way. This combination will generate lots of heat, and you can add a bit of pressure from your hands to help the process along.
The compounds will tell you which one to use first (the most abrasive), then move on to stage two and three. The more time you spend the better. The surface will just start to glow a little while you buff, but the mirror shine will not come out until the next step.
When done with buffing, use another buff wheel with Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish. It will make a huge mess, flying all over the place. You should have safety glasses on for this and all other steps. This will bring out the shine. Wipe off the polish when done. Don't waste time trying to do this with a "Mother's Power Ball". It's too soft. You need a cotton wheel on a drill so that you can compress the cotton and really generate some heat to jewel the surface.
Another step you might try is to use "Boms away" for a final polish, again using the cotton buffing wheels. It is not required, but I believe I got just a bit more mirror-quality by adding this step. You can't possibly over-polish. Every time I clean up the bike and polish again with this stuff, it gets brighter, more shiny and more clear. I've found nothing better for chrome and aluminum polishing!
That's it ! Most guys will make this more complicated and expensive than it has to be. Don't let them scare you away from this. I'm sure these experts probably have a final result that is more perfect than mine. But I wanted to post this to show that even with no knowledge or fancy tools, with a little bit of time you can come out with a result that is very nice.
Boms away is an excellent metal polish. My other favorite is Mother's© Mag and Aluminum Polish, which you can find at any hardware store.
I probably will never do the rear subframe or the swingarm -- that will truly be a lot of work that I' just don't want to get into.
As far as the upkeep? Minimal. I'll notice after a month or so of riding that the aluminum may start to haze a bit, especially if I've been out in the rain. Just take the Boms Away on a dry cloth, rub in on the frame until it turns black (about 30 seconds), then rub off (30 seconds). It takes me 10 mintues to go over the whole frame section that you see polished, then the shine is as good as new. Mother's aluminum polish, or even Mother's chrome polish are also excellent to bring the shine back up once a month or so.
And don't give up! The frame will look really horrible all the while you're sanding it. But take your time and sand with each grit until you're sure that you can't make it any smoother with that grit, then move on. Do one section at a time. Don't expect to see ANY shine at all until you get to the last phase with buffing (a slight glimmer starts to come through), and then polishing with Boms-away or Mother's Aluminum Polish. It's only at the polishing stage that the mirror shine will finally come through, making all the effort more than worth it!
Finally, once you get this done, you'll see that plain white plastic framesliders will stand out like a sore thumb. You'll have to find a set of chrome ones to go with the new slick look you've established. 