I accidently stretched one of these on my left fork dust seal. It's not usable any more, but does it really matter? Neither one seemed like it was putting any pressure on the seal anyway.
i disagree. you need to replace either the garter spring - by getting one off a new or used wiper - or replace the entire thing. the springs are formed into a loop by "threading" the ends together. it requires careful fingers to put one back together with the wiper in place, but it can be done. in fact, when i rebuild forks, i tighten the springs in both the wiper and the seals. it makes leaky kayabas practically trouble-free.
I would go overboard on anything that might prevent dirt getting into your forks.
Replace the spring, as soon as you can, I can't imagine its worth much.
Could you buy one at a hardware store or anywhere besides a Honda dealership? The place I bought my bike from is near my house near Penn State, so it's 3 hours away from my regular house. And Service Honda has a $7 shipping fee, so I'm outa luck.:(
Perhaps you can salvage the one you have if all that is wrong is that it is stretched. As Will previously mentioned, there is a 'male' end of the spring that essentially screws into the 'female' end. Find the connection, unscrew the male end from the female, and cut a section off the female side, shortening the spring. Then reattach the male end.
Hehe, once it stretched I got a little furious and took wire cutters and cut the dam thing in half.:p Too bad I hadn't thought of that before I did it.