Swingarm repaint or?

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KXTodd

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Nov 25, 2000
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My swingarm is looking pretty bad, all scratched up etc. I just repainted my daughters bike w PJ1 and wasn't too impressed. Can it be powdercoated or anodized? Anyone done theirs?
Read a thread on here about anodizing wheels but couldn't find it, when they do the anodizing is it only on the top surface or do they have to do the whole piece? What's the process? I figure if I get my wheels done I'll do the swingarm at the same time?
 
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Adrenaline

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Oct 26, 2001
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I am pretty sure anodizing is harder. But if you get oven cleaner, or a tree branch hits it there will be a ugly mark on it. I have found that taking the swingarm off and then stripping it completely then using mothers aluminum polish and a buffer makes it look awsome!! nice and shiny but you have to do it often or it will dull. Best bet, polish it and then put a clear coat or two over it :D
I'm just relizing who i'm replying to. I hope this will help you!
Adrenaline
 
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smooth sail

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Dec 10, 2001
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I have to agree with Adrenaline on this. Strip the paint off, polish it up with a buffing wheel and rouge, the the Mothers. Clear coat may be optional. I didn't do mine, so I can polish it back up when I do the maintenance on that area. I felt that the chipped up clear coat would begin to look as bad as the chipped paint.
 

KawieKX125

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Kawasaki swingarms look really good if you strip them with paint stripper then use a wire brush by hand or scotch brite to polish it to a satin sheen.
 
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KXTodd

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Sounds like work to me;) I'm kind of weary about polishing it , I'm lucky if I even wash it on a reglar basis. Anodizing out of the question? If anodized wheels could hold up as good as they do, should work on the swingarm too right? I checked on the process and it would have to be dipped, would the thread inserts be a problem being a different metal? they're steel right? I realize it won't last forever but seems like it should last at least as long as paint and shouldn't look as bad when scratched up?:think
 

KawieKX125

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Not polishing to a mirror shine, just brushing it to a satin type of finish. I will post pics if I can get a digital camera.
 
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KXKen

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Jan 6, 2001
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I'd powder coat it if you don't want to polish it. I've got gold anodized rims on my KX and if you don't put something over the rims when you put a new tire on you'll scratch the crap out of them.

What does the factory use?
 
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yardpro

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poslih, it looks great and is not very hard. sand off the paint with a fine grit paper. Then go to it with a buffing wheel on a 4" angle grinder. use polishing compound. It took me about 1.5 hr to do mine and it looks trick.
 

KawieKX125

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USe paint stripper. It is available from Home Depot. Just brush it on, let it sit and sipe the paint right off!!! Be careful though, it is very caustic. Then rinse well with soap, then use a coarse scotch bright pad(green?) to buff it.
Don't go for the mirror shine though. It is way to hard to keep it up.
 
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yardpro

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my whole cr is mirror and it's not that hard to keep up, just don't use harsh cleaners like purple stuff/greased lightning, just good old soap and h2o. I spend about an hour per month keeping my polishing up to snuff.
 

splatt

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Dec 1, 2001
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I just had my YZ`s frame powdercoated but wanted the swingarm a different color.Powdercoating it was out of the question because cost is based on volume.I found a good durable spray paint (like Hammerite)and scuffed up the old paint with scotchbrite and sprayed away . When you do your maintnance just scuff it up and tou it up.Alot less involved than polishing.
 
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yardpro

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polishing isn't much maintenance. especially if you wax it. I only spent an hour per month keeping up my whole cr. my swingarm only takes about 10 min. the bike looks sooo trick.
 
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KXTodd

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Nov 25, 2000
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Do you have pictures of your polished swingarm? I think I remember Kawboy talking about it being a beouch keeping his up? I'm mostly looking for low maintenance along with good looks, impossible?
Nobody has anything else on the anodizing??????
KXKen, I know what you mean about scratching up the gold rims:( Just put a new back tire on last week and scratched em up pretty good, even managed to break a tire iron:o Should be ok on the swingarm though, not like I need to drag a wrench across it monthly?
 
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KXTodd

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That is sharp:cool: How do you keep the hubs so clean????Do you ever ride in the mud? I use a toothbrush once in a while when I clean my bike and I still can't get to all of the hub parts.
 
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kipmax

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Aug 29, 2001
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I bead blasted those hubs and painted them while restoring that bike (it was looking sad after 12 years of neglect) this past summer. It is an SR model that I just used to scoot around town on.

Here is my other KDX, the off-road only one that does see plenty of mud.

http://bikes.eikaiwamax.com/images/DSC01412.jpg

I bought it through an online auction for parts and ended up restoring it too. Same treatment on the hubs, bead blasted and painted silver with a coat of clear. Mud hoses right off. However, the key to keeping any dirt bike clean is washing it as soon after riding as possible. Let it sit a day and you'll end up with a baked on film that is tough to get off. On this bike I painted the swingarm with polyurethane automotive paint (uses a hardener) and a coat of clear. Also easy to wash and it seems to be much more durable than the stock paint.
 
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KXKen

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Jan 6, 2001
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Originally posted by KXTodd
Should be ok on the swingarm though, not like I need to drag a wrench across it monthly?
Click to expand...

No but swingarms get beat up pretty good. Mine has got deep scratches from everthing under the sun. They take a bigger beating than rims do (IMO).
 
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Pit_Monkey

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May 19, 2001
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my friend and i polished our swing arms together this summer. it took two days!!! but they look great. he has a 98 cr 250 and i have a 98 yz 125. tha cr swingarm is very easy to do since its flat like the kawasaki one. what we did was sand them with a craftsman air sander using 800 grit paper. then we hand sanded with emory cloth and then began the polishing process. the polishing process is what takes all the time. we started using a liquid metal polish and a buffer. then we switched to mother mag and aluminum polish. we did this by hand. i spent about 3 hours on this step and still have only used 1/4 of the $3.99 container. i cant stress enough how sparringly this polish can be used. any way. the swing are looks great but after a wash i spend a good 15 minutes repolishing it to restore its luster. ill deffenitly post some pictures as soon as i can get so get some.
 
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yardpro

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Oct 15, 2001
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butt monkey (oops, I meant pitt monkey)-
the swingarm in pic on your website doesn't look polished. Also if you use a buffing wheel( a power tool) it only takes about thirty minutes to do the first time, and about 10 min/week to maintain. On an earlier post you suggested that a guy spend the $3.00 not on tire pens but on things to make him faster, lihe riding schools, etc. Maby you should have spent the two days practicing. You cracked on im for wanting to make his bike look better. Just so you lnow, polishing the aluminum doesn't make lessen the air drag enough to make any difference:p
 
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Pit_Monkey

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May 19, 2001
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Yardpro- <mod edit>. The pictures in the link are of my bike before I did anything to it except add the pipe. You obviously didn’t read my post very well if at all because I stated at the end that id post some pictures of it when I get some. Also you must not have ever polished a swing arm or frame. It takes a lot of work if it’s done right to get it to look good. You can’t just use a buffing wheel and polish on it to make it shine. You need to sand off the paint and remove some material to get to the bare metal before you can begin to polish.

btw 10 min X 4 wks is only 40 min not an hour. if your gonna post the same thing twice you might want to make it consistent!!!

<Mod edit: we can do without the personal attacks> By the way I didn’t polish my swing arm just to make my bike look better I did it because it was all scratched from rocks. Plus it cost me nothing but my time because I used my friend’s tools and polish. As far as the wind resistance thing goes your probably right but when your mud bogging it sure is nice to know that the mud won’t stick to the smoothly polished surface. :) :) :)

btw my name is still only spelled with 1 t not 2 <mod edit: getting tired of this>
 
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Moteaux

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Aug 30, 2001
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Interesting topic.... I logged off of DRN about 3 hours ago and went to the hardware store and bought some paint stripper and #000 steel wool. I took the rear wheel off and then I put the paint stipper on the swingarm and let it set about 20 min. and then put on some rubber gloves and sanded with some fine to medium grit sandpaper that I had one sheet of (couldn't read the back for the exact grade), and then washed off the paint stripper. Used the steel wool with the Mother's Polish that I had and then buffed off with a clean rag and then used another clean rag to get any excess film off. Then I put the rear wheel back on.

I now have a swing arm with a mirror bright finish and am back on DRN. Three hours was all by hand.... did I do something wrong 'cuz apparently according to some this is a time consuming and grueling job;) :p

Just teasing pit_monkey, but it really wasn't hard and maintenance seems like it should be easy enough. Hope this helps anyone thinking of doing the same.
 
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Pit_Monkey

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May 19, 2001
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hey thats really cool. no problem with the joke. i can take it but i just dont like getting flame mail and then have people try to get in my face about unrelated issues. in total it took like 15 hrs to do both the swing arms with my friends help. its cool that you got it done in three. i was just saying how long it took me. when i was at the cycle shop near my house he said it took that long to do the swing arm on his street bike so i was working off two people here. i hope it looks good. post some pics if you can. about the maintnance youll notice that the swingarme looks dull after you wash it and i will also show water spots. but it just takes 15 or so minutes to restore its original luster.
 
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yardpro

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Oct 15, 2001
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Butt monkey-
The times were an approximation, and the hour per month was for the whole bike, or are you in a creative reading class to go with that creative spelling class. <Mod edit> You absolutely can get a mirror quality polish with a 4' anlge grinder with a buffing wheel attached ( I forgot your dad won't let you play with power tools yet, maby in a few years), my whole cr was done with one. Yes you have to sand off the antioxidation coating first, but I knew the guy asking the question was smart enough to know that.

motohead00-
it is only grueling if you don't have the brain cells you figure it out.
 
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