Harley Davidson Engine Cooling Fin Oxidation

[WaxMaster1]

I've owned 10 Harleys and one was a 2006 Road King which I bought used and had horrible edges. I can say without a doubt, there is no product which will fix that problem (by the way, yours is not that bad) without some type of mechanical abrasion. I've tried various grits of sand paper on a block which helped to a degree. The problem is cleaning each fin without marring or hurting the wrinkle black by dulling it. If it bugs you that much, have the fins diamond cut for a sweet, blingy, poseur look.

[MarkD51]

I just messed with it for about an hour and half today after work and had to stop as I got so pissed off. Hit it with Mothers, NeverDull and a few other metal polishes nothing doing to much. I have to be careful of over lap on the black as its textured and a pain to get stuff off of it. It just amazes me how fast they corroded. My 2008 SuperGlide didnt have a issue once in the 8 years I owned it and it went to FLA several times, this bike I just bought in June (2016 Model)less than 3k on it. I have a detail business here on the south side of Atlanta, and am very familiar with the Cquartz products from Carpro. I'll call Corey at Carpro and ask him about the heat factor for the DLX. Never even thought about applying that, thanks for putting the bug in my head about that. Sometimes it helps to have a different perspective. Being my bike Im more frustrated than normal,LOL. But again this is the first time I've encountered this and I do a fair amount of Harley's. Not sure the P21S soap with do much for the oxidation. Also kills me I watched a demo at the event on a polish they were saying was great for this and I just blew it off. LOL. Was really hoping to find something that would kick off quick, but looks like it is going to be a royal PITA.

I am a member of the Carpro Forum, and seem to recall somewhere, that Corey said that CQ DLX was heat resistant enough that it could be used on Motorcycle Exhausts. On their site and the description of DLX, it does state heat resistance over 800F.

Re-reading your original post, I'm beginning to think that the damage that has occurred is not from salt spray and the effects of salt, but rather a literal "sand blasting" damage to the metal.

Possible, if as you say, there were perhaps high winds and blowing sands.

I've experienced a little bit of florida weather on the gulf coast where some "no name hurricanes" came in while I was vacationing, was down at the beach, and the blowing sand had quite a wicked stinging effect. And I can recall seeing evidence of some cars down there having that "sand blasted" look about them as well.

Perhaps closer examination with a magnifying glass might better tell the tale? To see if the damage looks like pitting to the metal surface?

Again, I am unsure if Harley Davidson clear anodized these parts? I'd guess that if they possibly did, it would make damage removal even harder yet as the anodizing process hardens the surface.

[hatzo1]

Its the salt spray for sure. My triple fork trees and levers all had the same corrosion, its just easier to deal with an large pieces of aluminum where you do not have to worry about getting polish on the black wrinkle coating.They are corrected now. I used Flitz that I bought tonight and its just about all gone now, just quit tonight as Im tired from working on other vehicles. So the opinion of nothing will get rid of it I don't accept. Plan on using a dremel 422 felt polishing cone on my dremel this weekend once the come in. After doing some searching on the Harley Forums I found this, thats where the dremel idea came in. Guy made a nice PDF on it. But again thanks for the various inputs again.
Cleaning Machined Cooling Fins - Harley Davidson Forums