Keeping salt corrosion at bay

[MJ Williams]

I'll be running my own bike at Bonneville this year and was wondering if there are any tips to keeping the salt corrosion to a minimum.
Thanks

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Nope.

Some people say salt away.
Some people spray the bike down with 'hot wax' from a self service carwash and dont rinse.
IMO its all in vein.
The salt has ways to get on everything and you can never wash it all off.
The problem is that the salt in places you will never find has a way to corrode parts salt isnt even on after a few months.


Basically......
pressure wash the crap out of it when you get home and try to get every bit you can, pull the plastic and go nuts with wd-40.

~JH

[osti33]

I agree with Jonny. I've tried every tip and trick to fight the salt. Some of it helps but not much.

I've taken a few bikes out there. None of them are ever the same. The salt gets in places you can't even see or find.

If you do the stuff Jonny listed it will help some. Good luck. See you on the salt.  

[fvance]

Are you going to Run at Speedweek/SCTA or Bubs/AMA?

[gixxerfixxer]

Yep,

Years after and the salt creeps in any and every place it can.

I've used silicone dielectric grease lots of washing

[Oz Booster]

Like the ign switch that you find locked up after 6 months or so but it worked fine the day before
or any wire that was not on a sealed connector is black inside as you replace the corroded terminals
or the steering head bearings that sieze if the bike sits too long after
the chain that won't turn
The rear axle that cannot be removed without a hacksaw...
ETC, ETC
And that was just my first year in 04 
Learnt a bit from that one 

Now i also use a lot of silicone grease, remove and store the dedicated salt chain, strip down and clean carefully..use saltaway... anything is better than doing nothing
Mine is worse than most now i'm traveling to Bonne from Aust as it sits sweating in a container for up to 6 weeks to get home again 

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Here is a tip I learned by accident.....


Try to avoid using any spade type/ butt connectors when connecting wires. Solder and shrink tube them.... one thing I found is that I would notice some connections, even shrink tubed has almost zero corrosion when others had green tint when cut open.

Well I found that sometimes the shrink tubing doesnt slide over the solder joint very well so I would put a quick spray of WD40 on the solder joint just to slide the shrink tube over. Use a soldering iron to shrink the tube and it seals some WD40 inside the joint. Then tape the joint with electrical tape (get the good shit). I found the joints that were sealed with a little WD40 looked brand new when cut apart.


I now do this to all my connections.

~JH

[Stubbs]

I'm soaking all this in!!   

[entropy]

I'm soaking all this in!!   

me too, i'm listening, keep all the info coming! 

[gixxerfixxer]

Sucks when your Air Filter implodes and does this

[Oz Booster]

Found a new one last nite  cam cover eaten away under the plug boots