R1150GS Adventure BMW Aluminium Pannier Refurb

dcd87

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So after purchasing my 2005 R1150GSA and with BMW Aluminium Panniers, I want to refurb the panniers and clean back down to raw aluminium.


At some point in time they have been Sprayed white and have had yellow/orange chevrons painted on.

Can I get them sand/media blasted without damaging the aluminium surface texture too much? I have tried paint stripper which has removed the white paint and the original grey, but I would like to get it down to bare metal. After several hours with wire wool I am getting a bit bored!

Also, if I drill out the stainless rivets to do a proper job, can I replace these with M6 stainless dome head bolts as per the hinges, or do I need to put rivets in again?

Thanks in advance.
 
I think some pannier panels are glued together iirc ?

Careful the paint stripper hasn't dissolved the glue
 
Watch out as they split around the seam near the bottom and they are a pain to get back together, I only found out when I was bashing some dents out and ended up with 2 bits.
 
Sand blasting will be too aggressive. It will leave tiny dents all over the aluminium. Soda blasting is good at cleaning aluminium, but may not remove all the old paint.

Be careful about using chemicals to clean it. Apparently, some chemicals can bring out impurities in the aluminium and leave black spots on the surface.

If they were mine, I'd use one of those handheld orbital sanders and a fine sand paper. When you've removed all the old paint, I'd go to a very fine sand paper to smooth it off. You'll have to use a primer on the aluminium anyway before painting, so you can use a primer-filler to help give a smooth finish.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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