ACF-50 for the winter, fine, but how do you remove it?

Apex

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Presumably with difficulty or what's the point of it.

Youtube has a few vids of how to apply it, but I can't see how to remove it. If you load your bike with it all year that's fine. But if I start to use it in anger it would be for the salty season only and wouldn't want residue all over the bike the rest of the year. They've got Hybrid-X on already anyway but another protective layer wouldn't kill it.

Have to say that I'd never thought of using it on the off-roady. Probably a very good idea.
 
Use cleaner such as Dirty Devil which can be bought from off stores etc etc. You may have to wash it twice and agitate it a bit with a paint brush in awkward areas.
 
I could try the WD40 route as I've plenty in stock. Experiment with the Freeride first I think.
 
I would try an IPA solution, (IPA is an alcohol compound that will dissolve wax, grease and similar - it's cheap to buy) - maybe up to 20% IPA, 78% distilled water and a touch of a soapy APC

If you go too far with the IPA, say over 30%, (some say) it CAN affect the clear top coat of the paintwork

test a small (not too important) area first

wipe the panel down using a cloth then wash the panel and recheck etc.,

It's relatively cheap to make up

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_alcohol
 
If the bike has absolutely no anodised finishes you can use an alkaline based cleaner as ,mostly it won’t touch painted finishes or powder coat,zinc spokes won’t like it much.
Paraffin will work well in a pump sprayer and pressure wash off,
But be careful off any stickers that are not lacquered over as the solvent nature of the distillate can attack glues
 
Is IPA 99% good for chain cleaning? I've used WD40 which works well but it does make o'rings swell up so needs blowing off straight away. Wondering if this IPA is the answer as I refuse to buy spray on chain cleaner.

By the way, these are brilliant: https://www.intogear.net/images/_lib/tirox-360-chain-brush-2272-0-1366907404000.jpg


EDIT:

"IPA is a solvent, it dissolves grease (and water, and anything else) into itself, so you can wipe it away.

Degreaser is a surfactant, so it allows the grease/oil to form microscopic globules in the water, which you then wash or wipe away. It’s essentially concentrated soap.

Both will do the same job, but degreaser works better at stripping large amounts of gunk off drivechains as the degreaser and oil form an emulsion, which you can then wash away. If you put IPA in a chain cleaner you’d just be diluting the oil and it still wouldn’t wash off. IPA works best for removing small amounts of gunk, or where you don’t want to leave a trace of soap/water afterwards for example cleaning calipers and levers after bleeding brakes, or sloshing around in suspension forks to remove the last traces of the old oil and any dirt."
 
My year round biker bloke covers chains and brake discs before applying ACF50. I’d have thought a good chain lube applied regulary would be a better option. Then you can use the ACF for the rest of the bike.
 

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Why remove it?

If done properly (with a compressor) it comes out as the finest mist and you cannot even see it is there, I do all our bikes a couple of times a year with a good blast of the stuff, and the odd squirt after a good wash.

On the other hand if your putting it on 3 inches thick from a can I can see where you are coming from, but that is an expensive way of doing things, I can do about 30 bikes with a 1L bottle using the compressor method.
 
i pressure wash my orange greenlaner,then blowdry it...
cover it in Gt 85....done job.
 
This recent comprehensive corrosion test rates AFC50, GT85 etc against alternatives (it doesn't win) and assesses damage to o rings. Test also looks at painting v fine spraying on products (all the products performed better when fine sprayed). How do you remove the coating is not covered, good question esp if you just want to touch up the paintwork etc. www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/revie...-xcp-rust-blocker-corrosion-protectant-review
 
I’ve got 5l of ACF50 arriving in the next few days and it’ll be applied using a paraffin gun and compressor to 3 bikes and will probably only be fully removed when they eventually get sold. 5l usually lasts about 3 years at our house but I tend to go a bit OTT with the amount I spray on each time :blast
 
Once a year...Clean and dry the bike...polish with BILT HAMBER carnauba polish...apply BILT HAMBER DYNAX UC...When you want to remove it use BILT HAMBER cleansing fluid.

BILT HAMBER DYNAX UC may be a little more tricky to apply than ACF 50, but it has far greater anti corrosion properties.


I have 5 pieces of mild steel that I pinned to the outside of the workshop wall about 5/6 years ago. This included a piece done with ACF50 and one done with DYNAX UC. 4 pieces including the one coated with ACF 50 are completely rusty a couple have almost rusted away. The one coated with Dynax UC now is about 30% covered with rust. After 3 years it had no sign of any corrosion in the 4th year it had a little around the edges. It has out performed anything I have ever used.
 
I’ve got 5l of ACF50 arriving in the next few days and it’ll be applied using a paraffin gun and compressor to 3 bikes and will probably only be fully removed when they eventually get sold. 5l usually lasts about 3 years at our house but I tend to go a bit OTT with the amount I spray on each time :blast

Wow, I have had the same bottle for about 2 years and being doing 3-4 bikes at least a couple of times a year and it is still half full.

Many years ago I did an experiment in the garden with some rubbed down mild steel shelf brackets, no protection saw them rusty in a day, WD40 lasted a good few days (maybe a week or two- long time ago now) before some rust started to get on them, I then chucked some salt on them all to make things worse and this did for the WD40 ones quite quickly, but the ACF held out really well, lost all my notes and pictures, but overall ACF did a very good job, also saw an online article with a far more scientific test where it scored very well.
 
Wow, I have had the same bottle for about 2 years and being doing 3-4 bikes at least a couple of times a year and it is still half full.

Many years ago I did an experiment in the garden with some rubbed down mild steel shelf brackets, no protection saw them rusty in a day, WD40 lasted a good few days (maybe a week or two- long time ago now) before some rust started to get on them, I then chucked some salt on them all to make things worse and this did for the WD40 ones quite quickly, but the ACF held out really well, lost all my notes and pictures, but overall ACF did a very good job, also saw an online article with a far more scientific test where it scored very well.

I thought that I read that it went "off" after 12 months - whatever "off" means
 
Wow, I have had the same bottle for about 2 years and being doing 3-4 bikes at least a couple of times a year and it is still half full.

Many years ago I did an experiment in the garden with some rubbed down mild steel shelf brackets, no protection saw them rusty in a day, WD40 lasted a good few days (maybe a week or two- long time ago now) before some rust started to get on them, I then chucked some salt on them all to make things worse and this did for the WD40 ones quite quickly, but the ACF held out really well, lost all my notes and pictures, but overall ACF did a very good job, also saw an online article with a far more scientific test where it scored very well.

I just blast it all over the place and so far I’ve not had to sit and look at a badly corroded bike.

My latest order of 5l of ACF50 arrived today so I’ll hook up the compressor, fill the paraffin spray gun and go wild with it. I’ll lift the tanks and give everything that even slightly resembles something electrical a good soak then use solvent cleaner to get excess off the discs and sit back and laugh.

I’ll be taking one of the bikes to Denmark next month and you can guarantee that the roads there and back will be awash with chemicals designed to stop freezing and rot motorbikes but when I get home I’ll hose the loose crud off, maybe give it a blast of ACF50 again then forget it. I use a lot because previously I’ve been coating a sidecar as well as a couple of solo bikes but cut it back to about £30/year and it’s peanuts :D
 


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