Engine finish on Rockster

[grt1500]

Does anyone know what the engine and gearbox finish consists of ? is it anodized, painted or a combination of both.

How well does it stand up to normal wear ?

[big papa]

Some kind of black wrinkle coat. Seems like the same as on the blacked out HD I used to have. Seems durable, I prefer black drivetrains over silver. I used some green degreaser on the case and it seams to have dulled the black a bit. I haven't tried to rejuvenate it with anything yet.

Did you just get a Rockster, or are you shopping??

Bill

[grt1500]

Bill,

Thanks for the info.

I bought a 2004 Rockster on e-Bay. It only has 2400 miles on it and I got a pretty good price. Its in Dallas and I'm going to pick it up next weekend.

I'm glad I found this forum, looks like several folks from our area participate.

Glenn

[big papa]

Yep, I have good ride from Dallas.


Bill

[elmosisu]

It is definitely paint. the reason I know ia I lightly scratched to rear drive while changing a flat away from home, and afterwards went to the dealer to gwt some black touch-up paint. BMW does no have a black touch-up for it, but I matched it easilly by going to the auto store and getting some type of auto spray.

[zooomart]

It would interesting to know from BMW what they use but my guess it is an E-coat. This is a very involved process of metal prep, dipping the part through an electrically charged paint bath then oven cured at 200 to 325F depending on the costing. Epoxy is great for chemical resistance, but poor UV protection and the gloss retention. Acrylic E-coat is probably what they used.
Tough to spray a coating on the cooling fins and get a consistant thin thickness. I wouldn't be surprised if BMW used a twostep process that puts down a Epoxy coat first and then an Acrylic coat second for gloss and UV protection.
Should be able to polish the surface with a polishing compound and elbow grease and get some gloss back. The coating is probably at least 1.5 mils thick.
More on the E-coat process if your interested http://www.ppg.com/car_indcoat/electro8.htm

If this is off abit maybe someone from BMW can set us straight

[leno]

Problem with the black engine is that they then take the paint off the fin ends to give it a smart look. But the ends of the fins corrode because they are not protected and that can also let the weather in under the paint at the edge. The result is not such a smart look.

[riceburner]

the black also fades quite a lot from UV exposure.

[ronnierockster]

My gearbox casing has faded but not the engine. Most odd the shaft cover and engine are shiny but the gearbox finnish has a sort of grey flat look to it. Looks like uv has got at it.. Guess it will just look kind of used in time. A patina of age they say. Just like me!! RR

[mdouglas]

My Gearbox too is rather Grey and faded. However, a quick wipe of ACF50 or WD40 soon has it looking like brand new (until I next wash it and the shampoo removes the thin film of protectant).

Also, this winter is really causing me grief with the black finish on the cylinder heads. Which muppet at BMW decided that exposed aluminium on the end of the fins was a durable finish ?!!! I think I may repaint, in which case I'll leave the whole head black. I will probably repaint the rocker covers in black too as I've never thought the blue grey finish looked right. Especially on an Ed80. That's all assuming I don't trade it in for an R1200S within the next couple of months

[ed@r1150r]

the quality the the coating is indeed verry poor.....

by bike looks like sh@#!&*%#!t after one year driving each day...



I wonder who thought about this coating When you polsih to hard, the black comes of....
And I've also got some beautifull pictures of a "bubbly" blue front fork

crap

Can they just do that, such a bad coating?

[DKSTR]

Here I go again. The tranny runs a lot hotter than the rear drive housing, especially with the CAT right under it. Hot & cold cycles can soften/weaken most surfaces and finishes and especially if exposed to dirt you can get dulling. I've used KLASSE for 2 decades with no dulling or peeling on hot painted surfaces. Dulling can mean the finish is drying out. Other wise let it "patina" as mentioned. That has a valid appeal also. I don't blame BMW, it's just plain physics. "If you work a horse ya gotta feed it."

...the engine fins thing...form over function there. Not what I would have done. Guess I'll paint mine sometime too.

[neevee]

ed@r1150r- Is that a dent in the paralever I see in the picture or is it a trick of the light? [/quote]

[ed@r1150r]

ed@r1150r- Is that a dent in the paralever I see in the picture or is it a trick of the light?

[/quote]

a trick of the light....

[ed@r1150r]

Here I go again. The tranny runs a lot hotter than the rear drive housing, especially with the CAT right under it. Hot & cold cycles can soften/weaken most surfaces and finishes and especially if exposed to dirt you can get dulling. I've used KLASSE for 2 decades with no dulling or peeling on hot painted surfaces. Dulling can mean the finish is drying out. Other wise let it "patina" as mentioned. That has a valid appeal also. I don't blame BMW, it's just plain physics. "If you work a horse ya gotta feed it."

...the engine fins thing...form over function there. Not what I would have done. Guess I'll paint mine sometime too.

don't agree.

My previous bike, a blue R1150R with silver drive housing en rear train, had no collour-change at all.

So it is possible to keep it the same......

[MartyWadd]

My engine housing(?) polished up nicely with Mothers' polish. I used it on all the black metallic parts. Wash, rub it in, and buff it off. Worked to get some of the cat and headers shiny again. I love that stuff. I hope I'm not hurting the paint on the engine housing. (It says not to use it on painted surfaces, but I was feeling crazy that day. It was the only time I ever). Did I mention that my white rims look brand new again?

[DKSTR]

The silver engine and drive housings are not usually painted. Some have bare metal, others may be clear coated. Hence there would be little change in color unless the clear coat yellows.