What Are The Do's and Don'ts of ACF-50?
 

I have a lovely new Moto Guzzi and am determined to keep it as rust free as possible - why I am worrying is almost beyond me as, I mean, no-one has ever heard of an Italian vehicle suffering from corrosion have they?

To that end I have bought some ACF-50 and am about to apply it but I was wondering what people's experience with ACF-50 is and whether I can liberally soak the bike (except the brakes obviously) and leave it to dry or if there was a more refined technique. The intention is to ride the bike until the time that they start putting down salt on the UK roads as that is not fair on any bike. So the questions are:

Everywhere except the wheels?
Is it good with plastics - i.e. does it eat them?
Will it be easy to remove next spring?
Do I need to remove it next spring?
What happens if it gets onto the cold exhaust - smoke when I next run it?
Anything else I should consider?

Thanks

I spray the whole bike as you say except the brakes and it doesn't seem to harm anything.

Random thoughts

Warm before you spray. I pop the gun in warm water. The stuff is gloopy.

A compressor and spray gun is the only effective way. Wiping on either uses loads or misses bits. The kitchen spray things they sell block up before you've finished one bike.

Cover don't wipe off. It's a swine to clean off fully, so make cereal box covers for the discs.

It does no harm to anything although dealers say it makes them look dull. Quote Mandy Rice-Davis at them and they get over it.

It lasts 6 month's but over winter you need to give up any shiney bike fantasy. Soap takes enough off to stop it working, so cold water only.

Let it dry. Wash, spray, leave overnight.

Andy

Thank you gentlemen. Just what I was after.

It is interesting what you said Andy about the nozzle blocking up - at work I have a compressor, air line and plenty of piping so I could put a thin tube into the bottle of ACF and blast the air over the top and use the Venturi effect to do the spraying. Hmm.

I invested in a spray gun for the compressor. I ended up with a pack from Machine Mart with two. Either, paint or oil, types work. They've earned their keep spraying the last 7 bikes with ACF-50, weed killer on the Ivy that is trying to eat the garage, creosote on fence panels etc. You also have enough pressure to seat tubeless tyres, so a worthwhile investment for any garage with pretentions of being a workshop IMHO. The screw to push on fittings are universal so if you want to use the shop airline at work just get one that fits your gun.

Andy

I’ve just used the aerosol cans and one will do 3 or 4 bikes if you don’t go crazy. For bikes that are stored over the winter I do the lot, brakes and all, but obviously not on the ones I’m using. It comes off easily enough after six months or so with hot water and detergent - but leave it a year or more (as I have with a couple of project bikes) and it ‘dries’ into a kind of thin waxy coating. That’s a bit harder to get off.

For winter use it’s about as good as it gets but enough road spray + salt will get through so you’ll need to reapply it every now and again to the areas that are exposed (all the awkward to get to bits!).

As others have said, heat the can up if you’re using an aerosol. It doesn’t really come out as a even spray - like paint - but dribbles out like paint with a half blocked nozzle. Sometimes it’s easier to spray it onto a paint brush and use that to paint it into corners, or onto a rag for paintwork.

I was a bit apprehensive at first slapping it onto expensive paintwork or spraying it onto electrical bits but in eight or nine years of using it I’ve never had a problem. Good stuff for winter biking.