Repair faded/scratched gold anodizing on 48 Ohlins

[mlyle11]

Has anyone found a method to "color" or "dye" the gold anodizing on the ohlins forks? It took a lot of work to remove the stickers that were all over them, and in the porocess, I faded out some of the gold color. I'll use a heat gun and less elbow grease next time! I have been searching for some type of gold dye but with no luck. Something similar to gun bluing, but in gold would do it. Anoyone tried something like this? Thanks and Happy New Year!

[einsteingarage]

Gun bluing, do you mean parkerizing? You could probably send them out to be annodized gold but I would just buy new cool stickers and put the money somewhere else on the bike.

[mlyle11]

"Cold" bluing is generally a selenium dioxide based compound that colors steel black, or more often a very dark gray. It is a difficult product to apply evenly, offers minimal protection and is generally best used for small fast repair jobs and touch-ups. It's sold in little bottles at gun shops. It's pretty agressive and turns the steel blue/black to match the rest of the gun. It's really only good for taking care of a scratch and preventing rust.

I was hoping there was something similar in a gold color, a method to cold die the outers. However, I do like the ides of cool new stickers! Paying to have the re-anodized would have been way to expensive!

[GMP]

Re-anodize in any color you want. External non-hardcoat is easy, you just get some large stoppers to plug the ends of the tubes.

[mlyle11]

Glenn,
I'm ready to learn! Where can I get the material? Is this a cold bath? No charge required like elctrocoat? I've been searching for "Gold Andodizing Material" and come up with lots of service providers, but no raw materials. Thanks for the reply!

[Rick]

Here......give Troy a call.....

http://tcrwheellacing.com/html/wheel_anodizing.html

[GMP]

Basically its a charged acid bath at an elevated temp, one polarity will etch or de-anodize the surface, the other re-anodize. I think Les told me T3 hard coat is done cold but the others hot. Different chemicals create the different colors. Greatly simplified but its not that hard. Not a DIY project. Google for a local shop, common in industrial areas. I had a shop in CA do mine inside and out, T3 black, for less than $120. Its posted somewhere here, I'll try and find it for you but external only should be no problem locally.

[Harry]

DIY anodising http://freepages.pavilion.net/nickfull/anodise.htm;)

[Neil E.]

Thanks for the info. That's a handy article that puts the process within reach of the hobbyist. I had to remove the semi-colon for the link to work.
http://freepages.pavilion.net/nickfull/anodise.htm

[mlyle11]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the info. I just got my forks back togehter, so I will look for some localized brush on application for now, and readonize when I disassemble next year. I wish I would have sent them out at tear down. I know I'm biased, but these 48's just look really freaking cool with no stickers and clean gold finish!
Thansk again!