I'm switching things up and planned to go with the bare metal look for my pipes. I stripped them, sanded them, cleaned with dawn soap, wiped down with acetone, then used a sponge to spread mop n Glo over them. Let it sit for 20 mins, come back, and it's covered in rust.
What'd I do wrong?
That should have worked fine. No suggestions for why it didn't work for you.
I have left the chambers on my H2 unpainted for more than 20 years. I was going to go the mop and glo route but needed to cover them for a while before doing that. I sprayed mine with WD40 and that worked well enough that I stuck with the WD40 all these years. I spray/wipe some on a few times a year. Its quick and easy. When I get any minor surface rust spots showing quick wipe of scotch bright and more WD40 does the trick. That is usually my sign to reapply to the whole chambers. I don't ride my H2 in the rain and it rarely gets dirt enough to have to wash with a hose. YMMV
(https://i.postimg.cc/TPfS602v/IMG-20240514-113528493-HDR-(3).jpg) (https://postimg.cc/WdYSmMJ5)
i ran my old s2 w mop & glow for about 4 years before i painted them, just got tired of the bare metal look.
not sure what happened w yours.
All I can think of is that they must have still been wet, despite the acetone, when the mop-n-glo went on.
I waited a full day after cleaning before applying the mop n glo, and it was indoors so they should have been dry. Only other thing is that I sprayed the pipes with rust converter (phosphoric acid) after stripping (so strip >> rust converter >> sand >> dawn soap >> acetone >> MnG), so maybe that did something? I'll re-sand/clean and try again.
Also considering treating the other pipe with Cerakote ceramic paint sealer that I have laying around and seeing how it holds up.