raw aluminium frame,does it need a clear coat?

[Rampage]

Re:

A good car wax should be ok for protecting it. Polish is for cleaning.
Aluminium can pit and corrode within an hour in the right conditions (galvanic). There are also solvent degreasers out there that strip the protective aluminium oxide layer and can cause bad corrosion overnight.
Unlikely but possible.

 

[shinobi]

Re:

I use a wax made for car alloy wheels , seems ok

 

[legrandefromage]

My Zaskar is 21 years old this year and has yet to corrode much despite being in the sea and commuted in the winter salt quite often.

Its a 'raw' finish, originally ball burnished but after years of polishing, just plain old 6061-T6.

 

[hamster]

Wash it with Pantene shampoo (yes really); it has silicone in it which works as a protective barrier. I was given this trick by a jeweller friend for protecting silver...it also works well on his Ducati!

 

[Cap]

You should definitely coat it with SOMEthing. Ive welded on aluminum quite a bit (which is a huge PITA btw...), and the oxidation of aluminum actually begins much faster than steel. The RATE of corrosion is slower... but the oxidation will start within seconds of having naked aluminum exposed... which is why its such a pain to try and keep clean while welding. Anyway...anodizing would be awesome, but definitely something.

 

[ishaw]

My team rts is raw and still shiny as the day it was new. I just polish it every now and again with autosol and then give it a generous coat of car wax or two. When I say every now and again, I probably mean once a year at most. It has been pretty low maintenance to keep it looking like new.

 

[Rampage]

Yes it changes colour from oxidising very quickly. Possibly a few minutes.

 

[halaburt]

Some good advice here:
http://www.blackmtncycles.com/2014/02/c ... frame.html

 

[legrandefromage]

You say raw aluminium - but these are alloys of aluminium - just to be pernickety.

Ishaw's RTS is ball burnished, so it has a hardened outer layer the same as Zaskars. Most MTB frames use very thick tubing, its only when these tubes are very thin do you get structural concerns with corrosion. Klien and Cannondale spring to mind as these use very thin areas of aluminum and I used to see many come in with cracks from long term corrosion. These frames were nearly always painted often masking the corrosion long term. One Cannondale I saw had been blasted and had holed the tube!

 

[integerspin]

Re:

There is a PPG clearcoat meant for direct application to ali.