Frame Sanding

[HeavyHitters]

Working on De-tabbing and cleaning up sloppy factory welds on my GS 450. I am concerned that the flap wheel I am using is too aggressive and is going to leave scratches.

What type of sanding tools, grit, etc. are recommended for this type of work?

[dem3500]

Working on De-tabbing and cleaning up sloppy factory welds on my GS 450. I am concerned that the flap wheel I am using is too aggressive and is going to leave scratches.

What type of sanding tools, grit, etc. are recommended for this type of work?

I use an 80 grit flapper disc. Light pressure after the main scratches are out. For powder coating that is enough. If you want to go a little smoother then i use a brown roloc scotch Brite disc.

[Nessism]

Bobber or cafe?

[DohcBikes]

every weld grinded is a weld weakened

[Guest]

every weld grinded is a weld weakened

Not necessarily. I don't know about OP's bike, but my 1100E has lots of ugly welding that I could clean up without ever touching the material that is actually doing the work. For OP, if you clean up the dreck with a coarse wheel and then go over it lightly again with a 120 grit or one of the scotchbrite wheels that will polish everything up nicely without removing any significant amount of extra material.


Mark

[DohcBikes]

Not necessarily. I don't know about OP's bike, but my 1100E has lots of ugly welding that I could clean up without ever touching the material that is actually doing the work

pics or it didnt happen

[Nessism]

Suzuki used MIG to make the GS frames and there is routinely a ton of weld splatter. I found a 1/2" chunk of MIG wire behind one frame bracket/tab on one of my frames. Someone could clean up some of that crap without hurting the structure as long as they know what they are doing. Oddly, it's the hacker crowd that are the ones that are always "cleaning up" the frames. Right after they sawzall off the seat rails. Some serious irony there.

[HeavyHitters]

Thanks for the responses. I was using an 80 grit flap as well but again I feel like it is too aggressive. How well does powercoat hide scratches VS paint?