Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

It's my own bike, that I put away in a rural Berkshire barn almost 30 yrs ago. A '58 R50 that I bought as a young man as my first "big" motorcycle (remember when a 500 could be considered big?).

I got it back now out of the barn, and want to get it running. When I put it away, I put on a coat of paste wax, but didn't polish it off, thinking the thicker unpolished wax would offer more protection. Now, decades later, that wax is stuck. Hardened, and won't come off with a rag.

So...how can I safely remove it? Water and soap maybe?

Joe

Joe,

I use prep-all from Klean-Strip to remove wax and other oils, etc etc form the paint. It willnot harm the paint and it removes EVERYTHING!

It is available in many auto parts stores and online. I would try that first.

Some say it hardens rubber, but I have not found that after years of use and your going to need new rubber anyway!!!
Good luck

Prep-all? Okay, so it won't harm 60 yr old paint from the early years, when everything was old school?

Nope! I have an original R50/2 with 2,300 miles on it. I used it to wipe the motorcycle down when I first got it. I put it on a rag and wipe.

Don't wipe to hard for fear of scratching the paint, let the prep-all do the work.

It does take the wax off so you will need to re-wax it when you get it clean.

Ok, thanks for the info.

Also, post some pictures ... I'd love to see the bike as is and during the cleaning and resurrection.

Would the sun warm the wax enough to help the Prep-All. Softer wax wont scratch.

Please send pictures.

Mineral Spirits is cheap and powerful degreaser and won't harm paint.

Here it is. The photo is dated 10 yrs ago, but that might not be right. Orig had a bench seat, and I replaced it. The bottom leg of the forks is rusted, because a prior owner got into an accident, and repainted it (not well enough). I painted it again (apres photo), and it's still not as nice a the factory paint!

So which is gentler; mineral spirits, or Prep-all? After all, paint is only orig once.

Joe

I use Prep All on all sorts of paint and it has never harmed it. Nothing as old as your bike but I have an '87 VW Vanagon painted with single stage original paint and it does not harm it. It's used by the auto body trade so you could ask on an auto body forum just to be sure...