Sam12345

Hi - new to this forum i was wondering my aluminum frame has sorta been ruined a little bit by my cables - black marks on the frame from it rubbing is there a way I can remove it after I can stick them rubber things back on from it rubbing against the frame.


Also I put perm marker on my carbon fiber seat post and got a bit of my aluminum frame is there a way to remove it to?

Thanks.

dabac

You can use any reasonably gentle rubbing compound to clear things up a bit, but if the chafing has worn through the paint/anodized layer into the bare metal, the discoloration willl return eventually. Tooth paste may do the trick, or a metal polish, or if you have pals who are into boating yachting they might have stuff you can use too. If you are into cars you might have some stuff like "deep paint conditioner" which can work too.

Sure thing. The odds of you having a solvent at home potent enough to damage the metal in zero, and the odds of having something that can damage a factory paint is very unlikely. A splash of methylated spirits, acetone, gasoline, turpentine, paint thinner etc on a rag can do the trick. I have yet to meet a marker that's permanent on metal.

BCRider

Some good car wax that is a milky/pasty white colour that is advertised as "self cleaning" or "removes paint oxidation as you wax" will do a good job on the black marks unless they are really thick. If so then some more aggresive rubbing compound as noted by dabac above is the solution.

Some clear rocker panel stone chip protective film from the same auto parts store can be cut and stuck on to avoid such scuffing in the future. Or if you're talking about the rubber donuts that go onto the exposed part of the brake or shifter cables then toss them and use long lengths of heat shrink tubing that is the right size to slip on over the cables. Just don't shrink the tubing since you want to be able to take it off and use them again when you change the cables at some point.

Permanent felt marker ink is easily removed with some rubbing alchohal. Gasoline may also do the trick. However do NOT use anything stronger such as lacquer thinner or acetone. Those two in particular will most definetly affect your paint by eating into it and making that spot go dull.

Sam12345

Ok I've got the black stuff off with metal polish. I left it a bit to long as the cable has scraped into the paint a bit but its covered up with the cable so its not noticeable.