Thanks Wicky, that's exactly what I had in mind! I didn't think about removing the bolts and leaving the casing in place. This looks the best way for me. I will have a proper read through.Here's a guy prepping and painting his corroded covers on a Beemer
![]()
R1200GS Front Engine Cover Corrosion
R1200GS Front Engine Cover Corrosion See HERE for some photographs of more areas to keep an eye on for corrosion. It seems that BMW R1200GS motorcycles suffer some quality issues with the finish of BMW motorcycles in general not being up to the standards of old. Have a look at this recent thread...motorcycleinfo.co.uk
Recommend this as a good lacquer
![]()
ProXL ProSatin- Satin Lacquer Aerosol
A high performance 1K Satin lacquer giving a crystal satin finish. It can be applied over solvent based basecoats and is ideal for smart repairs.www.pro-xl.co.uk
Thanks again Wicky. Yes I will remove all the paint when I do this job but not sure why it has got so bad. Also, thanks for the link, I live in North Suffolk and often travel to Essex so I might be able to use them if I can't find anyone closer. Also noticed on the BMW refurb that he leaves some bolts in.Looking at the pic yours is bubbling with oxidisation corrosion under the paint - unless you prep it properly it'll continue corroding whatever you put over it. Best take it off to address the problem. If doing a rough touch up wouldn't worry about a precise match up.
To get the best match clean up an area as best you can and take the bike to a local vehicle paint factors where they'll have colour swatches to compare and mix up a spray can.
Luckily I live 5 minutes away from this handy trade shop.
TryThanks again Wicky. Yes I will remove all the paint when I do this job but not sure why it has got so bad. Also, thanks for the link, I live in North Suffolk and often travel to Essex so I might be able to use them if I can't find anyone closer. Also noticed on the BMW refurb that he leaves some bolts in.
Cheers Wicky, I will give it a try when we have some warmer weather (for painting) and yes the exhaust will have to come off so hope the header nuts are not seized! Kett Auto Paints are not far from me so will give them a try if I decide for a perfect match. I appreciate the advice.Try
Norwich / Kings LynnGranville Supplies | Automotive, Commercial & Industrial Paint
Granville Supplies is one of the regions leading suppliers of paint to the automotive repair and commercial vehicle industries.www.granvillesupplies.co.uk
Wisbech / Peterborough / Norwich
I can see bubbling at the back of the cover behind the exhaust which will be hard to access to prepare and paint without some dismantling.
That was a result with the Radweld, it would have been very awkward to sort a good repair in Chile! Difficult decision but to be honest if your AT is not getting hot (radiator is working well) and you are not loosing any coolant then I would leave well alone.Interesting re. coolant loss.... we had an issue a while back, when we were in southern Chile. There were droplets of water beading on the sidecar subframe adjacent to the gear lever, and checking the coolant reservoir showed it to be nearly empty. There was also some staining to the rear face of the front cylinder block, directly under the head gasket, to the left of the coolant bridge which connects the front and rear blocks. I suspected a faulty head gasket, but to check this would have been an issue as replacing the front head gasket is an engine-out job, not that we had a spare gasket to hand!
Luckily, we'd packed a bottle of Holts Radweld Plus so added this to the coolant in the hope it would get us to the nearest big town. However, the Radweld worked brilliantly..... no more loss of coolant at all, so we pressed on and finished our trip without further hassle. The Radweld is still in use, 15k miles and 3 yrs later, still with no coolant loss at all. Having spoken to various folks in the biking world, opinions are split on whether to leave things as they are or check out the head gasket. I feel slightly lazy leaving things as they are, and will probably wait until the coolant needs renewing before making a decision on whether to check out the gasket.
Thanks Hoppicker, its good to know you had a good experience. I will be sending mine + the speedo sensor over next weekI can recommend Joerg. He did a great job on my Tripmaster, for a resonable price considering too. Quick turnround as well.
Thanks Catfordjohn, some good advice.Just a thought.
If you are concerned about oil seepage you could drain the oil and remove the filter and bolts a week or two in advance of beginning the prep work.
The engine will be fairly dry by the time you come to start the job and you could pop the new oil filter on and a few bolts before any sanding takes place to avoid dust ingress to the motor.
Maybe cover up the air filter before setting to with the sandpaper.
Good luck.