Remove a tyre burn mark from a frame...

Hi all,

when I didn't have the correct skewers for my horizontal dropouts my wheel popped out when pulling away from a junction and left my seat tube with a nice burn mark.

What is the best method to remove this? I wanted to ask before launching in with a product or method that will also damage the paint. I have rubbed at it with my finger nail and it seems very reluctant to come off.

The photo was taken after the ride so there is also some dirt on there. You might also notice the mark left by the front mech which will need sorted at some point but the rubber burn is more urgent.

Any help appreciated.

N

Hey there,

Wash the area down with water to get rid of the grit, then use a car polish which is slightly abrasive to remove the rubber mark. I've used a brand called Mer in the past both on bikes and on cars - apply it with a damp cloth, polish out the mark and then buff off with a dry, clean, soft cloth. It should leave a beautiful lustrous finish behind because it also has some Carnuba wax in it which shines paint finishes beautifully.

You'd be surprised how many marks can be removed in this way with a bit of elbow grease. It'll hopefully also deal with the front derailleur band marks, too.

The only problem is that your seat tube will then probably look a lot better than the rest of the bike so you'll have to do the whole thing ;-)

Good luck!

Hi, you could use white-spirit, but do a test patch before coating the lot! I really recommend this waterless cleaner for marks and cleaning etc,
http://www.wilko.com/car-cleaning/tripl ... =waterless

James.

an alternative to Mer which may be slightly more abrasive (but also lacks the wax) is T-Cut, same caution applies though - it will brighten the surrounding paintwork so you might have to do the whole frame.

WD40, spray and leave it 10mins, then spray again and it should start to wipe off with a soft cloth

Hi everyone and thanks for the replies,

I will try and sort this out this evening. I don't have an abrasive polish but do have WD40 and car wax, so I might try the WD40 to get rid of the rubber and then wash and wax the frame.

N

Well WD worked but revealed that the tyre has rubbed through the paint (the tyre popped out of the frame twice in a week before I got the new old style skewers).

Coupled with the front mech damage to the paint I think it will be due a respray in that section.

However looks much better now (with the wheel on - only 1mm of clearance so not too noticeable).

Thanks for the help.

N

It could be worth getting a tin of humbrol white gloss, if you use a fine soft artists brush and slowly build up the layers you could get it almost invisible. Leave it a week and then t.cut it.

Glad the WD40 worked out, its amazing what you can clean with WD. I buy it in container loads direct from the factory