My year long ACF-50 vs WD40 vs Naked rust inhibitor test

[inreb]

Speaking of completeness, I can't help myself, they show 4130 cromo on the site. That stuff is harder to find than you would think.

 

[codemonk]

I use it on the wiring harness , on the battery terminals and tray , inside the light bucket, under the tank areas , on bottom of the seat pan and basically any hard to reach spots where humidity might start corrosion.

It is a purple-ish oily substance so I spray it to the desired spots - and if possible wipe it a bit. The wiping helps spreading but more importantly it ensures that there is only a thin film on the surface, Otherwise it catches a lot of dirt. Warming up the spray a bit can also help with the spraying but it spreads extremely well on it own and weeps into everywhere.

Obviously do not use it on any parts that get hot.

Can be used year long but I mostly use it before putting the bikes away. There are a few trouble spots on my 1969 Triumph that already has some rust. Those areas get a few drops wiped on during the year so I feel better about it.

The best part is that this stuff is actually made in Toronto.

cheers

g.

Thanks for test OP.

Where and when (on the bike) do you use e.g. ACF-50?
Is this a 'for winter storage' product? On all metal parts (except brake rotor I guess)?

 

[unL33T]

Yeah the instructions recommend wiping off excess. I usually just leave it but yes, it will collect a lot of dirt and look crappy if you leave it thick. It will slowly spread on its own when it's thick even when it's cold but it will take a little while.

 

[muddysixtysix]

Nice experiment. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

 

[kneedragger88]

Thanks for sharing this I am somewhat surprised the WD sample did as well as it did especially as the wool doesnt give much surface area to bond too. Great test though.

 

[codemonk]

I was actually quite surprised too to see how little difference was between ACF-50 and WD-40 during the first 3-4 months through the winter of 2012-2013. There was no visually noticeable rust on either of them but then the WD-40 dried out and small pieces of rust started slowly popping up in the WD-40 sample .

All the media were very well sprayed to the point that excess material was dripping out of them. If I would do a truly scientific test I would have multiple samples covered with different amounts of protective material but I'm way too lazy for that

My non scientific take away from this test is that generously applied WD-40 is not too bad for winter storage in Southern Ontario assuming that the bike placed in storage late and pulled out early. For Longer term or harsher climate ACF-50 might have an edge.

G.

Thanks for sharing this I am somewhat surprised the WD sample did as well as it did especially as the wool doesnt give much surface area to bond too. Great test though.

 

[casacrow]

Here is my 4 year ACF50 test. This was on my street bike, ridden for 40,000KM all year, in rain/snow/salty conditions. Bike was treated every fall with ACF50. Just a quick spray on bolt heads and excess spread around with a rag.

Here is a bolt that I never sprayed the head of. Corrosion is obvious.

Here is a bolt that I did spray the head of. I'm amazed, it acutally creeped past the seating surface under high torque and spread along the surface all the way to the nut on the other side. It looks slightly discolored in the pic, thats the residue of the remaining ACF50. Once wiped off it looked like new.

I liked the stuff so much I bought a whack of cases of the stuff and started pushing it on friends/family. I still have plenty if anyone is looking.

Here is the bike as it sits now....there are some new parts, but it don't look bad at all for a bike with over 40,000KM, ridden hard and put away wet.

 

[casacrow]

I use it on my daily driver too.