Best way to clean King shocks??

Yeah I've had mine a year and they look nothing like that.

 

Virginia. Haha it's rough man. Was kinda disappointed when I opened the box , but live and learn I guess. I will not penny pinch next time and buy new for sure. Got the rears cleaned up the best I could today. Going to disassemble the fronts tomorrow and clean them up.

 

I think the dude wasn't honest on mileage. There is no way those things are 6 months old with 5k miles. You got em looking pretty decent though.

 

I’d rebuild them. The color of the oil will tell you everything you need to know. Also again, you need to bead blast/wire wheel the threads. You won’t get those clean with sand paper.

 

It depends on where they came from as well, I’ll post a pic of my ADSs after 4-5 months in GA weather.

 

Yeah plan on wire wheeling them. None of the coil overs guys are running in the Alabama group look like this. Wether it be king, icon, or ads.

 

Never tried this kind, but naval jelly does great on rusted steel.

 

Gonna use mavcoat from wheelers.

 

I have FOX but they share the same issue as King, steel bodies. It's not a secret that this type of shock is designed for desert racing and not daily driver use with being sand blasted and road salt in cold climates (remember these guys are Southern California companies). You gotta protect them. I keep mine clean and Fluid Filmed and they still have a little corrosion and pitting after 2 years. As long as they aren't actually rusting and the collars still turn on the threads I'm OK with them looking used. My truck isn't a princess anyway.

 

The owner could have also sprayed something on them that ate through that costing and caused them to oxidize faster

 

wow. im glad i didnt end up buying from him those looked pretty bad for what he was asking

 

Oh and make you’re you get a very soft wire wheel. Maybe a soft brass one.

 

That's what I've been using. Brass brush.

 

I dunno what he was asking for them but you've done a nice job cleaning them up, looking good. Some elbow grease, paint and clear coating and you may have saved yourself some coin.

 

Yeah I'm not playing blame game or downing anyone was just trying to figure out how to clean them. I knew going into it they were used.

I'm feeling better about them after last night and seeing how well the rears cleaned up. So you think I should clear coat rears before applying the corrosive film in them? Obviously not the shock shaft but could I tape that off and just spraying everything else?

 

Nothing wrong with double protection. Just make sure the surface is completely clean before spraying paint on them.

 

I also went ahead and cleaned the resi brackets up and painted them black. Super happy with the outcome of that.

 

The shock bodies were probably coated with something originally, zinc, aclear paint, not sure. Since you had to remove that to get to clean steel I would paint them with something (if it was me probably stickers and clear paint) and then spray something over that. I use Fluid Film only because I have it to coat the chassis but there's any number of other things, Mavcoat, S100, etc.

 

I'll give it a shot.

 

I live in Virginia and not surprised they look like that. We got some nasty roads when winter rolls around.

Gotta detail them coilovers after winter time.