Cleaning inside of seat tube

[brendonk]

I pulled an alloy seatpost out of a carbon seat tube and found a lot of corrosion and pitting on the seatpost. My concern is anything that could be leftover in the seat tube before installing a new carbon post. Is there any particular cleaning product I should use? Anything to avoid? I figured I would use an old toothbrush to clean out the tube.
Thanks for any help.

[Cicli]

A rag on a coathanger and then some grease.

[Peter P.]

You sure the INSIDE of the seat tube was carbon and not perhaps, a metal sleeve?

The only way I would expect the seatpost to have corrosion on it is if it was in contact with a dissimilar metal.

[PacNW2Ford]

Aluminum corrosion from contact with carbon fiber composites is well known, usually the anodization can slow it down. But in a slip fit like a seat post, it gets worn off. Clean it out and use grease or carbon paste.

[Kontact]

You sure the INSIDE of the seat tube was carbon and not perhaps, a metal sleeve?

The only way I would expect the seatpost to have corrosion on it is if it was in contact with a dissimilar metal.

Carbon fiber is a conductor, and is on the same end of the scale as titanium and steel, so it definitely will get galvanic corrosion with aluminum.

As many a Colnago owner has found out.

http://www.pbase.com/kingfisher/image/158998943/original.jpg

[sirskialot22]

I'm not sure if it would be too aggresive, but after reaming, we'd use this special metal brush with smooth metal bead-like things that attaches to a power drill to clean out seat tubes. You could also try starting with a similarly mounted nylon brush and see if that removes anything, and slowly go up in aggression of material to a metal brush, etc.

[Cicli]

I'm not sure if it would be too aggresive, but after reaming, we'd use this special metal brush with smooth metal bead-like things that attaches to a power drill to clean out seat tubes. You could also try starting with a similarly mounted nylon brush and see if that removes anything, and slowly go up in aggression of material to a metal brush, etc.


Reaming?
A little to aggressive.

[bicimechanic]

I'm not sure if it would be too aggresive, but after reaming, we'd use this special metal brush with smooth metal bead-like things that attaches to a power drill to clean out seat tubes. You could also try starting with a similarly mounted nylon brush and see if that removes anything, and slowly go up in aggression of material to a metal brush, etc.

A flex hone