Wheel Cleaning/Polishing

[Scooby]

Any good tips, products, tools, or advice on how to make this process a little easier?

The wheels will be on the bike at the time of cleaning.

Thanks-
Scooby

[Mooskee]

I searched "Wheel polishing" on this forum and found quite a bit of good information.

[Jess from VA]

Two steps works best.

First, scrub the hell out of them with abrasive stuff (OOOO steel wool) and harsh soap and hot water.  This makes the polishing easier.

Then dry and start polishing.  I've used drills with (hard, not soft) buff wheels (much better than Mother's sponge powerball) and polishing compounds.  You have to be careful because the drill arbor will mar the wheels easily.  The last go round use Boms Away metal polish (it's real watery so it will fly off a power tool wheel) (put the cap back on, if you knock it over you lose most all of it).  https://wingstuff.com/products/2689-boms-away-metal-polish-sealer

If you want perfection, use sandpaper of various grits, but I never did this.

Jacking the bike up a bit, so you can sit on the ground and spin the wheels is good.  Especially in back if you have the OE hardbags.

During the process, try not to get any high speed water in the wheel bearings.

[Jack B]

I saw on YouTube that WD40 works great but I’ve tried it.
I went the sandpaper route and it turned out great but it was a lot of work.

[Jims99]

The easiest way is to remove wheel and mount sideways on a piece of wood so it can spin. Then use a drill press with a sanding wheel and put the tire against it. The wheel will spin and you can use the sand paper or steel wool and compound method. Just hold the sand paper and the spinning wheel does most of the work for you. It’s a lot of work, but worth it in my opinion.

[John Schmidt]

Any good tips, products, tools, or advice on how to make this process a little easier?

The wheels will be on the bike at the time of cleaning.

Thanks-
Scooby

Yeah...make a deal with your wife/girlfriend/or both...whatever! Just know it's going to cost you regardless.  On my old GL1200 I restored, I used steel wool and Flitz...and Ibuprofen.

[Skinhead]

The easiest way is to have someone else do it.

But doing it yourself is gratifying but time consuming.

[Jess from VA]

I used to do a beautiful job. 

Now they get a soap and water scrub... so I try to go fast and never stop so no one can see them.   


(The front is easy and always pretty nice, but the rear isn't.) 

[MarkT]

I know this isn't what was asked, but to address the constant maintenance need - and eliminate it - I had the wheels powder coated.  In the same color theme as the bike (Sonoma Pearl Green - I added black between the spokes and clear on the rim). Looks good, easy to keep clean - just wipe it down periodically with Honda polish.  No corrosion.

[Dusty]

I heard some ingenious soul lifted the bike up in the air and backed a treadmill up to the wheel. Turned on the tread mill and polished away.

I have found Mothers aluminum polish on Never Dull wadding does a good job with not too much effort. The wheel in the picture was sanded first to remove the machining marks  then polished with a pad in a cordless drill

Dusty

[Jess from VA]

On my interstate with hardbags, I put my bike on the lift, raised it enough to get the rear wheel off the ground, fired it up, put it in gear, and set the throttle lock at high idle, and polished the spinning rear wheel with bare hands (no ring, watch, gloves or long sleeves; nothing to get caught).  It wasn't bad at the outside up to the slots at all, but it got a little scary reaching up inside (from the back, with the bags in the way from the sides), and I stove my fingers on the slots a few times.  And you need to keep your face and nose away from the exhaust fumes.  (box fan up front to assist cooling)

I did as much polishing in a half hour as I did by hand in three hours previously.  But I cannot recommend this to anyone.  You could get seriously screwed up doing this, so don't do it if you value your hands.

I thought about trying to fashion some kind of polishing pad on a stick to do the reach-in with, but never came up with anything satisfactory.

[Chrisj CMA]

On my interstate with hardbags, I put my bike on the lift, raised it enough to get the rear wheel off the ground, fired it up, put it in gear, and set the throttle lock at high idle, and polished the spinning rear wheel with bare hands (no ring, watch, gloves or long sleeves; nothing to get caught).  It wasn't bad at the outside up to the slots at all, but it got a little scary reaching up inside (from the back, with the bags in the way from the sides), and I stove my fingers on the slots a few times.  And you need to keep your face and nose away from the exhaust fumes.  (box fan up front to assist cooling)

I did as much polishing in a half hour as I did by hand in three hours previously.  But I cannot recommend this to anyone.  You could get seriously screwed up doing this, so don't do it if you value your hands.

I thought about trying to fashion some kind of polishing pad on a stick to do the reach-in with, but never came up with anything satisfactory.

I have a serious aversion to sticking my hands into things spinning under power now

[Jess from VA]

On my interstate with hardbags, I put my bike on the lift, raised it enough to get the rear wheel off the ground, fired it up, put it in gear, and set the throttle lock at high idle, and polished the spinning rear wheel with bare hands (no ring, watch, gloves or long sleeves; nothing to get caught).  It wasn't bad at the outside up to the slots at all, but it got a little scary reaching up inside (from the back, with the bags in the way from the sides), and I stove my fingers on the slots a few times.  And you need to keep your face and nose away from the exhaust fumes.  (box fan up front to assist cooling)

I did as much polishing in a half hour as I did by hand in three hours previously.  But I cannot recommend this to anyone.  You could get seriously screwed up doing this, so don't do it if you value your hands.

I thought about trying to fashion some kind of polishing pad on a stick to do the reach-in with, but never came up with anything satisfactory.

I have a serious aversion to sticking my hands into things spinning under power now

Me too.  Along with my aversion to polishing the wheels.   

Hey, battleship grey with black spots is a color. 

[pancho]

I heard some ingenious soul lifted the bike up in the air and backed a treadmill up to the wheel. Turned on the tread mill and polished away.

I have found Mothers aluminum polish on Never Dull wadding does a good job with not too much effort. The wheel in the picture was sanded first to remove the machining marks  then polished with a pad in a cordless drill

Dusty

Good looking wheel Dusty. I have also sanded and polished several wheels but never to the luster you have achived. I wonder what grades of paper did you use? I stop at 600 and polish from there,, looks OK, but not outstanding like yours.

[gordonv]

This is one of the first ones I ever watched on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KGHuzv8qB0

[CoreyP]

When I put new tires on, I polished the rims with Mother's and that about it.

My bike is plenty shiny, I don't really need to step it up.

I'm kind of confused on this thread? Are you guys just trying to stay up with the factory finish or are you trying to improve on it?

I had a Shadow 1100 and I sanded the rims because I had too, along with the front forks. The Shadow lived it's life at the beach and time took it's toll.  My Valkyrie do not need that kind of treatment for now.   

[Fazer]

Should we point out that the later Valks have a clear coat that has to be removed if you want a polished look. 

The older ones, like my '98 are not clear coated and while they may be easier to polish, they (at least mine) has developed pitting in the metal.  I try and clean them up best I can during tire changes but have given up on the polished look. 

Bob, Attic Rat, has them chromed at some shop in California.  Not that is a polished look.

[Bagger John - #3785]

I restored a set of oxidized wheels on my '01 I/S using a wet-sanding process...starting with 60 grit emery paper and going all the way up to 2000.

What keeps them looking good is a compound I termed "Peer Pressure In A Can". It's a 50-50 mix of Mother's Carnauba Wax and Collinite Metal Wax. Apply the stuff wet with a heavy-duty paper shop towel, rub it while wet until the applicator towel turns black from oxidation then let dry. Buff off with a soft cloth, doing a final polish.

I've found that one treatment lasts most of the season, even when exposed to the occasional wet ride.

[Zanderk98]

Not sure what end result you're trying to achieve.  I just bought my 1st Valk 2 weeks ago (3rd owner) and previous owners appear to have neglected the wheels for it's entire 22 year life.  both front & rear rims were almost black with brake dust & physical road grim & moderate pitting...  I started the cleaning process with 2 applications of S100 motorcycle cleaner (as thaw whole bike needed it).  Then I scrubbed both rims with Armor-all Extreme tire & wheel cleaner & some old toothbrushes.

Next I tried to bring up some shine.  I tried everything I had - 0000 steel wool, red & green Scotchbrite pads, mothers mag polish, Wizzards metal polish, No7 brand chrome./metal polish, assorted sizes & shapes of cotton buff wheels.  Not working to my satisfaction.  Next I sat & wet sanded 1 side of the front rim (on the bike) with my foam-baked Abralon pads from my wood shop.  I went through 180, 360, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 4000 grits & then went over with a cotton buff wheel & Mothers.  Then hand worked small areas with Wizzards.  That took me about 4 hours all together & looked OK in opinion.  That said, there were still small pits & scratches visible & my goal is micro perfection.

Not wanting to spend eternity on the garage floor, I'm now in process of removing both wheels off the bike for a true polish.  The most effective process I've found so far is using my Dotco straight-shaft & right-angle pneumatic grinders with Scotch-Brite Cut-and-Polish Unitized wheels. They're Aluminum Oxide, 3" Diameter x 1/4" Width, 7A Medium grit.  Those work amazing!  They remove anything & everything and FAST. 

Keep in mind it's easy to be too aggressive with those wheels & they will remove material leaving low spots.  From there I plant continue to hand work up thru all the grits as before.  Lastly I plan to buff on my buffer with red & white compound.  In my past experiences with car restoration this process is very time consuming but worth it as you get that rue mirror shine.  And in my opinion, it's worth it.  After all work, maintaining the shine is easy.  I usually wash, hand polish & wax 2-3X per year and my other motorcycle rims are virtually perfect after 20-30 years of riding.  Must also say that my bikes never see rain but life happens & you do eventually ride a wet road now & then.  If I do, then the entire bike gets a full detail within 24 hrs.