What is the best wheel cleaner?

[DGS65]

I have tried a little of everything but nothing works great.  I have tried metal cleaner I have tried a buffing kit that I bought to clean my exhaust on my car.  I have tried several other products but not happy with the results of anything as of yet.  I'm hoping someone has a magic potion.
The rims just look spotty and dirty.

[Jess from VA]

First, I start with a mild corrosive mag wheel cleaner or S100 (bike cleaner), and hot water and stiff bristle brushes or OOOO steel wool or scotchbite pads, and scrub the dickens out of them (because there's no sense wasting good polishes and rags to clean off dirt and crud that can be scrubbed off).  You must never let corrosives dry on the aluminum (they can etch).

Then, you can polish.  My best results have been from using different cut bars of stick paste on hard cotton buffs on a power drill.  Start harsh, and go to milder on the stick compounds.  With the drill, you must be careful not to rub the arbor on the wheel as it gouges and will take a long time to buff out.

I don't like Mother's/Eagle One or any of the other white paste aluminum polishes because you have to wipe and wipe forever to get it off. The best all metal (and aluminum) polish I have ever used is  Bombs Away liquid polish.  But, it's more of a finish polish than a cutter like polishing compounds.  Many here touted White Diamond liquid polish, and I tried it, and its good, but not as good as BombsAway.

I've used these polishes with hand rags, and with drill buffs and with OOOO steel wool.  But as liquids, if you put much on a drill buff, it flies all over the place (and in your face).

A little goes a long way.  You must not knock the bottle over, it's like water and expensive to pour out under the bike.  If you don't put the top back on each time, you will spill it.  It's also fantastic on chrome, the Valk control housings, boot marks on pipes, stainless, and all metals.  It won't do squat on the forks or anything else clear coated.

It has wax built into the compound, but you must paste wax the final polish job to make it last, BUT the paste wax final removes about 25% of the shine you got with the Bombs Away polish.  Do it anyway.


I've never seen it in a store, only on line (though, I did just see a Walmart add for it, but it's never been in my Walmart).

There used to be a two-pack with a bit of a price break over buying one, but I could not find it.  (It's worth the price)

https://www.captainrichardsbest.com/product-page/bomb-s-away

https://www.ebay.com/i/163030440770?chn=ps

Almost as good (but not as good).
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/white-diamond-multipurpose-metal-polish-and-sealant-01/7590032-p?c3ch=PLA&c3nid=7590032-P&adtype=pla_with_promotion&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIla2t2YHc2wIVA5ppCh2jPwS9EAQYASABEgKrRvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

If your wheels are really crummy, after first scrubbing, I recommend a bar paste and electric drill with 3 or 4 inch hard cotton buffs, before a final polish.





I've used this Mothers foam powerball, but it is not up to the task for removing hard crummy corrosion, more of a final polish buff.  The soft foam will not stand up to prolonged hard work.

[DGS65]

I have smaller wheels and paste only a three paste kit.  I felt like I was getting nowhere which is the reason for this post.  I will try Bombsaway that looks promising!

[JimC]

If your wheels are really neglected here is what I do. You can purchase the paper at any auto store that sells paint. You will need one or two sheets per wheel for each wheel depending on how bad they are.

Sand them with 400 grit wet/dry sand paper with soapy water
then 600 grit wet/dry
then 1000 grit wet/dry
then 1500 grit we/dry

After the sanding you use the buffing wheel compound kit.
It is a lot of work, about 2 - 3 hours per wheel, but it will come out nearly as nice as chrome.
When all done, use a good paste wax to keep them from staining.

Jim

[Jess from VA]

I put my bike up on the jack, started it up, and set the throttle lock at 2500RPM in 1st to polish the rear (hard to get to) wheel.  This is dangerous and probably stupid, and you could loose a finger or hand..... but, it did 2-3 hours work in 20 minutes.  I did stove a finger or two on the wheel scallops, but no big deal (so work backward, not forward).  I also breathed some exhaust. 

I can't recommend this to anyone, but it sure did a quick job.

If I could figure out a way to mount a polish pad on a stick (instead of using my hand, with no rings, gloves, or sleeves to get caught), I would do it again.

The smartest thing is just to get the rear wheel powder coated light grey/silver and be done with polishing it forever (on any hardbagger).  The fronts are easy to keep nice.