Want to Show You my Wheel Makeover

[Bambam650]

First off, can someone help me with how to post photos?

I've lurked on this site a long time.  I mean a really long time.  I have 1997 Black Standard which I bought new in August 1996.  It was time to put some new tires on her and the wheels were looking pretty dingy so I decided to give the wheels a complete makeover.  I've only done the rear wheel so far.  In addition to a good polishing, I also decided to black out the rough cast portion of the wheel so that the main shiny part would really pop.  I used blue masking tape which I sliced into 1/16" strips (sort of like pin stripes) for the fine masking and then used regular making tape on the rest of the wheel.  I gave the wheel two coats of Rustoleum etching primer and three coats of VHT epoxy satin black.  I think it turned out really good.  A word of caution though, this project is not for the faint of heart.  It takes a lot of time and patience.  I'm not really looking forward to doing the front wheel.  BTW, to polish the wheel I first wet sanded it with 1500 grit paper and then used a variety of felt polishing wheels on my Dremel using Prism metal polish.  I started out using the Honda metal polish, but ran out and switched to the Prism which looks just like the Honda stuff.

Pics coming as soon as I figure out how to post.

[Chrisj CMA]

First go here:
Photobucket.com

Open a free acount and upload the picture you want to post, Now, OK, this isint too hard......."hover" your mouse pointer over the picture you want to put on the vrcc.  A dropdown menu will appear and you will see a block called "direct link"  If you highlight the words "direct link" it will change to "copied"

Now that picture is ready to upload to the board

In the text of a message you write, when you want to add a picture look up above the smiley faces and clic on the icon with a picture on it.  that will put something like this in your message [img] [img]

clic and paste with your mouse inbetween the two [img] brackets and thats it......

It sounds way harder than it it is.....just give it a try

[Bambam650]

OK, here are the pics.  Thanks Chris!

[F6BANGER]

  Now before you put on a new tire, get rid of that old rubber tire valve and install a metal 90° valve. 

[BradValk48237]

I'll pay ya $20 a wheel to do Mine!!!!  I'd even dismount em' for ya!

Brad

[Black Dog]

Wow!  Nice job    That looks great!

Black Dog

[R J]

Glad you have the patience to do that, I sure don't anymore.

PS:     Good JOB.

[Bambam650]

Thanks for the offer, but I think it's going to take some doing as it is to get up enough motivation to tackle my other wheel. 

[Chrisj CMA]

Looks great.  I have been thinking of painting those parts black as well for awhile......just never got around to it....I may have to now

[Michvalk]

Good Job!!! Kinda makes ya wish you would have started on the front wheel first, don't it

[olddog1946]

good job on that wheel....now you only need another weeks work for the front, lol...

I did one mag wheel for my pickup like that, took a full 8 hrs of polishing..decided doing 4 wheels was too much work, so sand blasted them and clear coated...made em a semi-dark gray..actually looked pretty good. But then I am lazy, lol.

[BonS]

If you start painting your house at the front it only gets harder to get the back finished. Good plan to start on the back!  Your wheel looks great!

[GotValk]

Wow, You win I just did mine, I like the touch of black paint!
Good Lookin !

[Chattanooga Mark]

Wow,

     You guys did an awesome job polishing those wheels.

All the best,

Mark

[john]

beautiful               
           

[JetDriver]

Neat idea to use the black paint.  It looks great!

[larswlvs]

It looks great,you did a good job. Do consider changing  your valve stem to a 90 degree metal one.

[wdvalk]

Mine came ouy really nice!

[Bambam650]

Thanks for the compliments and encouragement.  Those are some great wheel photos.  Awesome job!  I'll definitely look into changing out the stock valve stem with a nice chrome one.

[salty1]

Nice job to you all! I polished mine also (no photos yet), they look like they belong to this chrome beauty.   

[WamegoRob]

... did mine with Rustoleum Hammered paint in black.

Got a pic of the bike with black wheels, Mase?

*Edit - nevermind, I see what you mean now - http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/bullets.jpg
I thought you meant your whole wheel was painted black.

[GreenLantern57]

Man those look great. Wonder what mine would look like with a red to match the flames instead of black.

[WamegoRob]

Wonder what mine would look like with a red to match the flames instead of black.

Sorta like this but better:

[Bambam650]

Mase............I agree, the Rustoleum black hammered is another good option.  I did the background portion of the wheels on my Nissan Frontier with that and they came out great and the paint has held up excellent.  The Rustoleum hammered paint is really tough.  It's sort of like a urethane finish.

The red valk wheel looks really cool too.

[Bambam650]

Mine came ouy really nice!

That is amazing.  Is the wheel chromed or polished?  How did you get the rough cast portion to come out so shiny?

[bscrive]

A couple of years ago I decided to get my rims powder coated black.  It only cost $125/wheel and it is now so easy to clean.  Brake dust comes off easily.

[TW]

Super job and looks great.  That shows me how much work I have to do on mine.

[GreenLantern57]

Wonder what mine would look like with a red to match the flames instead of black.

Sorta like this but better:

Nice, got a little time on you hands! 

[gordonv]

Wonder what mine would look like with a red to match the flames instead of black.

Sorta like this but better:

Nice, got a little time on you hands! 

I never thought of doing this. How do you touch up a photo?

I was going to paint my IS rims black, and the insides (like the above) matching red for my black/red IS. It would have been a lot cheaper to touch up the photo first.

[wdvalk]

I cheated,mine are chrome

[SPOFF]

Now before you put on a new tire, get rid of that old rubber tire valve and install a metal 90° valve. 

It looks like the plastic support is missing on those stems. They're needed (I'm told) because otherwise centrifugal can cause the valve stem to fail.  As for the wheels, they're gorgeous! Unfortunately I have a full life (and two other bikes to maintain) so my wheels stay ugly. 

[gordonv]

Not required if you have the ridged steel ones. Only the OEM style rubber ones, to stop them from cracking at the joint.

[wam0282]

Dumb question, but where do you get the steel stems?

[wild6]

Dumb question, but where do you get the steel stems?

See http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,40051.0.html

[WamegoRob]

I never thought of doing this. How do you touch up a photo?

Using Paint Shop Pro I selected the area to change and used the 'colorize' option to make it red.
I'm sure the same thing can be done with Photoshop and GiMP (this one's free)