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[ST] Wheel polishing



Matt wrote:
> Looks nice Howlin. Especially with that custom shorty exhaust.

Thanks Matt. I was in the process of polishing up the TBR can and pipework
when that shot was taken. It's all back in place now. That TBR alloy really
doesn't get on with our Irish weather :o(

> Do you mind sharing the steps and time involved?

No problem.

First remove the wheels from the bike and the tyres and valves from the
rims.

I used automotive paint stripper and a wooden spatula to remove the plastic
coating from the wheels.
It came off the machined rims with a bit of work but was more stubborn on
the rough cast spokes and hub.
I had to use fine (0000) grade steel wool and stripper to remove the more
stubborn patches.

Apparently Aircraft stripper is more effective but it wasn't available over
here :o(

This was about three hours work for 1 wheel.

I then used  a flapper wheel attached to a drill to smooth out the worst of
the imperfections on the spokes, being careful not to damage the rim.

I used a 'Mr Fastener' polishing kit then to remove the machining marks from
the rims and gradually polish them to a mirror finish. The kit contains
three grades of mop and polishing compound which can be attached to a normal
power drill. Mine cost £20 Sterling from M&P

Smoothing and polishing took about 4 hours for 1 wheel.

I used Duck tape to mask the rims (masking tape wouldn't stick to the
polished surface).

Sprayed the spokes with acrylic primer, followed by Ford 'moondust silver'
and a few coats of Simoniz chip resistant clear wheel lacquer, all from
rattle cans.

I retrospect I could have saved a lot of time and effort by just masking the
spokes and rim centre (there's a handy 2mm edge to use as a guideline) and
only stripping the powder coat from the outer rims.

Even though the outer rims aren't smooth they are quite well finished and
shiney where they were machined. They could easily be polished up to a good
finish using fine wire wool followed by very fine wet&dry and an alloy
polish. I reckon a pretty good finish could be achieved in this manner for
about 2 hours per wheel although it probably wouldn't be as good a job.

HTH,
Martin,
Ireland


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