Dirty, nasty 1300c wheels....

6181 Views 27 Replies 13 Participants Last post by motoman, Jul 24, 2006

gfd205

Discussion Starter · Apr 30, 2006

I having a hell of a time getting my wheels clean. Everytime i wash the bike they get worse and worse. Is there something special i should use on them to get them clean? any help would be cool because i have a clean new bike with crappy old looking wheels.

PS the bike is only like 2 or 3 months old

thanks everyone

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Grant

· #7 · May 2, 2006

These work really good on aluminum wheels.
No, we don't sell them.

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Grant

· #12 · May 4, 2006

gfd205 said:
I actually bought one of the powerballs and the mothers billet polish along with some eagle-1 nano polish... All of the products work great. The only problem I have now is that the dealer must have used something on the wheels that made them get "burn marks" in them. I contacted a company that sells a product called Metalwax and they said it is due to certsain products used on anodized aluminum wheels that penetrates or finds tiny holes in the coating. And it makes what they call "burn" marks and there product is supposed to counteract that reaction.

I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is the clear coat (paint) on the wheels where it got hot from power buffing them and created the black spots. The wheels are not anodized, just clear coated to prevent them from oxidizing. Anodizing is not a polished, shiny finish. If the stock wheels are not cleaned regularly, accumulated dirt and acids cut through the clear coat leaving bare, unprotected aluminum. This allows the wheels to oxidize more rapidly but it will also allow you to buff them to a much higher luster. Until the clear coat is removed, all you can do is clean and polish the clear coat. You can tell when the clear coat has been removed when you see a lot of black residue developing from the polishing process. That's what you want to see to obtain a true polished aluminum finish. Removing the clear coat is actually the hardest part. After that, polishing the bare aluminum wheel is pretty straight forward.

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Grant

· #17 · May 7, 2006

I find simple green works well to remove dirt and grime from all areas. I just spray it on and hose it off. I use Mothers aluminum polish on my R.C. wheels.

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Grant

· #23 · Jul 23, 2006

Retro Rich said:
I've always had good results with Blue Coral's Blue Magic Metal Polish. Ammonia based liquid polish. You've got to use a lot of elbow grease, but once you get them looking good they aren't hard to keep up.

I agree with Dillon; once I've got the $$ I'm chroming mine. Much easier to keep clean!

We sell a lot of R.C. Components wheels at ********* and we recommend polished wheels, not chrome. Chrome wheels look great until they get dings or scratches or both, then they look, ... damaged. You can't do anything to repair them other than having the chrome stripped, repairing the blemish and re-chroming. A very expensive process! I know, many of you think "but I'm not abusive to my wheels and will take care of them so chrome damage is not a concern". What about the low paid flunky installing your new tires when you need new ones? I speak from experience... Keep in mind, billet aluminum polishes up beautifully, much brighter than stock cast wheels. As delivered, new polished wheels sparkle like chrome and are very easy to maintain. I polish mine once a month which is plenty often enough to keep them looking like new. They have been on my VTX over 3 years and 15,000+ miles and still look like new. And yes, I've had to sand out and buff a few scratches, courtesy of tire installers...

Also, even stock wheels buff up very nicely if you have them professionally done. The trick is to get them really nicely polished the first time. Then maintaining them isn't a lot of work like it is when trying to maintain the finish on wheels that have never really been brought to a high shine as only experienced polishers can do while using professional equipment.

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Grant

· #26 · Jul 23, 2006

epiphysis said:
********* said:

I find simple green works well to remove dirt and grime from all areas. I just spray it on and hose it off. I use Mothers aluminum polish on my R.C. wheels.

:nono: ] I was told by the dealer to stay away from simple green cause it will mess up the wheels.......binds with the aluminum and stains it

Click to expand...

I've been using Simple Green for years and never had any stains with it. Maybe he was using the stuff undiluted, straight out of the bottle? I use it for most clean-ups diluted 1 part Simple Green to 3 parts water and that's still pretty strong. I use Simple Green to clean my polished R.C. wheels, Windshield, engine, brakes, etc. when they get really dirty and never have had any problems at all. No stains on my aluminum. I use the stuff every time I ride. Just one thing to keep in mind, if you use Simple Green to clean painted surfaces, you should wax afterward 'cause Simple Green cleans off the wax too. I usually (but not always) spray some McGuire's Quick Detailer on and polish it as a last step after cleaning my windshield.

I don't know what your dealer is doing (or what whoever told him that story was doin') but it's not my experience and I have a lot of experience using Simple Green.

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