Cleaning/polishing alloy wheels

flyboytj · Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 6:56 pm Post subject: Cleaning/polishing alloy wheels

I've got a 86 Honda Nighthawk 450 that needs some wheel TLC. Any suggestions on cleaning up alloy rims, they don't need to look like chrome.

jvandyke · Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 8:30 pm Post subject:

Are they clear coated with anything?
Lately I've been pretty aggressive and it pays off, sand paper in variying grits, bronze wool and different polishes have worked well on my CB500 but I have no knowledge of these wheels. If they have some factory clear coat then you have to burn through that first, doesn't take lone with sand paper though.

fasterspider · Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:03 pm Post subject:

If I remember my Nightawk Comstars correctly, they were painted black and had a fine grind on the edges of the spokes & rim then clear coated.
Polishing a Comstar is no easy proposition.

butch8231 · Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 10:26 pm Post subject:

My CB900C has them on it. I just use mag wheel cleaner that is safe for clear coated wheels, I then spray armorall on the wheel and let it dry.

flyboytj · Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 6:44 am Post subject:

The Comstar alloys are painted and then put on a lathe to expose the alloy. The cutting marks are very coarse.
the last time I tried to smooth out the marks my finger tips would go to sleep for three days.
I think I'll try a small sanding block to remove the marks and then progressively finer wet or dry sandpaper.
I guess I was just hoping to remove some of the elbow grease required to do the job, It takes a long time to
clean up the alloys.

jvandyke · Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 4:22 am Post subject:

mixer · Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 5:29 am Post subject:

what about a dremel or die grinder and green pads to start?

flyboytj · Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 6:12 pm Post subject:

I worked on the front wheel yesterday. I had previously sanded and polished the unpainted portions of the wheel It took me many hours.
I masked the polished sections and then sprayed the rest of the wheel satin black. I have arthritis in my fingers and it hurts for days after doing a lot of sanding by hand. I can't see spending a lot of time on the rear wheel. I'm going to try painting the entire rear wheel and then use a sanding block with increasingly finer wet or dry to expose the areas I want shiny. I'll try to make the front wheel match the rear wheel even if I loose some of the shine I worked so hard to get.

Tom

BudW · Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 5:49 pm Post subject:

I would use wet dry sandpaper and wet it with water that has a little dish detergent added to it. The dish detergent makes a huge difference, it helps keep the sandpaper from clogging up with the aluminium.