Wheel Polishing

[chevsuz12]

Well, I made good use of my week off of work.

I decided to polish the wheels of my B12.  For those of you who have not done it, this is one incredibly simple mod.  It only took about 4 hours, and that includes pulling the wheels off the bike and putting them back on.

I used Mar Hyde Tal Strip Aircraft Stripper (available at Advance Auto for $23.00/ gallon)

I used masking tape (Scotch Blue #2090 painters tape) Available at home depot. This tape worked great, easy to apply, did not let the stripper run through, and came off very easily.

Remove the wheels from bike. (I recommend this mainly because if the stripper accidentally gets on anything, you have no chance of getting it off before it removes the paint!)
Taped off the coarse inner rim area, and applied the stripper to the smooth area.  This stuff works so well, before I could apply the stripper over the entire rim the paint was falling off (literally!)  Let sit about 30 seconds.

Rinse off with water hose.  About 99.9% of the paint was gone at this point.  Re apply the stripper to the .1% of specs that remain, rinse or use a scotchbrite pad.  

The rims are very nice at this point.  I did not sand at all.  I simply applied mothers polish, and finally one coat of wax to keep the oxidation at bay.

Done.

Big pics:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/chevsuz12/RimPolishing5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/chevsuz12/RimPolishing4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/chevsuz12/RimPolishing3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/chevsuz12/RimPolishing2.jpg

[Red01]

Looks good!  

[chevsuz12]

Thanks!, and thanks for editing the pics.

[Red01]

Hope you don't mind, but they were so wide they made readers have to scroll L-R to read you post... and I'm one of the people that just hates that. At least here, I have the power to change it, so I did.

 

[Mongo]

Did mine in November but left them on the bike, with Jasco, a 1" wide paintbrush and steel wool. I tried masking the wheel and that seemed too much like work so I scraped that Idea! If I was to do it again I would definetly pull them off the bike and save my back.

I would give it a six pack and three cigar rating for the labor scale (nothing like playing with methylene chloride and smoking).

[scooter69]

Now this is going to sound like a stupid comment and I'll applogise for it now.....

Aren't the rims steel or are they cast?  

Quebec is notorios for making things rust that normally shouldn't..........

 

[Jacknife]

The rims are aluminum, so if you dont protect them they will get screwed up in no time. Still thinking of doing this to mine but would have to clean them every where I go, good old Enlglish weather.

[Red01]

One thing you can do to aid in preserving the good looks is to clearcoat them after you polish them up.

[Jacknife]

with any clear coat or is there one you would you Red?

[Red01]

I didn't coat mine... but if I were to do it, I'd probably look hard at clear powder coat. If that's not reasonable, I'd defer to a paint pro for what would be the best paint to use.

[rider123]

I don't know if you've noticed but you're missing a bolt on your exhaust can.

[Cruisecontrol]

I decided to polish the wheels of my B12.  For those of you who have not done it, this is one incredibly simple mod.  It only took about 4 hours, and that includes pulling the wheels off the bike and putting them back on.

You inspired me to the point of doing exactly that this weekend. It was as simple as you said and looks a million bucks when finished.

for the impetus.

PS: Being a 1st Gen B12 did the six pot Tokico calipers on the front come stock? I had a '96 with a set of four pot Nissin's on it but my '03 has the Tokico's. Just wondering.

[Red01]

PS: Being a 1st Gen B12 did the six pot Tokico calipers on the front come stock? I had a '96 with a set of four pot Nissin's on it but my '03 has the Tokico's. Just wondering.

No. All the 1G's have 4-pots. The 6-pot Tokico's do bolt-on though. (You do have to have the Tokico brake line bolts though, it's a different pitch than the Nissin.)

[chevsuz12]

I simply put a quick coat of car wax on all polished surfaces of my bike a couple times a year.  It works good for me.


I picked up the brakes on Ebay for $25.00!!  They bolt right on, I did have to get new brake line bolts.  ( I got those from a local dealer after looking up the parts on Ron Ayers fiche.  


Good eye for catching the missing bolt.  That was a casualty in removing the can for the first time.  Suzuki had the bolts tack welded on, and that one broke off.  You also may have noticed I have the pod filters on with a stock exhaust!  I am running holeshot stage 2, but the "stock" exhaust is completely gutted.  It is on there until I repack my D&D.

[scooter69]

Has anyone thought about polishing the 3-point star as well as the rim itself?


Also, I'm mechanically inclined but have no idea where to start for a bike on taking wheels off.....meaning...what are the torque specs for the front and rear hubs?? Also, what are the torque specs for the disc bolts if I were to remove those as well??