Wheels look awful... need advice.

[neilrl79]

My wheels seem as tho they are stained with brake dust and I really want them to look good. I've tried straight car wash solution and I've also tried ''meguires hot rims aluminum wheel cleaner''. The meguires actually seemed to make it look worse. I'm thinking my next step might be pulling the wheels off to have a better angle of attack. Does anyone have any tricks they can share? I took a couple pics, tho I don't think it shows up well.

 

[xtreme]

Two options: lots of elbow grease or flip the dough to get them powder coated.

 

[kab]

Mothers mag polish and LOTS of elbow grease. Maybe use a brake dust cleaner from an auto store and let it sit for a while.

 

[Macbuell]

nice can of spray paint and a bunch of clear coat.

http://imgur.com/bMiX0

Crappy cell phone pic, but they turned out pretty nice. I sanded, washed, primed, painted, and clear-coated.

 

[Zeroflat24]

Mothers mag polish and LOTS of elbow grease. Maybe use a brake dust cleaner from an auto store and let it sit for a while

if the wheels have a factory clear coat this is a bad idea because brake clean will eat right through it if you leave it sit on the wheels. i suggest some elbow grease and a good nail brush or something similar that isnt too abrasive.

 

[kab]

Sorry I meant the stuff you see at car washes to put on the rims and tires, you can get it at auto parts stores for chrome and aluminum rims, its made to help loosen brake dust.

 

[03Firebolt9R]

Purple power.

 

[neilrl79]

I picked up some mother's mag & aluminum polish this afternoon to use on my headers so I'll definitely give that a go. I wish the previous owners hadn't let them get so bad. My truck looks awful due to nissan's inferior paint peeling off in large sections so I at least want my bike to look good.

 

[neilrl79]

Update: the local car wash has a vending machine with all sorts of supplies and a few weeks ago I picked up a bottle of wheel cleaner for $2 and more or less forgot about it. Well after trying to get my wheels clean with several name brand cleaners with no luck at all I saw this stuff sitting collecting dust and figured i'd give it a shot. Much to my surprise this stuff worked great! I still needed to use ''Mothers Mag Polish'' on the smooth outer edges of the wheels but that wasn't too difficult. They still aren't perfect but they are a hell of a lot closer than they were. I didn't get any pics of the wheels before dark but I did get a pic of the cleaner. It's from QuickDry vending company.

 

[GAXB9R]

Have any pics of the wheels now? I had the same problem and Im sill in the process of getting all of it, but I used that meguires yellow cone and some polish. Worked very well, but still took a while.[cool]

 

[konarider94]

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/9/197/12493/ITEM/Maxima-Clean-Up-Multi-Purpose-Degreaser.aspx

thats what i use on my amber wheels. still have to rub with a rag but it gets it done. this is what the guys at the ducati/triumph dealer near me recommended after i told them what i tried that failed.

i will look for that stuff that you found and ill give it a try

 

[cpatt]

mine are the same way. what i use is griots wheel cleaner
http://www.amazon.com/Griots-Garage...OR5W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331514655&sr=8-1
i just used the last of mine. the first time i used it on my truck i couldn't believe how good of a job it does...

brake dust just wipes right off.

 

[Dave A]

Try WD40 and paper towells. Its worked for me.

 

[neilrl79]

I'll post some pics after work tomorrow.

Try WD40 and paper towels. Its worked for me.

I'd be afraid of lubing my tires up real good.

 

[SEXT9]

Motorcycle Wheel Clean Stand

Sorry for digging up an old thread. I didn't want to start a new one for wheel cleaning. Here's a tool I picked up today after I saw a fellow Bueller pick one up. It a seems to be a nice tool.