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polishing wheels


Guest baldyjoe

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Guest baldyjoe

Tomorrow i start my wheel polishing.i have paint stripper,scappers,polising kit from ebay.and all day tomorrow to start. :biggrin:

i will take photos as i go so by this time tomorrow all should be very shinny................ :wub:

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Good luck with it... it took me over four solid hours just to get the paint off my rear wheel.

But worth it for the way it looks. Once done, the best solution I found for avoiding endless re-polishing was to coat them in Nyalic - it's not cheap but worth every cent. It comes in spraypack or tins for a paint gun, you can actually paint it on with a brush as it's self leveling but I got a spraypack, which was $55 five years ago, but you can't beat it for ease of use, quality and longevity.

You can get it from the importers in Sydney - send Jeff an email to find out how to order it.

http://www.nyalic.com.au/NYALIC_%28AUSTRALIA%29_PTY_LTD/HOME.html

No affiliation, just a very happy customer.

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Take a look at this product http://www.everbrite.net/index.html

I changed tires for a guy with a new GoldWing 1800 and they start off with bare aluminum wheels, so he coated it with this stuff...he said it was super easy, you just wipe it on and it self levels itself. A couple coats and your good to go!

I plan on stripping the paint of my wheels someday too, and plan on using this stuff!!

Have fun!! :fing02:

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I polished my rear wheel a while ago and it took me for ever. Don't be an idiot like me and use wire brush on the paint that didn't come off on the first try. :ohmy: Soak it with some more stripper and be patient. :warranty:

By the time I was done, I was wishing that I'd never started... :fing02:

But it looked OK. I even covered it with Everbrite. That was not perfect either, b/c the stuff began to come off over time.

Your results may be better if you know what you're doing.

Good luck!

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I polished my rear wheel a while ago and it took me for ever. Don't be an idiot like me and use wire brush on the paint that didn't come off on the first try. :ohmy: Soak it with some more stripper and be patient. :warranty:

By the time I was done, I was wishing that I'd never started... :fing02:

But it looked OK. I even covered it with Everbrite. That was not perfect either, b/c the stuff began to come off over time.

Your results may be better if you know what you're doing.

Good luck!

Just curious, did you use their cleaner and neutralizer before the coating? How long before it came off?

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I did mine over a cold snowy February weekend. Be patient and use LOTS of stripper. I coated one one wheel and let it sit while I scraped away on the other one. By the time I got all the stripper/paint off that was coming off in that little session, the paint on the other wheel had softened. I just rotated back and forth and all went well. Airplane stripper and plastic paint scrappers worked great however I did go through a few scrappers as well since the stripper melts the plastic after a while.

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Good luck with it bro! I always wanted to do my wheels; however after reading how much elbow grease and time is requried...I'm just going to have them powdercoated locally and be done!

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Guest baldyjoe

ok its harder than i thought ok i stripped the rear wheel only took all day but well worth is just need to respray the black edges and then get so coating for them front wheel next weekend.

got some photos but not finished gallery_18942_5044_375367.jpg

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gallery_18942_5044_762378.jpg

Edited by baldyjoe
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Yep I think you'd be hard pressed to find an aftermarket coating that's as tough as what Honda uses on its wheels.

AFAIK, Everbrite is Nyalic, but I have no idea why they have the two names. Prep/cleanliness is key (like with any paintwork), and if the coating is scratched, you just gently feather the high points of the scratch with steel wool or fine sandpaper, clean properly, and then simply paint more Everbrite/Nyalic over it - it is not only self levelling, but self blending too! :unsure:

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Guest baldyjoe

Yep I think you'd be hard pressed to find an aftermarket coating that's as tough as what Honda uses on its wheels.

AFAIK, Everbrite is Nyalic, but I have no idea why they have the two names. Prep/cleanliness is key (like with any paintwork), and if the coating is scratched, you just gently feather the high points of the scratch with steel wool or fine sandpaper, clean properly, and then simply paint more Everbrite/Nyalic over it - it is not only self levelling, but self blending too! :unsure:

i will price it up on monday im in sydney so thats good.

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If I were ever to strip any wheels in the future, I would bring them to a professional chroming or powdercoating shop and have them dipped to remove the stock paint.

I stripped 4 aluminum wheels for my Ford Ranger using aircraft stripper and would never wish to repeat the procedure again.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14829

My time is worth more than that. Jm2C.

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I'm planning on sending my wheels out for chroming i've looked around and i"m thinking it'll be around 500-750, when it's all said and done. I though of going the polishing route but I'm thinking 8hrs or more of labor and about $100 in supplies? does that sound about right for those that have done it? I'm just too scared of screwing it up spending 8hrs and $100 and still end up sending them out.

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Airplane stripper and plastic paint scrappers worked great however I did go through a few scrappers as well since the stripper melts the plastic after a while.

When I did my '90, I made a scraper out of a scrap hardwood strip. No problems with that dissolving...

I'm getting closer to doing the 800's wheels; although the silver paint doesn't show the scratches as bad as the white on the '90 did, they're pretty messed up.

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When I did my '90, I made a scraper out of a scrap hardwood strip. No problems with that dissolving...

I'm getting closer to doing the 800's wheels; although the silver paint doesn't show the scratches as bad as the white on the '90 did, they're pretty messed up.

WOOD IS GOOD! - maybe best! When your edge wears down, just run it through your miter saw and it's brand new again. enzed_viffer gets a gold star today.

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I'm planning on sending my wheels out for chroming i've looked around and i"m thinking it'll be around 500-750, when it's all said and done. I though of going the polishing route but I'm thinking 8hrs or more of labor and about $100 in supplies? does that sound about right for those that have done it? I'm just too scared of screwing it up spending 8hrs and $100 and still end up sending them out.

Chemical dipping is the most civilised way to strip the wheels, and the finished wheel looks nice enough to just clear-coat and leave as is. Try a high-end car restoration outfit, they usually have access to chemical dipping.

As for chrome, not to my taste but nickel plating is very similar in finish and cost, but looks nicer - has a golden hue to it rather than the flat tone of chrome. It's also safer; unless you really know your stuff you can weaken alloy by chroming it.

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Guest baldyjoe

I'm planning on sending my wheels out for chroming i've looked around and i"m thinking it'll be around 500-750, when it's all said and done. I though of going the polishing route but I'm thinking 8hrs or more of labor and about $100 in supplies? does that sound about right for those that have done it? I'm just too scared of screwing it up spending 8hrs and $100 and still end up sending them out.

i got a few quotes on getting them polished and i think its more satasfying in doing it your self im going to do the front wheel next rainy weekend.just the outer lip tho not the full wheel.

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I'm planning on sending my wheels out for chroming i've looked around and i"m thinking it'll be around 500-750, when it's all said and done. I though of going the polishing route but I'm thinking 8hrs or more of labor and about $100 in supplies? does that sound about right for those that have done it? I'm just too scared of screwing it up spending 8hrs and $100 and still end up sending them out.

Chemical dipping is the most civilised way to strip the wheels, and the finished wheel looks nice enough to just clear-coat and leave as is. Try a high-end car restoration outfit, they usually have access to chemical dipping.

As for chrome, not to my taste but nickel plating is very similar in finish and cost, but looks nicer - has a golden hue to it rather than the flat tone of chrome. It's also safer; unless you really know your stuff you can weaken alloy by chroming it.

Ok if I get them dipped to strip off the paint and not use a scraper will get a shiny finish? will I not have to polish the metal with compounds? I was also thinking about getting them polished and then gold anodized, give them that titanium look. I have a red '07 so gold or chrome would look good IMO. I also thought the nickle plating was more for show bikes and not very durable, anyone have any input on that?

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The outer rims and the 'faces' of the spokes have a machined finish that does come up pretty shiny after stripping/dipping. The inner part of the rims (where the spokes meet it) are a 'sandcast' finish and have a more matte finish, but still quite nice. The dipping process merely replaces the paint stripper and elbow grease process, if you want bling you still need to get stuck in, but in my experience the actually polishing is far simpler, cleaner and more enjoyable than the stripping.

I can't speak personally on durability of nickel plating, but seeing as they use it to line cylinders in engines I think that durability is not going to be an issue.

I did mine in 1999, pic from way back then:

blackvfr2.jpg

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Just curious, did you use their cleaner and neutralizer before the coating? How long before it came off?

I have not used their stuff, but I used acetone to degrease the surface.

It didn't really come off, but showed some yellowish hue in places and looks like it's going to come off.

It doesn't look bad though and passes the 5' test.

But for the amount of work put in, I'd def. not do it again.

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I can't speak personally on durability of nickel plating, but seeing as they use it to line cylinders in engines I think that durability is not going to be an issue.

Nickel plating is extremely corrosion resistant and would go well on wheels, not being as shiny as chrome.

I nickel plated my heat shield on my bike and it's held up perfectly for 10 years.

As for cylinders, that's Nikasil plating, which is a nickel-silicon carbide process. Not the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikasil

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