• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Wheel Cleaning - After 30 yrs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tourmaster
  • Start date Start date
T

Tourmaster

Guest
Currently cleaning up my GS1100EX and having a bit of fun with wheel cleaning. Actually the rear wheel wasn't much of a problem as I think the chain lube spray seems to have protected the original finish. Where I'm finding a bit of a challenge is with the front wheel. A mixture of 30 year old road debris, fork oil and brake pad debris has resulted in some hard to clean staining on the mag spokes.

So far I've tried lifting/cleaning this stuff off with (in no particular order) varsol, WD40, brake cleaner and fine grit polish. I got about 75% of the crap off, but there are still some localized dark spots remaining, that are very stubborn and seemingly baked on. Since I just want to clean the wheels, and not refinish, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to lift those final stains without destroying the paint/finish underneath?
 
How timely, just tried to polish up my front rim yesterday, seems you and I have the same problem, for me on my '82 GS1100EZ, the culprit, brake fluid stains from the PO. I've come to the conclusion that I may have to learn to live with it, possibly might try a high speed buffer with some "semi-chrome" and see if that helps. Probably easier just to locate another
wheel on e-bay. I think there may be a plastic coating on the aluminum non painted area. If there is and I remove it, it will take frequent polishing to keep it looking good. I'm going to try some aluminum wheel polish and a
crocus cloth today and see if it improves. If that doesn't work and it continues to really bother me, I'll be looking for another wheel unless someone comes up with the "answer" here.
 
wheels

wheels

all you need is to buy some muckoff it eats grime especialy on wheels and engines
best bit it dont upset my eczemer,skin disease dont help my spelling though.
 
gshub said:
all you need is to buy some muckoff it eats grime especialy on wheels and engines
best bit it dont upset my eczemer,skin disease dont help my spelling though.
Click to expand...

Muckoff? Never heard of that product.
 
gshub said:
all you need is to buy some muckoff it eats grime especialy on wheels and engines
best bit it dont upset my eczemer,skin disease dont help my spelling though.
Click to expand...

neither had I till i found it at a bike rally being sold cheap when i had my gs motor
stripped and rebuilt in the spring the engineer said he never seen a 30yr old engine so clean
its done 90,000miles a m8 of mine clocked up 40,000 of them dispatch riding it in all weathers .
but i only ride in summer now because of all the salt they put on our roads and my bone cant handle the cold anymore.
 
cleaner

cleaner

muc-off USA LLC
8311 chetle AVE
santa fe
CA 90670
USA tel 562 645-9944
 
How clean you can get the wheel depends on whether or not the paint is damaged. Brake fluid and other various chemicals, including road salt, tends to eat into the wheel paint and stain the wheel, and no amount of cleaning will remove the reference marks. Dedicated wheel cleaning products are very strong but effective at removing brake dust and road grunge, but again, if the paint is damaged you are stuck.
 
Nessism said:
How clean you can get the wheel depends on whether or not the paint is damaged. Brake fluid and other various chemicals, including road salt, tends to eat into the wheel paint and stain the wheel, and no amount of cleaning will remove the reference marks. Dedicated wheel cleaning products are very strong but effective at removing brake dust and road grunge, but again, if the paint is damaged you are stuck.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much what I thought. The wheel is serviceable, but stained, and I think all the rubbing in the world will not get out the chemical stain left by the brake fluid. I'm going to chip away at it though, I've got nothing to lose in doing so. Such a shame as it could've been easily prevented. Wheels are cheap on E-bay though if I choose to replace it.
 
sedelen said:
That's pretty much what I thought. The wheel is serviceable, but stained, and I think all the rubbing in the world will not get out the chemical stain left by the brake fluid. I'm going to chip away at it though, I've got nothing to lose in doing so. Such a shame as it could've been easily prevented. Wheels are cheap on E-bay though if I choose to replace it.
Click to expand...

I suggest polishing/repainting if you are picky. Any wheels you get on ebay are likely to have the same paint staining concerns as your current wheels.
 
I'm with Ed on this, definitely a good polish if not paint.

Mine went from this:



To this with a wire wheel on my drill:



And I painted mine a little differently to the factory, but you get the idea:




If you're just going to polish, the wire wheel still should work a treat, but you'll need to get something in the corners (I just followed up with wet and dry paper for paint prep). I've yet to do that final polish of the rim so the unpainted area is not as shiny as it should be.
 
Nessism said:
How clean you can get the wheel depends on whether or not the paint is damaged. Dedicated wheel cleaning products are very strong but effective at removing brake dust and road grunge, but again, if the paint is damaged you are stuck.
Click to expand...

At this point, I haven't given up. Any of the stains that I've managed to remove from the gray painted areas of the mag, have left the paint behind. Varsol, at this point, seems to work the best, so long as I let it soak for a little while with a wet rag placed over each area. Then rub like hell and the stains will eventually lift without wrecking the paint.

Being the lazy bastard that I am ... just thought one of you experts might have a magic bullet. Have never seen Muc-off, so might shop around locally to see if it, or something like it, is available.

Many thanks, as always, for the feedback, advice and comments. :)
 
Nessism said:
I suggest polishing/repainting if you are picky. Any wheels you get on ebay are likely to have the same paint staining concerns as your current wheels.
Click to expand...

If you saw my front wheel, you probably say, any wheel on e-bay has got to look much better. Looks like someone sprayed the wheel with brake cleaner and just let it set there to ensure maximum damage. I put a little elbow grease into it today in the form of trying anything to rub out the stain, what I ended up with is a shiny stained rim, but I haven't completely given up on it yet.
 
Stained Aluminum

Stained Aluminum

If the damage (which is what it is to me) is that bad, it'll take the use of electricity to rehab the wheel.
 
My wheels where really dirty to
2010_06300005.jpg

A pic of the original pipes on the bike but you can see the dirt.
2010_07230006.jpg

This is after a pretty hard cleaning that was starting to remove the gold paint
2010_11180002.jpg

2010_11180003.jpg

After more scrubbing and power washing there was still dirt ground into them.They are going to get wet sanded here,with 2000 grit paper.
2010_11180005.jpg

This is how they looked after polishing and painting them.Didn't have brake fluid stains but the only way mine where ever going to look any good was to bite the bullet and paint them.
 
Last edited:
SVS ... nice job .... and I certainly haven't ruled out the same eventuality in my case.
 
I use good old soap and water with a few shots of Purple Power. Scrub the bare aluminum with 1500 sand paper. Try not to rub the painted part unless you know you're gonna paint em.

I like to firmly lay the tape then use a smooth round hard edge such as a screwdriver to edge the tape. Works pretty good if you take your time.
You'll also need a sharpy or several razor blades for the corners.

391443156.jpg


391443164.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top