A buddy of mine, Chip, owns a 2006 Honda VTX1800 Motorcycle. The bike has 14,000 miles on it and is due for a new set of tires. He dropped the bike off at the local Honda shop and asked if he could have the wheels back for a few days after they removed the tires.
He's washed the wheels with a pretty caustic cleaner and stained the raw aluminum of the wheels and wanted to see if I could get them back to close to as new. He told me when he went back to pick up the wheels the tech stated he understood why he wanted them back for a few days.
As delivered Tuesday evening:
These wheels are raw polished aluminum, no clear coat on them at all. I started on them Wednesday late morning. Chip was going to come over in the evening to help, I needed to see what it would take to get these right.
Rear:
Pulled the rotor:
Front:
Pulled both rotors:
Nasty:
One quick pass with Adam's Metal Polish #1 in a small section:
Not bad, but it was going to take quite a while. I upped my first step to a more abrasive paste polish, (two passes) then followed that up with two passes of Adam's Metal Polish #1
Much Better:
Some of the chemical marks remained, but I didn't want to go any further, as the wheels have machine marks on them. I was afraid if I went any more aggressive I'd have started to remove the machine marks.
The Metal Polish #1 was followed up with 2 passes of Adam's Metal Polish #2
Came out real nice, I thought.
Chip agreed.
Notice my method for applying the polish? I cut an Edgeless Utility towel into quarters. The smaller size fit my hands better, enabling them to get into the tighter areas, and the weave of the towel was perfect for allowing the polish to cut without leaving strike marks in the aluminum.
Once done with the polishing, I applied a nice thin coat of Liquid Paint Sealant, and buffed that off after it had hazed over.
Once Chip showed up I let him do the first pass of each step to the rear wheel, I then followed up with the second pass of each. He was really impressed at how each pass, of each step made a noticeable difference in the appearance of the wheel. The rear came out as nice as the front. He's vowed not to use any caustic on these wheels ever again.
Question
BRZN
A buddy of mine, Chip, owns a 2006 Honda VTX1800 Motorcycle. The bike has 14,000 miles on it and is due for a new set of tires. He dropped the bike off at the local Honda shop and asked if he could have the wheels back for a few days after they removed the tires.
He's washed the wheels with a pretty caustic cleaner and stained the raw aluminum of the wheels and wanted to see if I could get them back to close to as new. He told me when he went back to pick up the wheels the tech stated he understood why he wanted them back for a few days.
As delivered Tuesday evening:
These wheels are raw polished aluminum, no clear coat on them at all. I started on them Wednesday late morning. Chip was going to come over in the evening to help, I needed to see what it would take to get these right.
Rear:
Pulled the rotor:
Front:
Pulled both rotors:
Nasty:
One quick pass with Adam's Metal Polish #1 in a small section:
Not bad, but it was going to take quite a while. I upped my first step to a more abrasive paste polish, (two passes) then followed that up with two passes of Adam's Metal Polish #1
Much Better:
Some of the chemical marks remained, but I didn't want to go any further, as the wheels have machine marks on them. I was afraid if I went any more aggressive I'd have started to remove the machine marks.
The Metal Polish #1 was followed up with 2 passes of Adam's Metal Polish #2
Came out real nice, I thought.
Chip agreed.
Notice my method for applying the polish? I cut an Edgeless Utility towel into quarters. The smaller size fit my hands better, enabling them to get into the tighter areas, and the weave of the towel was perfect for allowing the polish to cut without leaving strike marks in the aluminum.
Once done with the polishing, I applied a nice thin coat of Liquid Paint Sealant, and buffed that off after it had hazed over.
Once Chip showed up I let him do the first pass of each step to the rear wheel, I then followed up with the second pass of each. He was really impressed at how each pass, of each step made a noticeable difference in the appearance of the wheel. The rear came out as nice as the front. He's vowed not to use any caustic on these wheels ever again.
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