Author Topic: Polishing Wheels  (Read 4847 times)

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Offline 95formula847

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Polishing Wheels
« on: August 25, 2009, 04:05:42 PM »
I'm not sure if any is interested but I took some of my free time to polish my rear rim and figured I would do a write up. Do this at your own risk.

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Alot of the KX5s we ride are pretty old and can use some spiffing up. On the same token many of use don't want to put tons of money into the looks department of our bikes when its needed elsewhere. So I am always looking for cheap and even free mods I can do to my bike.

One of the best mods I have done to dramatically change the overall look of my bike was to polish the wheels. I'm not sure about anyone else but this is how my rear rim on my 1991 KX500 looked before i had done anything:



As you can see its pretty dull and corroded.

The items i used to polish were:

220 grit sand paper
400 grit
800 grit
1000 grit
1500 grit
2000 grit
Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish
Plenty of Shop rags
Terry Cloth
Latex Gloves for dust
General purpose cleaner
A few extra hours time to do both rims including spokes and/or hubs

First off I removed the rear rim from the bike just to make things easier. Then I wiped the mud and so on from the rim so I could work with a fairly clean surface. I started with 220 grit and took my time. Take care to only sand in one direction, do not make a cross hatch pattern or it will not turn out as well. You wanna try to get all the small gouges and into all the nooks and cranies in the first step... it will make things easier when you work your way to the finer sand paper. You wont get all the gouges out if your rim is anything like mine! some are pretty deep.It took me roughly 30 minutes to go over one side of the rim with the 220 grit and I was satisfied. Next you can move to the 400 grit. You dont need to take your time with this step but you do need to go over everything. But dont go crazy.

Keep going through the different sand papers until you get to the 2000 grit, it should take you 20 minutes to go through with 400, 800, 1000 and 1500. You'll notice the surface texture become smoother each step. I'm sure at this step your thinking there is no way what you have sitting in front of you will end up being a mirror finish. But trust me...it will. Now, when you go over the rim with your 2000 grit paper, treat it like you did with the 220 grit. Go over everything and take your time to get into all the nooks and crannies. Spend alot of time getting it right because this last sanding phase dictates how well the polish shines the rim up.

The last step is to wipe the sanded area down with a general purpose cleaner to remove the sanding debris. Now would be a good time to wash your hands or remove your latex gloves if you were smart enough to wear them. If not no biggie. Take your mothers mag polish and start polishing small sections of the rim. The best way I have found to do it is to put a dab of polish on a terry cloth and polish a 2 inch section hard until the cloth gets warm. You will also notice after you have polished hard for a few seconds that the polish turns black. This is what you want. After it gets as black as possible go ahead and wipe it off with a clean rag. Its amazing what a good aluminum polish can do.

If you took your time sanding with 2000 grit you should end up with a mirror finish. Good Job! Just keep tearing away at small spots of the rim until you polish everything you sanded. Now, I only did half of the rim because I only had an hour or so to do it. But by all means, do the whole rim at once if you have the time.

You can use this same technique on the spokes and hub. The hub would be hard because of the shape, but a dremel with different sanding and buffing wheels would help immensely. You could also polish alot of other things on the bike. So far I have polished the cylinder head to frame mounts and started the swing arm.

Here is what i ended up with after an hours worth of work and about $12 in supplies:



Now after you have your polishing 100% complete there are two things you can do to keep it that way. Some people clear coat their finished product to keep it from going dull. But the clear coat will make it look duller anyways so I don't like this idea as your ruining your work of art. But to each his own. The other thing you could do is just to keep up on cleaning your wheels and polishing them when they start to fade. Usually once every two months or so.

I will post more pictures if you guys need any more. I hope this helps some people!


1991 KX500
2003 ZX12R

Offline Kawasakinut

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2009, 04:22:19 PM »
i'd like to add: use regular car wax on the polished up wheels, it will allow the dirt and mud to run off and not stick!
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Motorrad

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2009, 04:29:51 PM »
The mothers "billet" polish blows the normal stuff out of the water. Alot less rub time. Million times better results. Give it a try trust me I rub on alot of old British aluminum.


Also the swing arm looks good if you hit it with some 180 grit or 230 so on in one direction.  Then polish.  Gives a nice brushed look. 
« Last Edit: August 25, 2009, 04:32:06 PM by Motorrad »

Offline 95formula847

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2009, 04:18:42 AM »
I have never tried the waxing idea. I have heard of it but never tried it. Also i started with a coarser paper on the swing arm like you said motorrad as it was a rougher surface to start. Thanks for the added info guys. Ill wax the rim when i get it finished up.
1991 KX500
2003 ZX12R

Offline Kawasakinut

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2009, 07:34:44 AM »
yeah waxing would be the last step. i used to own a 2004 springer with lots of chrome used to wax all the chrome areas and never had an issue with pitting. i used to be a car detailer for chevrolet

 another neat trick * lemon pledge in place of armor all for your car tires, shines just as good, but use 2 coats  :wink:. it has to be the lemon version though!   
htpp://www.youtube.com/jimvpa

Motorrad

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2009, 10:04:02 AM »
I have never tried the waxing idea. I have heard of it but never tried it. Also i started with a coarser paper on the swing arm like you said motorrad as it was a rougher surface to start. Thanks for the added info guys. Ill wax the rim when i get it finished up.

I dont like a polished swing arm on the K5... doesnt look right to me...

I should clairify what I said better


Hit it with 180 or 230 grit ONLY (I use a sanding block)... run lenthwise on the arm... very straight...   clean off sanding dust.... and run some mothers over it.... gives a nice brushed alum look...

Offline 95formula847

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2009, 12:25:40 PM »
Oh OK. I see what your saying. Do you have any pics of yours done like this?
1991 KX500
2003 ZX12R

Motorrad

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2009, 03:55:44 PM »
This was a (half worn out) piece of 120Grit and normal Mothers mag polish...  as you see it has a nice brushed mat finish to it...

AND THE BEST PART  Touch up is as easy as a few swipes with 120G paper and some polish. (been doing this to my KTM and others for years....)

Offline 95formula847

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2009, 11:39:17 PM »
that looks great man. ill give that a try! good idea
1991 KX500
2003 ZX12R

Offline awak100

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2012, 02:25:12 AM »
Nice wheel.  I've polished my swingarm on my hillclimb bike a  few years back.  Just a note: there's some stuff called Flitzs, it works pretty good for polishing, I use the cream, not the liquid

Offline awak100

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Re: Polishing Wheels
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2012, 02:30:15 AM »
did forget something, that swingarm I did.  Now I use a buffer with a little Flitz, dont buff to long though you will burn the cream.  It makes a mess.  Buff just a little while, and wipe off while its still wet.  With rear wheel off it only takes me a few minutes to get it to a mirror like polish/shin