Cleaning/Refinishing Wheels

[R65_Mark]

I was looking Mike V’s restoration pictures this evening and was very impressed (I got there by following the link in the “The Missing ATE' Brake Caliper O-Ring” thread).

It started me to thinking about cleaning/refinish the wheels on my ’84 R65.  They are pretty grubby, and while I'm trying to ride rather than tinker, I have new tires to fit and figured some clean up would not go amiss while they are off the ‘bike.

Any suggestions on what works best?  Also, what not to do.

The wheels will fit in "my" large grit blast cabinet.  It’s currently loaded with silica.  I’m wondering if this might be a little too aggressive?

I use walnut shells in my small grit blast cabinet for cleaning up delicate parts, this experience tells me that this media won’t do much more than polish even I could be bothered going to the trouble of changing media in the large cabinet.

How about chemical cleaners/solvents and elbow grease?  Or a rotary wire brush?

Thanks.

Mark

[nhmaf]

Our moderator, Justin B, did one of his with a sandblaster and spray painted it - looks pretty good to me !
http://www.bmwr65.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1242923957/29#29

Now, if you use a cabinet I'd probably pull the wheel bearings out and carefully cover up the center of the wheel so prevent any media from getting in there and put in new bearings as a matter of fact. At least, any time that I've had something go into an industrial blasting cabinet  it seems that media can get into the tiniest darn places.  If you hit it with a blast gun and cover the center like Justin did, you may not have to replace the bearings if you are careful.

I won't be repainting my wheels before the rally - got too busy with jobs and looking for work this month, but as I can use a sandblaster and painter on my tractor and other equipment, I am thinking of picking up a blaster and sprayer (already have a semi-decent air compressor)..

[Bob_Roller]

If using the blasting cabinet, I would use the walnut shell or plastic media .

If you have a lot of enthusiasm, a Scotchbrite type pad, and some Simple Green and a lot of 'elbow grease' will also give good results .

[Mike V]

Thanks Mark, I appreciate the kind words. I'm with Bob. I spent more time and energy on those wheels than i want to admit to all of you. But, i wanted to accomplish a new look without abrasive or blasting measures. My process is a 50-50 solution of Simple Green with water and lots of 1" grout brushes I purchased from Target, and plenty of Scotch Bright pads, time and energy. It's not a fast or easy process but the effort you put into the procedure will reap rewards. Rinse often with water, take plenty of breaks to bandage your fingers and regain the feeling into your hands. There's some difficult areas and corners that a toothbrush works well in. Be careful to plug the axle bore to protect the bearings, etc. from water. I never use a hose but keep plenty of spray bottles with water for rinsing. these wheels were in pretty bad shape due to the salt air elements here - long story from PO. I would suggest reserving an entire afternoon with a mind-set.
Effort = Success.

Mike V. / San Diego

[flongr65]

If you want to keep the cost down on the refinishing, as I did, consider spraying the wheels with appliance spray paint. Its a one part epoxy spray can, purchased at Home Depot. About $5 per can and I used one can per wheel. They look great and the paint has held up well.

[weasel01]

I recently spent way too much time with the "simple green scrub like hell" method and I'm very happy with the results.
Front is 99% NOS looking and the back is maybe 80% there are still some small bits of embedded blackness and that's probably ok.
I'll keep hittin' it when I feel like it and hopefully I'll scub em' both back to life.

[R65_Mark]

I’ve got plenty of projects, and given my R65 is my "rider" the thought of laboring away to get a finish does not appeal.
 
I feel an experiment coming on.  If anyone has got an old beaten up wheel, cracked, out-of-true, whatever, that would make a good test piece I'm happy to spend UPS Ground money to see just how much abuse one will take!  Let me know.

It’ll be a few weeks before I get enough play time to get the wheels/tires swapped, but I can play with test pieces pretty much anytime.  Not sure what I’ll end up doing, but I’ll report back progress.

Mark

[billygoat]

 I used Jasco paint remover and Dupli-Color wheel paint I got at Kragen. They came out nice I think
I wasn't too happy at first but the paint has held up. You need to use the Dupli-Color clear coat too.

[billygoat]

pic?