Polishing Motorcycle Wheels

[vstargar]

Hello all. I'm new to all this stuff. I bought a new bike last Fall. I've experimented with polishing a few parts like my levers, and my upper belt guard. The bike is a V Star 1300. The Wheels appear to be cast aluminum (or some variant of). They are pretty smooth on the outer diameter and the faces of the spokes have been machined flat on part of the faces. They also seem to have a hard anodized finish.... sort of a grey color, with those machined faces shining like, well, like machined aluminum. Oh, here's the great part. The "hub" area still has a lot of heavy cast texture, and there are still the casting ridges and stuff like that on the spokes. Getting in there with a sander is not going to happen. Is there any compound to use on a drill with a long extension (and a small wheel) that would/could smooth these castings in prep for polishing?
I'm pretty happy with the results of the upper guard polishing job, and these wheels are a nice design.........just rough and begging for a nicely polished finish. But I don't even know where or how to start.
Thanks for any guidance. I can link some pics if that would help.

[quadracer2cool4u]

I've never used this before but it might work really well for what you are doing http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/expander.htm Greasless compound should work good for geting in the nooks and cranys. I would suggest using with spiral swen wheel, big or small. Probably start off with 180 or 240 grit depending on how much sanding needs to be done. If you have a bench polisher that would help alot, your going to need one if you use the expander wheel. Hope that helps!!

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by vstargar

Hello all. I'm new to all this stuff. I bought a new bike last Fall. I've experimented with polishing a few parts like my levers, and my upper belt guard. The bike is a V Star 1300. The Wheels appear to be cast aluminum (or some variant of). They are pretty smooth on the outer diameter and the faces of the spokes have been machined flat on part of the faces. They also seem to have a hard anodized finish.... sort of a grey color, with those machined faces shining like, well, like machined aluminum. Oh, here's the great part. The "hub" area still has a lot of heavy cast texture, and there are still the casting ridges and stuff like that on the spokes. Getting in there with a sander is not going to happen. Is there any compound to use on a drill with a long extension (and a small wheel) that would/could smooth these castings in prep for polishing?
I'm pretty happy with the results of the upper guard polishing job, and these wheels are a nice design.........just rough and begging for a nicely polished finish. But I don't even know where or how to start.
Thanks for any guidance. I can link some pics if that would help.

Cartridge rolls, do a search.

[jrow]

vstargar,

MOTORCYCLE POLISHING 101 CLASS IS IN SESSION!

John

[vstargar]

Thanks for that link. I did read that article a few days ago and found it very informative. My wheels are much rougher than the street bike frames.... not the entire wheel, but the hub portion and the leading and trailing edges of the spokes.

[jrow]

vstargar,

Start with cartridge rolls of flap wheels. I would start with about 220 -320 Grit and see what that does!

John

[quadracer2cool4u]

Where do you buy your cartridge rolls? how fine do they have?
Thanks

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by quadracer2cool4u

Where do you buy your cartridge rolls? how fine do they have?
Thanks

Caswell has them here, as well as many other places. Google is your friend. The finest I've been able to find are 320 but that's probably as far as you want to go with them anyhow.

[jrow]

vstargar,

As previously mentioned Caswell's has them, also look in your yellow pages under abrasives and see what there!

John

[vstargar]

Thanks for all the advice everyone...... I'm trying to muster the courage to start on one of the wheels. If I'm gonna do it, I need to start soon, as Spring is near and riding will get in the way of polishing. I think, with a few creatively made up polishing cloths, I can maintain the resultant shine without too much fuss, though I'm a bit concerned that the brake dust will cause me some frustration and some regular polishing to keep things looking good. Not unlike now really, though with the finish that is currently on these wheels I don't worry much about a little dirt and brake pad residue.

Has anyone polished their brake disks? What did you use on those? I'm told the disks are stainless, but I'm not certain of that, since that would seem an incredibly pricey material for a brake disk. Any advice? My disks are actually in two pieces. There is a small inner disk, with the actual brake disk surrounding that one.... if that makes any sense. The inner section appears to have some sort of coating on it. Powder coat? Anodize? I have no clue.

Anyway, for a newbie, this is going to be quite a job! I'm a bit intimidated. I figure I'd start with the front wheel and brake disks, since I'm going to be installing some new progressive fork springs soon anyway.... may as well remove the wheel and give things a go. Maybe I'll just start with those brake disks