Today was a Good Day

Today was a good day. i finally wrapped up polishing my back wheel. it was a bitch, mainly because i didnt really have any clue how to go about doing it. i was told different things by everyone i talked to. everything ranging from, "just pull the paint off with aircraft stripper and it will be polished underneath" to "wet sand it with 80 grit and that will make it polished"... lol what a joke.:crazy:
well after many weekends of lackluster results, today turned out great!:biggrin:
i also spotted a pretty tight cbr600rr, probably an 04, give or take a year. bike looked cool, but the owner either did not know how to speak english, or was a d-bag... lol

 

:thumbsup:I normaly dont care for polished wheels but those look great with the candy red paint

 

In that parking lot I don't see hardly anything except pickup trucks. Not a car to be found. And here I thought we had a lot of truck owners in the Midwest!

 

thanks i appreciate it a lot!
yeah they look a lot better than couple hundred for each spare wheel and $500 to get that spare set cromed... lol

 

lol yeah we were at home depot, picking up lacquer thinner. they wanted $25 bucks at napa! lol wtf:crazy:

 

That wheel looks sweet dude. I have a red 07, and now you've got me thinking... :thumbsup:

 

Your work looks tight!

 

it was simple as (simple lol)
remove powder coat with air craft coating remover
remove die casting ridges with 120 grit sanding sponges
remove 12o grit scratches with 320 grit sanding sponges
wet sand with 400 grit wet sand paper
wet sand with 600
800
1000
1500
2000

at this point the wheel still looks only okay

then i hit it with some heavy duty turtle wax rubbing compound
then turtle wax polishing compound

at this point the wheel is looking pretty damn good

finally i brought the pain...
meguiar's mag & aluminum polish

at this point you say to your self wtf is the point of chrome? lol

 

im not gonna bother with the back side of the wheel. it constantly has chain spooge and road grime on it so whats the point?
but i am going to try to get the front lips done soon.
this time im not f#$%in with the air craft remover. im gonna see if i can dremel it off with the wire brush attachment.
and i am really thinking about polishing the frame now too...
i think that the bike would look awesome with everything polished...
but i still have frame sliders sitting on my dresser and am procrastinating badly...

 

The right side of the wheel looks great. What about the left side where the spokes are recessed. That must just been one bitch to do. As nice as those look, where I am, I think I will keep paint on mine. Cleaned up like yours are, and I would spend far too much time trying to keep mine clean.

Nice work.

 

Looks really sharp, Candy. Much better than chrome. Good work!!

 

yeah im trying to keep it practical. thats why i only did the face of the spokes and the lip. those are the easiest to clean and keep clean.
i kept the powder coat on the whole back side of the wheel and the insides of the spokes, which are a bitch to clean...

 

Nice job. This is the way the OEM factory wheels should have come.

On my '98 I don't like my black wheels. I don't like black wheels on any bike.

To me, chromed, polished or white always look great, (my '86 VFR, RC30, for instance).

Black just disappears and does nothing.

Anybody here know how much it would cost to just give my black wheels to a
chrome shop and let them have their way with them?

 

yeah i really wish i would have started out with black wheels. there would be a lot more contrast than the silver that's on the back and inside of my wheels right now. it would make the polished parts pop out a lot more.

i have seen ads in the back of magazines for $500 w/ free shipping. i think if you find a local shop that you could drop the wheels off at you should be paying $400 max for the pair...