I stripped and polished my rear wheel!

The before color was white, you can see it in my avatar. I plan to repaint the bike to another color someday, and the white just never looked right to me... I used aircraft paint stripper, and then some metal polish. Its not perfect, but I am very happy with how it turned out. But...Do I need to apply anything to protect the alloy? Will it oxidize or anything? Someday I may go two-tone and paint the parts that are unmachined, and leave the parts that are machined polished. Similar to black rc46's. Here's his: polished and painted my rims for this season - VFRworld Photo Gallery

It looks awesome black rc46. Did you do it yourself? I'm just not sure I could get it masked off well enough to get a clean paint/polish transition...Any ideas?

 

Nice work. Prolly need to use stainless pollish to keep it from dulling out.

 

Looks great! I did this mod on one of my previous bikes, but polished only the outer lip of the wheel and left the cente of the rim and spokes painted. I think I read somewhere that you could spray a little clear on them and it would protect them from oxidation.

Vs

 

Clear powdercoat it.

My dad and I are restoring a '65 Jag E-Type and we are clear powdercoating all of the bare aluminum parts to prevent oxidization.

 

Use Nyalic for the clear coat.
Polymer self leveling resin perfect for clear coating wheels.

Nyalic - Uses for Nyalic clear surface protectant

 

Looks good, thou I'm a suckers for white rims. I'm thinking about doing that too on the next tire swap. I've also have been on the fence for going with a clear powder coat or not, even thou it's more maintenance, I believe the raw metal looks better, even with a good clear coat it still takes the bite out of the shine IMO.

 

Looks awesome, great job!!! I'd like to do the same to my bike, but don't have the balls to do it myself, I know I'll screw it up somehow.

when I was looking for a VFR to buy, I almost bought one in Houston that its owner had the same thing done but they polished the wheel to almost chrome finish and coated it.

 

I'm a sucker for white Veefers with white wheels too but it makes sense if you're gonna repaint the bike another color.

I loved the silver 03's with black wheels which is why I sought one out but I'm learning how tough keeping black wheels clean (& glossy) can be. I imagine white can be a nightmare.

Anyway, nice job!

 

You stripped and polished your wheel?

I know your choice of riding gear is entirely up to you, but I really think your should use SOME sort of protection when using aggressive solvents and power tools.

I speak from experience. The ER doctor never believed me when I told him how I got the torque wrench up there.

 

That looks hot, i just stripped my 86 frame down and i am polishing it before reassembly, and then i want to my 2000 wheels but i think i want them chrome ?
but good job looks hot , are you going to put some clear over it when finished ?

 

i am in the process of doing mines, i took the road less traveled with this mod. doing f2 swap on 87, didnt want white rims so stripped with aircraft remover, the jel...it works wonders. just wear some chemical resistant gloved and have some backing soda and water around just in case it gets on your skin. sprayed easy off oven cleanre on it to remove ani -something i forgot the word. than i sanded the entire rim 60-600 grit with a mouse sander and by hand, then wet sanded with 800-1000 grit paper with a mixture of water/dawn dish detergent/and blue magic metal polish....the objective is to get the rim really smooth. than i turned my angle grinder into a polisher by using various polishing wheels with can be found at most home store and polishing compounds which can be ordered online or found at menards by the dremel tools.

first use black and sisal wheel
use microfiber cloth to rub ALL compund off!!!!
second use brown and canton wheel
use microfiber cloth to rub ALL compound off!!!
third use white and soft cotton wheel
use microfiber cloth to clean ALL compound off!!!!
last use some MOTHERS POLISH(2X) to Protect it.

it will shine like the new sun.

as far as masking off areas, some painters tape and an exacto knife should help out.

good luck...