Polishing wheel lips?

Apriliastars · May 17, 2008

One thing I like to stand out on a bike is the wheels:unhappy, my Busa had orange, other bike had white but my Mille has grey.

To make them stand out I was thinking of polishing the lips from the tyre to just befor the center.:smilie

Now I have never done this before and would love some advice.

Do you have to remove the tyre? If not then how do you get rid of the paint right in where the tyre meets the lip of the wheel?

What about paint remover, what one should I use?

If I did use paint remover how do I stop it getting to the part that I dont want to remove, I am gessing that masking tape will soake up the paint remover if I used that???

I have been told by someone that some wheels have groves under the powder coating?

Any info, pics & advice would be appreciated.:thumbup

Thanks
:lookaround

little1uk · May 17, 2008

Apriliastars said:
One thing I like to stand out on a bike is the wheels:unhappy, my Busa had orange, other bike had white but my Mille has grey.

To make them stand out I was thinking of polishing the lips from the tyre to just befor the center.:smilie

Now I have never done this before and would love some advice.

Do you have to remove the tyre? If not then how do you get rid of the paint right in where the tyre meets the lip of the wheel?

What about paint remover, what one should I use?

If I did use paint remover how do I stop it getting to the part that I dont want to remove, I am gessing that masking tape will soake up the paint remover if I used that???

I have been told by someone that some wheels have groves under the powder coating?

Any info, pics & advice would be appreciated.:thumbup

Thanks
:lookaround

My advice would be to take them to a polisher, its a big time consuming job to do if you dont know how and do not have the correct polishing tools etc, i reckon a pro would do the pair for less than 100quid :thumbup

iandunn1100ss · May 17, 2008

Cost me just my time you can remove the paint from the rim edge with a dremell ,but i do love to polish things its an illness.
ian

v60 · May 17, 2008

I have done mine, but as little1uk said its a time consuming job. I needed new tyres so took the old tyres off and did it while the wheels were out.
I masked the centres off with tape, but you need to be careful not to get any of the stripper underneath it.
I used a paint and varnish stripper called 'All Purpose NITRO MORS'.
It's not an easy job,as powder coated paint takes a lot of getting off, on some parts I had to use a light rubbing down paper to get the paint off.
You will also need a polishing kit to finish the job..if your going to do it you will need to be patient and take your time.

iandunn1100ss · May 18, 2008

All the above comments are spot on and its a large job to do if your not that confident and you do need the correct mops and compound etc.also if it goes wrong it will cost to put it right.

ian

paul380 · May 18, 2008

Like most above say it is a time consuming job. If your going to do it I reccomend 'nitro mors jelly' paintstripper. Its thicker than normal paint stripper and doesn't run allowing you to pit it where you want it more easily. I used it on my R1 wheels with good results. I think I got it from B&Q.

richmond rossi · May 18, 2008

I polished my car wheels, big mistake, look great after 2 hours cleaning, 2 days later look sh**e :rant, tried lacquering them, waste of time. So in my opinion, leave well alone. :thumbup

Apriliastars · May 18, 2008

Geee, dident think it would have taken that long or that much hard work, never mind glad I asked before going in head first. My other option then would be to get them powder coated another colour, maybe even a light silver.

Polishing wheel lips?

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