Mag wheel cleaning

[Hawaii-Mike]

For the '76 RD400 I started cleaning it up using a scotchbrite wheel powered by a drill.  This is the red, medium grit pad.  It can chew up the aluminum a little bit if held on one place too long.  The wheel looked better but there are still stains from grease and oil.

I have a leftover jug of muriatic acid (nasty stuff).  I laid the wheel on its side and put the muriatic acid in the inside parts of the spokes and let it brew.  That did a pretty good job, not perfect but good enough for me.

It's hard to apply the muriatic acid to the other parts of the wheel.  I'm wondering if I should paint them a silver color instead of cleaning?  I want to keep the stock-ish look.

On the old forum I remember somebody painted their wheels a silver color and they looked good.

Please share your experiences with cleaning and/or painting RD400 wheels.

[Clem]

I put an old axle in my daytona wheel and clamped it in a vice. Then I carefully held 200 grit paper in my hand and spun the wheel to re gain that machined look on the lips. Maybe something like that would work for the older wheels

[~JM~]

Has anyone tried old fashioned foaming oven cleaner?

[Seizer]

I would try a Hotsy steam cleaner if you have access to one. You can add degreasing solution to the machine.

[Brad-Man]

Acetone or xylene... thanks

[Hawaii-Mike]

I tried acetone, it didn't do much.  Muriatic acid works but it's dangerous stuff.  I read online that oven cleaner will discolor the aluminum.

Painting the wheels seems more likely now.

[SUPERTUNE]

I use Eagle 1 chrome wheel cleaner with a nylon parts washer brush.
Don't buy the etching mag wheel cleaner, to aggressive.
Chuck

[m in sc]

if the wheels are off the bike, get em vapor blasted.  ive also had good luck with the s100 cleaner. its pricey but works well. can be slightly diluted.

[Organicjedi]

I second vapor blasting for the best results. Mine look like new.

I first made the mistake of using Eagle 1 mag wheel cleaner on them and it discolored the aluminum. Vapor blasting got that out while retaining the texture and original casting marks.

Now I just go over them with simple green and a green pad whenever I clean and lube the chain. That keeps them nice.

[Hawaii-Mike]

I'd like to have them vapor blasted but there is not even one shop that does it here on Oahu and maybe not even in the state of Hawaii.

[pdxjim]

I'd like to have them vapor blasted but there is not even one shop that does it here on Oahu and maybe not even in the state of Hawaii.

It's true.

There is only one shop in Oregon/Southern WA that does it, and thankfully not too far from me.

I visited the shop on Friday, and the guys said they spent over $15k on the equipment and shipping from the UK.

The results are fantastic, tho.  Will be taking my cases and footrest hangers to them next week. 

[forexer]

I used a bead blaster holding the wheel as far back as I could and lowered the pressure to control the flow.

Worked Great - clear coated after

[Jspooner]

If I was going to do it I would bead blast them. Just mask off the polished areas that you don't want blasted. Gorilla tape works well for this. But before blasting I would polish those areas first and then tape them off and blast away.

I have never done this to something like this but I know it will work. We have a job at work that has a polished area adjacent to a blasted area and that's how we do it. The only difference is we are using real coarse sand and high pressure.............the tape still holds up. You need to be very precise with your masking though.

[Hawaii-Mike]

Fantastic.  That's the look I remember from when the RD400's were cruising around brand new.  I'll check and see if anybody bead blasts here.  There's definitely a company that does sandblasting, I think that would be too harsh.