Distraction can be dangerous behind the wheel or cleaning a wheel.

[Rick Morris]

So dont do what I did. It is time for a rear tire change, while the wheel is off and the tire is off the wheel, I took the time to clean the wheel. I sprayed it with a wheel cleaner I use all the time. One of my neighbors came over to shoot the s&*t and I was distracted for about 20 minutes while we talked.

What a mistake. As I walked over to the wheel I could clearly see the colossal mistake I had made. The wheel cleaner had etched into the wheel and it looked like a dark gray grungy coating out of the septic system had attached itself to my wheel. I started to lose my s&^t. I never get stressed over anything. This had me in a cold sweat as my heart was pounding out of my chest. I was pissed and disappointed that I allowed myself to let this happen.

I destroyed a brand new Mother's powerball trying to polish the cleaner off the wheel surface. I was able to get most of it but there is a stain where the cleaner flowed to the bottom of the wheel on both sides.

I am now contemplating powder coating the wheels black as I am sick to my stomach at the stains I cannot remove.

So let my mistake be a good learning lesson for all. When using any wheel cleaner or brightener, always have water ready to rinse it off within a minute or two. If the dirt and grime does not come off the first time reapply and wait a little longer. DON'T let it sit longer than ten minutes as most wheel cleaners will etch into a wheel weather it is clear coated or not.

I am trying to upload the photos so you can see the tragedy, but I am having some pixel issues I believe.

 

[teraeric]

tried a polish like simichrome? i've cleaned up some pretty nasty metals with it...

 

[scot in exile]

Powder Coating will cure your problem, glad to see some one cleaning the wheels beside me now we will get the one who says I have no time for cleaning because I am riding I put over 30000 miles a year on my bikes and each one is spotless-a good clean bike is a well looked after bike.

 

[Sensfan]

It will take time, but you could wet sand it increasing in grit as you go. Do a test spot and see if it works out......unless you REALLY want powder coat

 

[Rick Morris]

tried a polish like simichrome? i've cleaned up some pretty nasty metals with it...

No I have not tried this, but I will.

 

[Rick Morris]

Powder Coating will cure your problem, glad to see some one cleaning the wheels beside me now we will get the one who says I have no time for cleaning because I am riding I put over 30000 miles a year on my bikes and each one is spotless-a good clean bike is a well looked after bike.

I clean my bikes thoroughly and often. I hate riding or working on a dirt bike. I especially hate the look of a dirty polished wheel.

 

[Rick Morris]

It will take time, but you could wet sand it increasing in grit as you go. Do a test spot and see if it works out......unless you REALLY want powder coat

Maybe. I dont know if I will try to wet sand and polish an aluminum wheel again. I made that mistake several years back on a Ansen 5 slot mag I wanted to restore. I ended up selling those wheels so I didn't have to look at the trainwreck anymore. I wore out a brand new Power Ball trying to polish out the etch stain last night.

 

[TRIIICK]

Back in 2001 when i bought my RK i was using S-100 it worked so well that in time it striped the chrome of my spokes. Way to harsh to be using IMO.. I use SIMPLE GREEN straight out of the bottle. it's bio-degradable and safe to use on just about anything...

 

[IMFASTTOO]

It will take time, but you could wet sand it increasing in grit as you go. Do a test spot and see if it works out......unless you REALLY want powder coat

NO wet sanding use xxxx steel wool and mothers aluminum wheel polish then wipe off the residue and thats all folks

 

[cr0ft]

Flitz Aluminium preclean, Flitz polish and a Flitz polishing ball.

The preclean is pretty aggressive and used when you have serious oxidation.

The Mother's foam balls are kind of crap, they shred and are a one-use kind of thing. The viscose that Flitz uses on their (highly overpriced) balls is much sturdier and reusable multiple times (just wash them in between). So I suppose overpriced is in the eye of the beholder... I don't regret buying them.

Personally I suspect those stains are in the coating, not the metal. The coating on these (and my Touring) is crap. So maybe you should consider taking the coating fully off the wheels and then just polish the bare aluminium. Not sure what would remove the coating... paint stripper?? But no, that would also do away with the black areas...

Powdercoating is the easy way out but it just doesn't look as good as aluminium polished to a mirror. The downside with the polished metal of course is that you have to go over it regularly to keep it shiny.