I recently picked up a set of spoked wheels for my Iron, there is some light surface rust on the spokes and I'm not too sure what I should be using to get it off?  I have seen a few threads on this but cant find any of them, have been searching the net and theres a lot of scotch bright recommendations with soapy water, something called bronze wool (haven't got a clue what that is) and a fine grade steel wool using a soapy liquid to minimise scoring the metal?

Firstly is this the type of scotch bright I should use?

Secondly how do you polish the innner hubs so they are shine like the day the rolled out of the factory? I used to use this stuff on a old set of jelly bean rims I had on my p's but I havent had anything chrome or had to worry about caring for it for years.  All of the bikes I have ownded have never had spokes, they've all powdercoated alloy or steel wheels?

Any pointers from a few seasoned pro's would be great, the rims aren't on the bike yet which shoudl make the first time round a little easier, soon as they're shining, I have a got a brand new set of avon whitewalls for em and will be sticking on not shortly after

Cheers

Waz

 

 

had my spokes changed to stainless steel got the spokes from m&m

Try and get hold of a tin of "Bright Shine" cotton wadding. Comes in a yellow metal tin.
Some people say Autosol can be a bit harsh on Chrome, but it will help remove light rust.
Keep away from Scotch bright pads unless the rust is heavy.

Im thinking why you want to put chrome spoked wheels on an iron, but that's ok its your bike :-)

As for the spokes having surface rust on them, they are on the way out. You can remove the surface rust but its going to come back again very soon and you will have a big job keeping them looking good. Put new chrome spokes on the wheel or get a set of stainless spokes which don't take much looking after compared to chrome spokes. Chrome wheels need to be cleaned often so they keep their shine and done go rusty as the brake dust does damage the chrome spoke wheels if not cleaned often. Chrome spoke wheels look great but they are a lot of work and if your not prepared to clean them they will rust very quickly.

As for the hub if its just aluminium and its not been polished for a while and they have oxidised you may have to use something to remove the oxidisation. You can use a cleaner and once that is done, dont use the Autosol polish which you have in your post, use a polish call Purple Polish which is the best aluminium polish on the market. Its very easy to use and you don't have to use much to a nice job and it will bring up bare alulminium to a brilliant shine in no time.  http://www.californiacustom.com/purple_metal_polish.html

Thanks guys, looks like I know where my weekend is going to end up!!

Thanks Grump, much appreciated! Going to take a few of these ideas to the garage this weekend and have a crack at it!! The rust is only very minor and I am hoping it will come up with minimal fuss!!

I've gone all out gentlemen, had a very expensive visit to Supercheap this evening! Picked up the wadding, mequires metal polish and some autosol in a medium grade. Just gotta find a kebab stick, shoelace and I reckon im good to go.

Thanks again for the input, much appreciated!!

Elbow grease

Instead of WD-40 for spokes, have a talk to our member here who sells ACF-50.

Thought I would give you blokes a bit of an update.

I ended up using the Mequires to polish the outer rim and using the autosol to do the spokes that had a little surface rust on them. Took up your idea Grump with a kebab stick and tore a few thin strips of an old jumper and got into it.

Ive done the outer rim on the front and one side of the spokes, painstaking job but they have come up bloody amazing.

Appreciate the input gentlemen

Cheers

Waz

P.S - Knocked back quite a few coldies as well thanks Speedzter

Sounds like a satisfying job .
You better show us some pics to prove you did more than drink Beer !

Hey 883 try some good quality aluminium foil and toothpaste,
bunch of foil a squirt of toothpaste and a bucket of water,
squirt toothpaste on foil dunk in water and scrub spokes,
hose off when finished and see how it looks ....

Thanks Wayne, much appreciated.

I am pleased to say I have finally finished one wheel............................haha, its definitely one of those jobs where you start, stop, look for distractions and than start again!

Finished the spokes today, dropped the bike off @ P & L and should have it back shortly! Tell you what though, cleaning spokes has to be one of the worst jobs I've ever done. Rags, toothbrushes, shoe laces, polish and beer................long fucking day!

Hey Piglet,

I didn't do the toothpaste/foil, I used these:

Autosol

Mequires Metal Polish

Chux Superwipes and Microfibre cloths

Wooden kebab sticks

The wifes toothbrush

I cleaned the inner hubs first, than used the kebab sticks to wedge a chux superwipe down in those hard to reach areas between the hub and spokes.  The toothbrush really worked well to clean the innner hubs.  Used the chux superwipes to clean the spokes and outter hub, used the autosol on the spokes to get rid of any excess crap and surface rust and than polished the lot with the mequires.  Took me a few days, few beers and quite a number of carefully chosen colour words but I got there in the end and they look great.

The bike is at P & L at the moment, will have pictures up next week when I get it back!

Cheers

Waz

After you get them cleaned you can keep them that way permanently by coating the rim , spokes and hub with a product called GLISTEN made by POR15 . Its an ultra tuff 2K clear as water coating that provides mirror like gloss and its permanent , moisture actually hardens it . Best applied by spray but can also be brushed on , and it self levels ( no brush marks ) . You can wet and dry then buff seriously rusted chrome back to clean and shiny , two coats of GLISTEN and the item will stay like that clean and shiny permanently .

Will let you know Chimney, bike should be back in the next few days..............will be coating it with the ACF-50 and hopefully never see corrosion again!!