GSA Wire wheels clean/polish the wheel rim possible?

andeebee

andeebee

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My 08 GSA's black wire spoked wheels are as dull as a dull thing. Tried some wheel cleaner - no change. Tried T-Cut - nothing. What is this stuff? It doesnt seem to be paint.
Is it powder coat? If so how do I get it presentable again?
Havent tried any polish mops in drills yet but looking for advice from anyone else out there who has kept their wheels presentable.
 
Ditto. .. mine are okay but would benefit a polish/buff. I've just bought a mop set of eBay for my drill. I will attempt a little shortly and see how it looks.... there's a lot of spokes and it will be a ball ache I assume

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If you Polish an anodised finish you will kill the finish as it's microns thick and end up with near bare alloy and all the corrosion that will come with it. It's probably dull because you have used a corrosive wheel cleaner.
 
Marki_GSA said:
If you Polish an anodised finish you will kill the finish as it's microns thick and end up with near bare alloy and all the corrosion that will come with it. It's probably dull because you have used a corrosive wheel cleaner.
Click to expand...
Point taken.... I will be careful

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Marki_GSA said:
If you Polish an anodised finish you will kill the finish as it's microns thick and end up with near bare alloy and all the corrosion that will come with it. It's probably dull because you have used a corrosive wheel cleaner.
Click to expand...

Is there any product that can reverse this problem??
 
I'd assume no easy to reverse but a wax containing a carnuba adative which had no abrasive may help it shine, Polish generally has abrasive fine compounds in it.

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Any alkaline cleaner( most are) will damage the anodised finish on the rims,
You cannot reverse the damage but I find wd40 carefully applied on a cloth will give a reasonable lustre for a while if you want the bike looking good for a few days:augie
It also stops the brake dust sticking.
(For obvious reasons don't spray the bloody stuff all over your tyres and brakes)
 
I use autoglym alloy wheel spray which repells the brake dust and makes wheel cleaning easier, same rules.... keep away from tyres and disk

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Don't use metal polish on a anodised rims - you'll polish silver bare alloy spots into your black rims.
 
mikeyboy said:
Any alkaline cleaner( most are) will damage the anodised finish on the rims,
You cannot reverse the damage but I find wd40 carefully applied on a cloth will give a reasonable lustre for a while if you want the bike looking good for a few days:augie
It also stops the brake dust sticking.
(For obvious reasons don't spray the bloody stuff all over your tyres and brakes)
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Yep, I ruined mine by cleaning them with meguirs 'all wheel cleaner' after not reading the small print!
 
So these big roughy toughy wheels are actually made from icing sugar and shouldn't be cleaned with anything harsher than babys bubble bath

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ElliotGSA said:
So these big roughy toughy wheels are actually made from icing sugar and shouldn't be cleaned with anything harsher than babys bubble bath

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That's the spirit blame BMW for your fuck up and not reading warnings!

And that's from someone who will probably never have another BMW.
 
Marki_GSA said:
That's the spirit blame BMW for your fuck up and not reading warnings!

And that's from someone who will probably never have another BMW.
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I haven't fuckd mine up or blamed anyone, just stating the obvious that a harder coating could have been in order.

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Not sure what the finish is on GSA wheels but pretty sure its not anodised as the coating is thicker and has a gloss level I've never seen on anodising . The coating is however pretty tough but if you don't keep on top of cleaning the dust & grime stick like shit to a blanket as I found to my cost on my 06 bike . I didn't clean the wheels on that for about 18 months (35,000 miles) 'cos I hate polishing bikes , I prefer to ride them. The wheels got a rough algael coating that nothing would remove (and believe me I tried everything !) . In desperation I took the edge off a round scalpel blade and scraped the entire wheel surface . For the 2 wheels it took 2 days but not a single mark in the wheel finish which is how I know the finish is pretty tough . Black wax polish and they shone better than new . Wiped them over every 6/8 weeks and gave them a coat of turtle wax black in a flash which I don't buff up and the wheel finish stays good as new albeit under a layer of silicone spray . This worked for me but your problem may not be the same .
 
Powerful Pierre said:
Not sure what the finish is on GSA wheels but pretty sure its not anodised as the coating is thicker and has a gloss level I've never seen on anodising . The coating is however pretty tough but if you don't keep on top of cleaning the dust & grime stick like shit to a blanket as I found to my cost on my 06 bike . I didn't clean the wheels on that for about 18 months (35,000 miles) 'cos I hate polishing bikes , I prefer to ride them. The wheels got a rough algael coating that nothing would remove (and believe me I tried everything !) . In desperation I took the edge off a round scalpel blade and scraped the entire wheel surface . For the 2 wheels it took 2 days but not a single mark in the wheel finish which is how I know the finish is pretty tough . Black wax polish and they shone better than new . Wiped them over every 6/8 weeks and gave them a coat of turtle wax black in a flash which I don't buff up and the wheel finish stays good as new albeit under a layer of silicone spray . This worked for me but your problem may not be the same .
Click to expand...
As standard It's anodised, if you don't believe me go Google.
 
ElliotGSA said:
So these big roughy toughy wheels are actually made from icing sugar and shouldn't be cleaned with anything harsher than babys bubble bath

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Click to expand...

Yes, the roughty toughty wheels aren't supposed to be cleaned. What roughty toughty rider spends time cleaning his wheels?
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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