Are they a pain to maintain, and how long did it take you to take the original wheel finish off and finally get it shiny?
Aircraft paint stripper on the lips. The taping takes the longest time. Maintenance was nil, just wipe them down with a degreaser occasionally to get the spots off.
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b123/AlphaFire_X5/GSTwin/2006-05-19003.jpg)
+1 Tape off the inner part of the wheel, then use the aforementioned stripper. However, I liked to polish mine with some 'mothers' to get a nice shine.
I don't have to worry 'bout them any more. The SV has chrome hoops *bling*
I did this a few months ago and it turned out really nice. I used basic paint stripper from my local hardware store and it took about 3 hours for me (had no clue what i was doing). You have to polish the wheels about once every few days, i went over the wheels with paint stripper again after the 2 month mark just for a touch up. Here's how it looks on crappy phone quality:
(http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc215/blackbeetle1/Image036.jpg)
Never done it to a bike but I polished the slotted mags on my old Camaro once. Eastwood makes a coating for the bare metal: http://www.eastwood.com/ew-diamond-clear-gloss-bare-metal-aero-11-oz.html?reltype=2
They also have buffing kits if you want to really shine it up: http://www.eastwood.com/ew-wheel-buffing-kit.html
Fair warning, buffing out a wheel can be time consuming.
-Jessie
there is a full write up in the wiki about polishing rims
has anyone polished the whole wheel not just the outside?
not that i have ever seen. theres alot of stamped writing on the rim that would be to hard to make look nice.
oh, ive seen it done on gixxers and cbr's just wonderin if anyone hear had it like that thanks for the input everyone
are you sure the gixxer and cbr were polished and not chrome?
yea ive read it as polished before, dont know where though
takes a very long time to do. you must be commited cause its frustrating. my paint remover didnt do squat. it was all water and sandpaper by hand.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/biglu89/0626091941.jpg)
came on the bike when i got it and i just took a rag over them quickly, they were dirty as hell in this pic. easy to maintain if you ask me
A good rule of thumb after getting a shine to your liking is a nice coat of car wax. Helps the shine last longer. I've used this process many times and also helps to block brake dust/dirt and makes them very easy to clean the next time. Idk; it works for me so....