LordMarv

I've aquired a 1981 Fuji Royale in very nice shape, but the wheels were really grimy and stained. I used Finish Line degreaser, this took off the grime and cleaned the wheels up. Then I used Chromax polish on the wheels...I was careful to use a light hand with this polish. This has left me with clean and bright wheels.....but the finish is kind of a satin metal now. How can I shine them up furthur so they are really shiney, glossy? Would I need to resort to some kind of tiny polishing wheel? Or is this the best I can expect? Your advice is definately appreciated!

randyjawa 

Try rubbing a cleaned spot with toothpaste and a soft cloth. That might help a bit but for really shiny, machine polishing or decreasing grits of wet and dry sand paper is the answer. You will also have to include a copious amount of elbow grease to get really good results.

SJX426 

It is a lot easier without the spokes attached!

rootboy 

Isn't that the truth, SJX! One of the, if not THE most frustrating, tiresome and difficult tasks in cleaning up old bikes: polishing aluminum rims that are laced up to hubs. I still haven't figured out a good way to do it, and still hate doing it.

okane

Lot of work with Mother's got them looking like I wanted. Tried a Dremel with soft wheel but didn't work too well for me so I did them with the cloth around the finger method.

Best to remove tires first of course. Don't know why I left them on while polishing. A Duh moment I guess.

I tried to keep the Mothers off the braking surfaces and when I was finished polishing, I lightly "sanded" the breaking surfaces with 0000 steel wool.

I was told the shine will dull quickly in regular use but I sold the bike shortly after and can't comment on this.

I subsequently did another set from a coaster brake bike and waxed the polished areas. Still looks good after 6 months but I only ride this bike occasionally in nice weather.

rootboy 

I tried my Dremel too, Okane. Using Flitz or something. Sort of worked, but flung polish all over me and everything else. Even though I tried to use a lower speed. BTW, I really like that paint stirring stick with 3/8 inch wool felt glued to it. WHO made those? Kreist but my memory sucks. Great design though. Narrow enough to get between the spoke nipples and with a nice long handle so you can maneuver the thing.

jyl

I think almost as bad is polishing the hub of a built wheel. I can't get my fingers in there, it seems. Who puts leather straps around their hubs to keep them polished?

okane

Ditto: Sort of worked, but flung polish all over me and everything else. Even though I tried to use a lower speed. BTW

Who: I really like that paint stirring stick with 3/8 inch wool felt glued to it. WHO made those? I was going to make my own but I couldn't think of a glue that would hold the felt secure yet allow the felt's polishing surface to remain soft.

rootboy 

Crikey, Okane. I'll have to go way back through my PM's to find out. My sincere apologies to whomever it was. *

If I was going to do it I think I'd use Weldwood contact cement. NOT thin, craft store felt, mind you, on which the glue might seep through and stiffen up the felt. Thick felt.

I now have some 1/2 inch wool sheet felt if you'd like to try a piece. A bit thicker and a bit softer than the original, but might work.


*(my sh*tty memory embarrasses me more often than I like)

gaucho777 

That was @16Victor: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...hing-tool.html

I agree with jyl, polishing laced hubs is just as bad. I can get a laced rim polished, it's just tedious. I take a "good enough" attitude when trying to polish laced hubs.

+1 to Mother's Polish.

due ruote 

I just did some old Mavic rims and here's what I did. It wasn't completely painless but it worked as well as anything else I've tried (although I haven't done the paint stick thing - that looks good).

Put the wheel on a truing stand. Work on the bottom of the rim. This aleviates the need to hold the wheel and allows 2-handed operation. I used Mothers, applied with a gray Scotchbrite pad. I think these are about equivalent to 0000 steel wool, but I don't get the same hazing as I'd expect with the latter. I buffed that out with a soft cotton cloth (one end in each hand, shoe shine style), then finished with another round of buffing with a fresh clean cloth.

rootboy 

Thank you Gaucho777. I suppose I could have done a search.

And ditto on doing laced hubs. I was tempted to take the last wheel I did apart first.

SJX426 

Good enough approach is what I use too. If by shoe shine approach you mean putting the cloth between the spokes and moving it back and forth, yes! I follow that up with spinning the tire or rotating it to get the surface next to the spoke that the rag didn't get. If done well enough you dont get a sqaure around the spoke. I used this approach on my tandem that has 48 spokes per wheel! Real marathon!

Hubs are worse. I use a toothbrush to get around the spokes and flange. It may not polish all the surface but "good enough". It is getting harder the older I get. It is a real exercise for the fingers! Of course the freewheel is removed first.

Spokes are a pain too. I use 0000 steel wool doing the nipple to the first cross first then do the rest after. If you are carefull you can get overlap at the first cross. The rest are done to a "good enough" state!

For some goofy reason, it feels good to get this off my mind! I guess I needed to articulate this most vexing effort in cleaning up a bike. Is there something worse?

Fahrenheit531 

I just did a "good enough" job on some aluminum rims with Nevr-Dull wadding polish. The end result was pretty good, but any spots you miss when buffing off the polish will develop a white glaze. It wipes off easily enough, but it seemed every time I looked there were another couple of spots I missed. I'm conflicted about recommending it for this reason.

LordMarv

Thanks for turning me on to Mothers auto chrome polish, I hadn't thought of that. Yeah, I wasn't too happy with the wheel when I was done, clean, but dull. I'll try the mothers and use the shoe shine method and see what happens.

due ruote 

Precisely.

I don't seem to know how to embed a video.
[edit] OK, got it.

LordMarv

Hey, thanks everybody, went out and got the Mothers polish, after the first application I saw an improvement. I think a couple or 3 more applications might bring it close to the original shine.....so I appreciate it. Fortunately I had only done the back wheel with the chromax.....it came highly recommended to me, but it appears it is a little abrasive....must be meant for more rusted, corroded rims than mine was. I'll stick with the mothers' from now on.

non-fixie 

Lemme try ...

J T CUNNINGHAM

Stainless steel, and/or aluminium don't mix with steel wool; dissimilarity of metals.


Regards,
J T

rootboy 

???

SJX426 

@LordMarv - if you "rub" with Mothers until your rag gets black, the results will be improved with the single application. The black is the AL being removed from the surface. One of the benefits of Mothers is that it leaves a little protection on the surface. I did a Stronglight crank several years ago and it is finally ready for another cleaning.

BTW: I put vinegar and oil on my Subway tuna sandwich and it has very positive results!

wheatfly

Well I’m in the middle of polishing 2 sets of assembled wheels for the first time. One set from a 70’s motobecane, and one set from a 80’s bridgestone (both original to the bikes). The motobecan rims have a more coplex profile which is more difficult to polish than the flatter profiled wheels off the bridgestone.

I’ve never been a clean freak about anything but most of my toys (cars, motorcycles, bicycles, RC airplanes, etc.) stay on the cosmetically challenged but functional side of things. I have to blame this forum and my riding buddy that is pretty meticulous about his bicycles and now motorcycle. I’m ashamed by my lack of cleanliness when we ride together. His stuff always looks so freakin’ clean/nice and it’s not because they never get out of the garage. He rides both often but spends time keeping them sharp as well.

My method/system I’ve been using to bring wheels back to life. I think being methodical/systematic yields pretty good results, also doing it in very small bites.

Two tubes (blue and red) of Wenol that I got at a car show probably 20 years ago but never used. Red seems to have a little more cutting power so that’s all I’m using now. Maybe I’ll use the blue to maintain in the future but my wheels are pretty oxidized to start with.

Two heavy duty blue paper towels/shop towels from home improvement store (one dirtish, one cleanish).

Put a dab of polish on 3 spaces between spokes, rub with bare finger until it turns black and then keep rubbing some more, being sure to get the area between the spoke at the brake surface.

Wipe finger off with the dirtier of two paper towels, then with the cleaner paper towel go back and polish the black off the rim, try to use a clean area of the paper towel each time.

Next rub the 3 or 4 spokes (of the area you just polished) with fingers and Wenol, polish off paper towel (good enough, applies here).

Finally go back and do the brake surface of the rim. Same method, same local area, each side.

I’ve been using the heavy duty blue paper towels as my polishing cloths so when the clean/polish one gets to be on the dirty side, I get a new polish cloth and the previous polish cloth is my new black finger wipe cloth and the dirtiest one goes in the trash. I think that is another key to good results. Work with clean cloth/paper towels otherwise you end up smearing around what you just rubbed off or just using more elbow grease to get a good shine.

I’ve been doing them in segments usually about a quarter of a wheel at a time in the evening.

I also have been using a sturdy but narrowish cardboard box open end up but flaps cut off on a desk as my stand, a bucket with some padding around its’ edge would also accomplish the same thing It’s a good standing height and I can put the wheel up right and 90 degrees from the long portion of the box which is a good position for polishing the area between the spokes, I can also lay he wheel flat on the box to get the spokes and brake surfaces of the rim. The box is compliant enough that I’m not worried about damaging anything, but sturdy enough to support while I’m polishing, and grippie enough that the rim isn’t moving all over while I’m trying to polish.

That’s my story, I’m only 1.5 wheels into my 4 wheel polish. :| First one I did with the tire on, then decided to take the tire and tube off the rest.

SJX426 

Here's to tenacity!

rootboy 

Makes my index finger hurt reading that but, that's pretty much how I do it. But next time, I'm going to give 16Victor's stick a try.

obrentharris 

Thank you @due ruote and @non-fixie.
Nothing like a little C&W and R&B with my morning C&V to polish up my day!
Brent