whats the best way of cleaning off the corrosion on fat boy wheels

 

I'll leave the cleaning tips to the experts but I can sure tell you what NOT to try. Don't spray them with "Spray nine". Turns out those wheels are coated with what seems to be a clearcoat of somesort. That spray nine turned that clear finish to a gooey dull mess.

The corrosion appears to start under the clearcoat finish. I figure to let a "wheel restoration" company handle it. But of course I'll be watching this thread myself to pick up any tips.

 

Most of the replies will come from the States obviously so 99% of the cleaners wont be available .....

 

Not an expert, but I do not believe the MOCO aluminum stock wheels have a protective finish on them....if they did...they would not oxidize. For my UC stock wheels, a couple time a year I use mothers aluminum polish. Its a 'paste' that starts pink and turns black while you polish the aluminum. Takes some elbow grease, but when finished, they are shiny clean....if you want to polish long enough..they will almost look like chrome. However, the shine does not last long espicially if you get caught out in bad weather or if your around the ocean. that my 2 cents....

 

I used the Mothers on my Dyna wheels, it worked very well. As stated, takes some time and elbow grease, but worth it. If you keep it up say every third wash or so they will maintain the shine.

 

How do you get rid of the brake dust? I cleaned my bike for the first time since I bought it last October. I found lots of black specks on the rear wheels that seems impossible to remove. I lightened some but I can still see it.

 

Laugh if you must but a good safe cleaner for brake dust is the laundry product called "Shout". I mix about 3 parts Shout to one part water. It's very gentle on the metal finishes. A baby bottle brush works wonders with the Shout. The corrosion, most metal polishes/cleaners should help. Always start with the mildest form first.

 

Use Mothers with a powerball,worked for me befor I got mine Chromed !!!

 

I find that they seem to corrode and pit more right around the stick-on wheel weights where you can't polish them properly.
I put Dyna Beads in the tires and popped off the wheel weights and they are much easier to polish.

 

This may sound brutal but it does work. If aluminum wheels are getting really corroded, you can clean them by sanding them with wet and dry sandpaper, followed by polishing to bring back that chrome like shine. Start with 400 grit, won't take much, then 600 grit and on up. Once you get to 1200 or so you can switch to polish. The sandpaper doesn't remove much material, it just does it much quicker. Once you have have your wheels polished till they look like chrome, there is another step that will keep them looking that way. Google Everbright. It's a coating that it rubbed on and allowed to dry. Honda Goldwing wheels are non coated aluminum and they get really rough looking. I've seen them cleaned and coated with Everbright and a year later they still look like new chrome.