Temperature got up to almost 50 degrees here today so I thought I might take a ride.
The bike has been stored all winter. I wash it every time I ride it so it was put away clean.

Went into the garage and pulled it outside and noticed little marks all around the polished outside edge of the wheels. It looks like little pit marks right into the aluminum. I tried washing them off but not going to happen.

Has anyone else here had this problem and is there a product out there which will remove them?

Did they occur just because of condensation due to weather changes? The garage isn't heated but it is dry inside and I have never noticed any dampness on the bike when I checked it. Damn! I had a metric bike with aluminum wheels for 8 years which I parked during the winter in a shed and never had this problem.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

welcome to the world off Harley.............crap quality wheels !
Had my sportster wheels replaced and rear wheel on my 07 FXSTC looked like crap before i got off the fore-court......you really expect better for a high end toy like a Harley

 

Oxidation on the unprotected aluminum. Any aluminum polish for bare aluminum will clean up the smooth part of the wheel. Just be careful not to get it on the rough part it's a pain to get off that. Test the product you get on a small area before doing the whole rim as some of the stuff out their is pretty agressive.

 

Just got back from Ocean Co. Harley and tha guy I was with said this is the chit......the s100 is for the shiny chrome, and the green stuff is a cleaner for
the unfinished chrome,ie,center of wheel,[fatboy]lower forks. Was told it cleans the black brake residue off..we'll see, I hate cleanin chrome.
will keep ya'll informed..

 

Thanks Sarge and Mark for the information.

The only pitting is on the shiny polished (I believe) aluminum on the outside edge. There is nothing on the center or the rougher inner part.

Quite frankly though, I can't believe there is anything. I religiously wash the entire bike after every ride. I considered spraying wd-40 or some other water repellent on the wheels when I put it away and am kicking myself in the *** now for not doing so.

 

mothers billit is really good stuff. used it on my rocker c wheels and did a hell of a job cleaning and polishing them. i thought i was gonna need to buy a new rear wheel. wheels looked better then when i picked it up from the dealer. product is worth every dollar.

 

You could also try Noxon 7 or any other host of metal polishes. Noxon seems to work pretty darn well. I think I got it at home depot.

 

Well,.... what you have there is the result of uncoated bare aluminum wheels. Basically, the pitting can be caused by several things from road grime and even to pollutants in the air. There are several products out there that promise to shine up your polished aluminum parts and most of them do a good job at just that but they will not typically remove the pitting. You have a couple of options for that. You can get some automotive rubbing compound, such as 3M, because you will need something with a lil grit in it to smooth things back up, and use it with a buffer drill attachment, or you can get some 1500 grit and 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and wet sand it across the grain with the 1500 and with the grain with the 2000 and then hand rub in some mothers aluminum polish and then hand buff it off with a terry towell and it will shine like a mirror. NOTE,.... just avoid sanding or buffing the rough parts of the wheel, just either be careful or just mask off the rough part,..... I have used the wet/dry sandpaper technique serveal times with great results,.... its just a slow process.

 

I had the same thing happen to the back rim on my train and I used LUSTER,got it from my local HD,it worked prettygood for the pitts on a drill attachment pad,good luck

 

let me remember. we used baking soda to clean aircraft.
"ARMEX Blast Media, a baking soda based abrasive by the makers of ARM & Hammer products, can clean, degrease, and depaint critical components in one step. It is water soluble and doesn’t damage or distort substrate. ARMEX is nonhazardous, does not raise cross-contamination issues, and no precleaning is required."