Cleaning rims...

[Karma]

Well lets get the joke out of the way first...

Yes... I need to do a rim job.

Ok... now we can move on.



I've got loads of crap over the rims on my bike that I really wanna get cleaned off to bring it back up to shine.

You guys got any special cleaning tips or anything, or is it just a case of going hard with a green scouring pad thingy till it all comes off?

[SimJen]

I use CRC or WD40 to get the oily shit off the rear wheel. Then just a good polish to shine em.
Fronts just need a good polish generally.

[SwanTiger]

as mentioned above, WD-40 or CRC to remove the Oil and Grime, then use a scouring pad or if one isn't available a rag with a lot of thumb and elbow.

Then get some of that washable silicon shit, forgot the name, but I use it. Makes future cleaning easier with soapy water and a rag.

[Fishy]

Ouch don't use a scouring pad mate!. Like Simjen said, use something like WD40 which works as a light degreaser, that should take the muck off then you can use some type of polishing cream if you really want to get a good shine out of them.

[SwanTiger]

Ouch don't use a scouring pad mate!. Like Simjen said, use something like WD40 which works as a light degreaser, that should take the muck off then you can use some type of polishing cream if you really want to get a good shine out of them.

Multi purpose Steelo works fine.

Get some of that Glass and Chrome cleaner shit too, its so satisfying watching how well that shit makes stuff shine.

[Fishy]

Multi purpose Steelo works fine.


Depends on if your rim is rough or smooth. The outter pasrts on a rim are generally smooth so you wouldn't want to use a stello on that cause it would scratch it.

[kiwifruit]

i use clothes washing powder to clean my white rims

[DemonWolf]

I generally use Meths to clean the tar/oil/grime off the rear rim

[SwanTiger]

Depends on if your rim is rough or smooth. The outter pasrts on a rim are generally smooth so you wouldn't want to use a stello on that cause it would scratch it.

That is where you apply common-sense and use a rag. My rims are corse/rough on the inside and the outer edges are smooth and chrome like. I can usually clean them by running my finger along them. But this is just the type of surface it is, so smooth dirt and shit doesn't get a chance to stick to it.

[Fishy]

Yep agree with ya there.

I normally just use bike wash with warm water and a sponge then give them a polish with a polishing cream and rag and remove polish once dry with a good microfibre cloth.

I never really let my rims get too dirty so they are never very hard to get clean.

[SwanTiger]

Yep agree with ya there.

I normally just use bike wash with warm water and a sponge then give them a polish with a polishing cream and rag and remove polish once dry with a good microfibre cloth.

I never really let my rims get too dirty so they are never very hard to get clean.

What polishing cream do you use? I've never used any.

Since you don't have a bike anymore, do you wanna come and clean my rims, it'll help with the withdrawl symptoms :killingme

[Fishy]

What polishing cream do you use? I've never used any.

Since you don't have a bike anymore, do you wanna come and clean my rims, it'll help with the withdrawl symptoms :killingme

I use a product called "Gloss Up" which I get through work as Im in the aluminium joinery/powdercoating industry. Its used for bring back shine and colour in powdercoated aluminium.

And thanks for the offer but I think I will stick to cleaning my mountain bike for the time being :niceone:

[James Deuce]

Turtle wax works brilliantly as a degreaser and tar remover.

[vifferman]

The best stuff I ever used was Wurth Intensive Rim Cleaner - a pink gel that was more or less "spray on, hose off". I haven't found anything as good since, and Kerry at Motohaus can't get it any more.

So, now I use Maguires wheel cleaner: spray it on, leave while I'm washing the rest of the bike, then rinse off. I follow up with wash'n'wax and this nifty brush I got from The Warehouse, which is for cleaning wheels on cars. It has a rounded head (bristles on all sides) so it gets into all the nooks and crannies quite well.
For tough chain spooge, tar, etc., I use kero or WD40.

[Flyingpony]

I used a cloth soaked in kerosene on my bike alloy rims. Worked a treat and they came up all nice and shiny!

[imdying]

The best stuff I ever used was Wurth Intensive Rim Cleaner - a pink gel that was more or less "spray on, hose off". I haven't found anything as good since, and Kerry at Motohaus can't get it any more.Give Wurth a ring, they'll have a customer in your area you can order it through... assuming it hasn't been discontinued :(

[Postie]

i just use spray on degreaser, just have to wash it off quickly before you damage the paint or tyres and make sure you don;t degrease the chain or sproket.
Mind you, i leave my wheels till they are really filthy before they get cleaned, so only degreaser will do

[Karma]

Oh man... just finished the first clean.

Well the rims were pretty coated in crap and such, so will have to have another go at them to really make them sparkle.

Anyways... was rooting through the kitchen cupboards and what should I find, but Easy Off Bam!!

Tell ya what, that thing works a treat, spray on, leave it for a few seconds, and wipe off... not exactly like the adverts, but not far off...

Made sure I didn't get any on the chain in the process and gave it a proper rinse down afterwards to get rid of anything that was lingering, but otherwise a fantastic job.

[Kendog]

Anyways... was rooting through the kitchen cupboards and what should I find, but Easy Off Bam!!


God I hate that ad. I can't help but hear rainman saying "Easy off.... BAM" in a rainman voice. :laugh:
Mrs KD
BTW, has anyone tried Jif on their rims? Does it work or does it ruin paint work? Cheers

[ManDownUnder]

Got a new tire a while back and they needed to balance it...

they had to clean the rim to stick on the sticy weights and I thought I might watch while the elbow grease was poured on.

The guy reaches for a can of stuff.. onto a rag, two wipes and it was GLEAMING... so I steps up and asks him... I says something subtle like

WHAT THE FUCK IS IN THAT TIN?

"Paint thinners" says he...

[Squeak the Rat]

I don't think that's Jif on your rim....

I thought turps was the go - much like the paint thinners I guess.

Slightly off topic, where can I buy a long pointy soft brush to was the cockpit and around fairings etc?

[ManDownUnder]

I don't think that's Jif on your rim....

I thought turps was the go - much like the paint thinners I guess.

Slightly off topic, where can I buy a long pointy soft brush to was the cockpit and around fairings etc?

That'd be the el cheapo air compressor and spray gun full of water/washup shit you want then?

Super Cheap Autos...

[Scouse]

as mentioned above, WD-40 or CRC to remove the Oil and Grime, then use a scouring pad or if one isn't available a rag with a lot of thumb and elbow.

Then get some of that washable silicon shit, forgot the name, but I use it. Makes future cleaning easier with soapy water and a rag.well I supose you can aford to use a scouring pad on a Hyosung. me Id rather use some degreasing shit like simple green automotive let it soak in for a while then use one of those nylon dishwashing brushes give it a bit of a scrub then hose the shit off with water

[vifferman]

i just use spray on degreaser, just have to wash it off quickly before you damage the paint or tyres and make sure you don;t degrease the chain or sproket.
Mind you, i leave my wheels till they are really filthy before they get cleaned, so only degreaser will do
I was in a hurry one day - off on a ride, and my back rim was filthy. I looked around the gargre shelves, and the only thing I could find was engine degreaser. Sprayed it on, hosed it off, brilliant!

Till I came to the off-camber corner at the end of our street: did a massive slide, and only good luck and the fact the tyre was still very slippery stopped me from crashing. Most exciting ride I've ever had!
Degreaser is turrble: sticks to the tyres with a greasy, nasty film.

Oh yeah - I too bought some of the EasyOff Bam! at the supermarket to see what it was like. Not brilliant, but at least as good as the expensiver Maguires wheel cleaner.

[crashe]

I hope you used a toothbrush to get into the little hidden areas as well...


$2 shop has packets of 4 or 5 for $2.... a real bargin.




I use them to clean around my many spokes on my wheels with my autosole chrome polish....:ride:

[Karma]

Hmm... toothbrush... there's an idea.

Just having the time to get it done eh...

Oil and filter change on Friday... she's almost in tip top condition

[Lazy7]

BrakeClean does a pretty good job.

[orangeback]

simply green works really good on everthing , or go to TWL and buy some CT-18 truck wash , works mint , made to remove road grime and fulm , and keeps the alloy shinny :mega:

[The Stranger]

Yeah, Kero. Fixes everything.
Tar, oil, chainwax, bugs the lot

[TonyB]

The FZRs wheels have lots of black spots on them, and I've got to get them clean so I can sell the old beast. I have tried, kero, petrol, and an engine degreaser. I even tried a metal polisher. I'll try some Turtle wax soon. Then maybe paint thinners. Years ago someone told me that oven cleaner works well... but I'm not game to try it.

Anyone got any other ideas?

[Karma]

I'm using Easy off bam, leave them coated for about a minute or two, then scrub off with a brush... seems to do a good job, rinse, and repeat.

[ceebie13]

Mrs Ceebie likes to smear KY Jelly on her rims...it works well on my helmet too! (...sorry, un-called for!) :-)

[Flyingpony]

I've got loads of crap over the rims on my bike that I really wanna get cleaned off to bring it back up to shine.
Have to be careful with cleaning products. Some are can be mean, especially if your rims are made from aluminium alloy like mine are. I simply use a kerosene soaked cloth or paint brush and it works very well. Does kind of mean, each time I clean the chain, I clean the rear wheel too :love: Doesn't make the rim shiny a.k.a polishing, just removes all the dust and oil like a hot knife in butter.

[scracha]

i use clothes washing powder to clean my white rims

Cripes..I thought I was the only tightarse who did that :yes:

[ceebie13]

There is this theory that by actually not cleaning your rims too often, the dirt, grease etc can protect them from corrosion etc. Me? I'm of the WD40 brigade.
Spose that thin film of water repellant does the same thing.
One small point to add... you have to be careful that over use of solvents doesn't soften the glue holding your balance weights on.

[vifferman]

The FZRs wheels have lots of black spots on them, and I've got to get them clean so I can sell the old beast. I have tried, kero, petrol, and an engine degreaser. I even tried a metal polisher. I'll try some Turtle wax soon. Then maybe paint thinners. Years ago someone told me that oven cleaner works well... but I'm not game to try it.

If it didn't come off easily with kero, the it's more'n likely dried-on tar. Warm it with a hair dryer or hot-air gun on low, then try the kero or petrol again.

I've sorta got my rim cleaning sorted now. I use Easy-Off BLAM!! BLAM!!! sprayed on, wash the rest of the bike, then clean the rims using my $3.50 brush from the WHarehouse. I've now started using this Prestone wheel cleaner (from Repco) that leaves a film on the wheels to stop brake dust adhering. So far (only used it once on the cars and once on the bike), it seems to work. You clean the wheels twice the first time (once to clean alll the spooge off and once to leave a film), then after that just clean with it once. The only misgiving I had was that the film might be an issue on a bike tyre, so I cleaned the tyre with brake cleaner just to be safe. I noticed that the back brake needed a few applications too to get its bite back. No biggie.

[Motig]

I just use Polyglaze Wheelcleaner from Mitre 10.Works for me.Better just add that my rims are the shiny bare alloy/aluminium type.

[vifferman]

There is this theory that by actually not cleaning your rims too often, the dirt, grease etc can protect them from corrosion etc.
Certainly having a layer of chain spooge and assorted grime would keep tar and road spooge from finding a surface to cling to.

[ninjac]

For painted alloys Kero can take off colour.
I use Simple Green, but when there is tough tar bits I use an engine degreaser arosol can from The Warehouse. I cant recall the name but the can is all black with a pic of an engine on it. The point of difference with this degreaser is that it states on the can SAFE for painted surfaces. I haven't found any other degreasers that say this. It can even sprays with the can inverted. It has a relatively high pressure spray and dissolves the tar and crap really fast.:headbang:

[vifferman]

I use Simple Green
I never really rated that Simple Green. Of all the cleaners I've tried, it was the worst.
But that stuff about the Warehouse degreaser sounds good.
As I said in an earlier post on this thread, the only thing to watch with those degreasers is you tend to end up with an emulsion of grease, degreaser and water, which in some cases seems to like adhering to the tyres, making them VERY slippery indeed. It's not so bad if you're aware of it and clean the tread before you set off, but otherwise you can have a more exciting ride than you intended...

[HenryDorsetCase]

I think lots of holly wood celebs get their, uh, <i>rims</i> bleached. Im sure I read that on some website or other.

[Wenier]

I've been using "Brake Clean" for ages now, reckon its the best thing ya can get. Jus spray on then wipe off with rag. It is kinda exspensive thou, comes in can like WD40 is made by CRC. There are other brands to but i stick with CRC brake clean.

And be careful if ya have alloy wheels and they are anodized like mine, cause some waxes and those protective things are bad for anodizing. So read label before buying.

Hope this helps.

[Shadows]

CRC wheel cleaner, comes in a clear trigger bottle, blue like meths. Spray on, hose off. A little bit of toothbrush work can improve things. It doesn't hurt paint / rubber / lacquer / chrome etc either.
I did my entire bike with it on Monday, dried and recoated everything with CRC Marine, amazing results.

[TonyB]

Crikey- lots of different ideas there. Will try the heat gun + kero first as I have both.

[Hawk]

The FZRs wheels have lots of black spots on them, and I've got to get them clean so I can sell the old beast. I have tried, kero, petrol, and an engine degreaser. I even tried a metal polisher. I'll try some Turtle wax soon. Then maybe paint thinners. Years ago someone told me that oven cleaner works well... but I'm not game to try it.

Anyone got any other ideas?

ever seen what oven cleaner does to aluminiun (and alloy) it eats away :bye: rims

[TonyB]

Just as well I never tried it then:gob: