painting rims...

[ching_ching]

Hi folks,

Am tutuing with my bike and wanting to change the colour of my rims which are yellow / gold at the mo. Has anybody had anything to do with repainting rims (effort required, cost, etc). Or is it better to go to the wreckers and find some non-yellow / gold ones.

Thoughts please.

the chingster

[vifferman]

Hi folks,

Am tutuing with my bike and wanting to change the colour of my rims which are yellow / gold at the mo. Has anybody had anything to do with repainting rims (effort required, cost, etc). I've had experience with unpainting the rims, if that helps?
I had white rims on my VFR, and they were chipped (and showed the commuting grime badly), so I stripped 'em with paint stripper (methylene chloride), and polished the rims, leaving the spokes sandcast. It looked great, didn't need cleaning as often, and cost very little.
You could do the same, and then have them resprayed in your choice of colour, or have them sandblasted and sprayed. Some people will tell you to get them powdercoated, but I've heard that the heat treatment used for curing the pigment can weaken alloy rims.
Places like Reflections Motorcycle Refinishers could do them for you (they do fork sliders and other bits), or you could try a wheel specialist who repairs mag and alloy wheels.

[White trash]

Ha ha, that's funny.

Johann borrowed on of my gold wheels a couple of weeks ago and loved it so much he painted his black ones gold.

Any pannel beater can do a good job.

[Shafted]

A mate got his wheels power coated - think it cost something like $100 each -but don't quote me - it would be worth checking it out thats for sure

good luck

[F5 Dave]

There is a question re heat treating them. Ally you need to heat to ~ 200deg to heat treat I believe. Most powers go off at ~180 so it is pretty close. Are you relieving the stresses in them, or weakening them? I think the jury is out & hence I probably won't powder mine.

Again.

Either way you need to remove & hence replace the wheel bearings. My YZF ones were hella expensive even rom a bearing shop with 60% discount

Anodising would be nicer, but you can't anodise cast.

[duckman]

Yea - I've got the dreaded Suzuki white wheels - I was thinking of getting them painted black. I'd like to get them polished but I've heard thats even harder to keep clean!! :pinch:

[vifferman]

Yea - I've got the dreaded Suzuki white wheels - I was thinking of getting them painted black. I'd like to get them polished but I've heard thats even harder to keep clean!! :pinch:Nup. The road grime sticks more to the paint than to the polished metal. It was a prick of a job cleaning the painted wheels, but the polished ones needed little more than a quick wash, and mebbe a polish every few months.

[Motoracer]

What colour you paintin them? It's not white is it?

[ching_ching]

What colour you paintin them? It's not white is it?

Been thinking red or silver and gold rims just don't cut it. As you can probably figure out I'm going through an aesthetic / vanity phase. Mind you, shiny wheels pretty much go with anything... just like tomato sauce.

chingster

[750Y]

about $130 per wheel for mirror polishing the wheel. ..bling bling, ching ching 8-)

[Darryboy]

I was toying with the idea of painting my gold GSX250 wheels white.
So not a good idea?

:Offtopic: I've had my bike around 2 months but never washed it for fear (stupid?) of getting the soap somewhere I shouldn't ie chain.
It's an o-ring chain so do I just make sure I oil it after washing?
Also do you just use car detergent or is there special bike stuff?

Looking forward to all the 'god you're a dumbass' comments

[Bleck K6]

Yea - I've got the dreaded Suzuki white wheels - I was thinking of getting them painted black. I'd like to get them polished but I've heard thats even harder to keep clean!! :pinch:
I had the centres of my old gsxr1100 rims painted matallic silver & polished just the outer lip & you could hardly tell the werent fully polished.when they were fully polished they would stain around the base of the spokes.
DEATH.INc painted them for me :niceone:

[DEATH_INC.]

Yep,there's nothing trick to it.just the usual prep.The only hassle is getting rid of ALL the old chainlube,then just prime and paint them.I prefer 2k primer/filler and clearcoat,but I've done 'em with 1k stuff pretty successfully too.
You can go to the hassle of stripping them,but if the paint on them is ok,not flaking or got heaps of corrosion,just clean it down real well,give 'em a bit of a scuff with some 180 W&D,prime and paint. :first:

[FROSTY]

there aint anything as sexy looking as polished alloy wheels.

[Velox]

I repainted the inside of my wheels (they're polished on either side with a strip of paint in the middle) but the middle bit and the spokes are such a mongrel to clean because the they're kind of textured (unpolished) and everything sticks to them. I gave them quite a few coats to try and counteract it but that didn't really work. The paint itself is fine though - I didn't strip them properly - just the surface stuff, and then sprayed on a few layers of paint. A year later, they seem to have survived.
Do it yourself I reckon - saves $ and isn't too hard. Just got to get the right paint and wait ages between layers.

[DEATH_INC.]

Use 2k clear,2-3 decent coats.It will dry flat over the rough surface :spudbooge

[F5 Dave]

Um, probably prudent to say you shouldn't use 2 pack at home unless you have air fed respirator, it's somewhat more deadly than normal spray paints.

[vifferman]

I was toying with the idea of painting my gold GSX250 wheels white.
So not a good idea?It's your bike - do what you like widdit. But the white shows every little bit of road grime, brake dust, chain spooge and the like.


I've had my bike around 2 months but never washed it for fear (stupid?) of getting the soap somewhere I shouldn't ie chain.
It's an o-ring chain so do I just make sure I oil it after washing?
Also do you just use car detergent or is there special bike stuff?

Looking forward to all the 'god you're a dumbass' commentsYou're a dumbass. There - are you happy now?:Pokey:
Wash it with whatever you like - I use a wash 'n wax car stuff, can't remember the brand (mebbe Armorall??) Yes, there is stuff sold specifically for bikes, but it's prolly zachary the same but costs more.

With the chain, some cleaners (such as Simple Green) aren't tested as OK on O-rings, and as they're corrosive may not be a good idea. Try some dishwashing liquid or similar - it shouldn't do anything naughty.
If you actually want to clean your chain, use kerosene, as it doesn't attack the O-rings, and doesn't leave the chain dried out. It also washes off with soapy water. You can use it to get spots of grease or tar off your paint as well. WD40 will do a good job as a chain cleaner too, as it is just silicon with a kerosene carrier.

An upholsterer told me to never use anything on my seat apart from soapy water, but I found that Armorall worked really well so that when wearing my waterproof pants it gave me a thrill sliding around all over the seat.
And here's another cheap thrill: spray engine degreaser on your back rim (ostensibly to get the chain spooj off) then give it quick rinse and go for a ride. You'll have a quick crash course in powerslides, and maybe even lowsides and highsides. Great for that instant adrenaline rush.:eek5:

Hope this helps. Don't be afraid to ask lots of dumb questions - someone on KiwiBiker will always help you out, and never mock you, you dumbass.:whistle:

[F5 Dave]

Been told dishwash liquid (what I used to use) attacks some paints.

[Mongoose]

Been told dishwash liquid (what I used to use) attacks some paints.

From my experiences with paint, dishwashing liquid is OK as long as you do not let it dry in place, ie plenty of fresh water needed. But an of the auto soaps will do it, if dirt is stuborn use a bucket of HOT water to help remove them stubborn dirt 'n' stain bits

[White trash]

Yea - I've got the dreaded Suzuki white wheels - I was thinking of getting them painted black. I'd like to get them polished but I've heard thats even harder to keep clean!! :pinch:

A mate of mine has black wheels on his Blue/White TLR and it looks shit hot!

Do it!

[moko]

:Offtopic: I've had my bike around 2 months but never washed it for fear (stupid?) of getting the soap somewhere I shouldn't ie chain.
comments

Check and lube your chain afterwards,you do it regularly anyway right?try and keep the soap away from your brakes and make sure they work before taking to the highway!I managed to get WD40 on mt front disc once and found out the underwear-staining way,luckily nothing on the road I un-intentionally went across.However tempting try to avoid using a power-washer,apart from possibly lifting paint from your frame it`s a really easy way to trash your wheel-bearings.Rather than soapy water on my wheels I get some rags,spray WD40 on then wipe the wheels,shifts the crap well,then out with just plain warm water and go over them again to shift the WD.I used to spray it on prior to the "wot no brakes?" incident.
Oh yeah,up to you but a common moan in brit bike mags about Suzis is why do they paint the poxy wheels white cos they`re a bitch to keep looking good,but as the man said it`s your bike,do what you want with it.

[Milky]

There is a question re heat treating them. Ally you need to heat to ~ 200deg to heat treat I believe. Most powers go off at ~180 so it is pretty close. Are you relieving the stresses in them, or weakening them?
ooo.. we learnt about this yesterday in Chemical and Materials engineering... annealing - the process of reordering grain structure - goes through three stages... something i cant remember at the moment, then recrystallisation and grain growth. Depending on the metal and previous grain structure, the rate and/or temperature at which the recrystallisation occurs differs.
If the alloy has been cast, squished, squashed or stretched, it's grain structure will be non uniform (not equiaxed) and has greater energy than an equiaxed structure, hence a tendency to return to the equiaxed form if it is allowed to. Some tricky stuff happens in annealing, but generally, equiaxed grain structures are more ductile, less brittle, less strong and less hard (all slightly different concepts).
I am not sure about other types of heat treatment like tempering though... you might get an update over the next few weeks if you are interested, and if this doesnt get shot down in flames by someone who actually knows what they are talking about...




*removes dictaphone from arse*

[moko]

- the process of reordering grain structure - goes through three stages... something i cant remember at the moment, then recrystallisation and grain growth. Depending on the metal and previous grain structure, the rate and/or temperature at which the recrystallisation occurs differs.
If the alloy has been cast, squished, squashed or stretched, it's grain structure will be non uniform (not equiaxed) and has greater energy than an equiaxed structure, hence a tendency to return to the equiaxed form if it is allowed to. Some tricky stuff happens in annealing, but generally, equiaxed grain structures are more ductile, less brittle, less strong and less hard (all slightly different concepts).


I knew that :confused2

[F5 Dave]

Yeah Ally is quite different in it’s process than steel or brass etc.

PS my painter just came & handed me a 2 packed rim he did for me (for the bucket). Looks real sharp & better than the spray bomb job I had before.

Std paint on Yams is real porous & makes it a bitch to clean. Smoother (& glossier) the easier. My YZF wheels had an anti graffiti coating that makes them slippery