1983 SUZUKI GS450L Dull Wheels

[BUSARIDER]

Is there any way to make the appearance of the mag wheels look better on my bike ? The aluminium is dull and the black has been dirty so long I dont think it will ever come clean ! Any pointers ?

[cowboyup3371]

Lots and lots of elbow grease. Get a wire wheel for your grinder or drill and have a go at it. Then, you can take sandpaper to work along there and finally ending up with the polish wheels or paint depending on what you want to do.

[Flyboy]

You can try scrubbing with Simple Green and hitting the buffed lip and spokes with some Brasso or other metal polish.
The problem is, if you look at the spokes, they have ridges, and the dirt gets trapped in there.
Best is to strip the wheels off, scrub, paint and polish, see my rebuild thread on how I refurbished my wheels.
Hope it helps, here is one finished.

[GateKeeper]

As said, it will just take time and lots of sand paper, and buffing

Before



After

polished lip


painted








and it can only get better if you want to put in even more time and effort.....

.

[Steve]

One reason your "black" doesn't look too clean is that it was never black to start with.

Yep, not sure what Suzuki called it, but it's really a dark, dark gray from the factory.

How to clean them? LOTS of elbow grease and a few tools.

A brass wire brush in a drill works well for a lot of it.




Mask it off and paint it. Went with glossy black on this bike.




You can try to mask off the spokes, I chose to paint them, then scrape them.




Finished wheel.


.

[BUSARIDER]

Thanks Y'all . You guys do some great work ...

[pete]

I wire wheeled mine, sanded the last few bits I missed with the wire wheel, then painted them all black except the lip which is polished...

[ndaugbjerg]

Steve,
I love you brother. Just saw your 79 cent blade scraper in action. I figure you saved me $179.00 worth of work. I was ready to tape and trim the spokes. After 50+ years of this kind of stuff, you'd think I would have thought of that myself. We were all born stupid but it seems I'm relapsing more often than I used to. This is what GSR is all about. Thanks again.
Niels

[Steve]

Steve,
I love you brother. Just saw your 79 cent blade scraper in action.

You don't get a polished, mirror finish by using the scraper, but that's not what I was trying for.

There are too many machining marks on the spokes to smoothe out with reasonably LOW effort, so I just scraped instead of polishing.
The rims still have some machining marks, too, but they have also been dangerously close to my buffing wheel.

.

[7981GS]

I use Roloc pads on an angled die grinder to polish the spokes and remove the machining stripes.
Masking tape on the outside polished rim and white lithium grease applied to the polished spokes and where the tape is not with a cotton swab.
Remove the tape and wipe off the grease with a rag after the paint dries.





Or...
Paint your contrasting color first...



Then apply the white grease where you want the color to stay and paint your second color...



Wipe grease off and finished product...





Eric

[ndaugbjerg]

7981GS,
Wheels look great. I particularly like the gold. I'm debating between black and gold on my red 450 cafe. What is the code for the gold you used? Thanks,
Niels

[Flyboy]

Eric, Goldie's wheels look gorgeous there.

[7981GS]

7981GS,
Wheels look great. I particularly like the gold. I'm debating between black and gold on my red 450 cafe. What is the code for the gold you used? Thanks,
Niels

I used VHT Gold Caliper paint. About $9.00 a can.

Eric

[7981GS]

Eric, Goldie's wheels look gorgeous there.

Thank you. Perhaps some day I can pay to have all of the, now gold, parts anodized.
At least that is the plan.
I will NEVER be selling Goldie.



I now have some newer gold calipers to add to it along with gold SS brake lines.
Posplyr is sending me the gold tank badges to fix that problem.(currently chrome. )
Still have to fix the 1000 on the side covers too.


Eric

[Flyboy]

I will NEVER be selling Goldie.

You and me both, a man who knows a good bike when he rides one.
There are prettier bikes, there are faster bikes, there are better handling bikes, but as an over all package it is very hard to beat a 1000G, Suzuki definitely got it right with this one.
Jennifer will not be going anywhere either, not as long as I am alive.