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Polished Wheels & More

6K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  superlight 
#1 ·
There's a few subtle mods in these photos but the ones I'd like to highlight are the wheels and brakes.

Back in 2008, 3 years before Triumph introduced a red rear subframe, I ground off the passenger footpeg mounts and painted mine red. I should have sued for patent infringement, eh? :readit: With a different color scheme planned this time around, I obtained a crashed subframe, straightened it and painted it white.



I've always liked the look of polished aluminium so back in 2008, the wheels were painted to replicate that finish.



Over the years, the aluminium paint held up well except for the edges of the wheel lips. The friction of the tire bead dragging across the lips during tire changes caused the paint to begin to flake off. Since the bike was due for another set of tires, I decided to take the plunge and polish the wheels.

I usually take "in progress" photos of my mods but unfortunately, not this time. :imsorry: Not sure if it was because the camera in my old phone was failing or because my eyes and nose were filled with aluminium buffing compound! :tissue: Seriously, it really was not convenient to photograph my work because I was in a factory using someone else's equipment...yes, with permission! Buffing this size of a part was a fair bit of work and the steps are summarized below.

There were (5) layers of paint on the wheels; stock primer, original bronze/brown topcoat, special base coat for the aluminium paint, the aluminium colored paint and finally a clear coat. I needed to get down to the bare aluminium wheel and various grades of abrasive wheels were not easily cutting through all the layers. They also produced deep scratches. Bead or media blasting would have yielded a surface too porous, too rough and too time consuming to smooth and polish. After I removed the bearings, the wheels were chemically stripped which delivered excellent results. :thumbup:

Now, down to bare metal, I could tackle the tough stuff. Fortunately thanks to a friend I had access to Acme (yep, that's the brand name; not something out of an old Road Runner/Wily E. Coyete cartoon) industrial polishing and buffing machinery. This equipment is used to prepare steel parts for chrome plating or aluminium parts for anodizing. I'm not sure I would have take on the project if I knew I could not polish the wheels myself. I could have sent the wheels out to be polished but I prefer to do my own fabrication work.

Long story short, (especially without pictures :signoops: sorry again) an industrial hand held grinder was used to buff the lips.



I used different grades of cotton buffing wheels, each about 1" thick and 10" in diameter.



Each cotton wheel received specific rouge - essentially buffing compound in stick form. Think of rouge as the abrasive; like different grits of sandpaper. The rouge is applied to the perimeter of the spinning cotton wheel then the part is buffed. I began with black rouge to remove what few deep scratches were present, then followed with brown, white and finally red. Red rouge is often called "jewellers" compound as it produces the finest, most reflective finish.



Although you need some finesse with the grinder and buffing wheels, the work is straightforward but very time consuming.
Since I didn't want the entire wheel polished I used the transition from the flat to the radius of the rim as a natural break line.



The white paint edge was eventually concealed beneath red pin striping tape.



Mother's Aluminum & Wheel Polish was the final step and I continue to use it for touch-up polishing. I've had excellent results with it on all kinds of metal surfaces for many years.

It's not uncommon for air to bleed through chemically stripped and unsealed aluminium wheels. As extra insurance, you can see I painted that section of each rim. Any color would have worked but I happened to have extra red.

Since the spokes and center of the wheel don't get much abuse, powder coating was not absolutely necessary. I used gloss white Rust-O-Leum from a spray can followed by clear. The polished areas were masked off with tape and newspaper. A bit of black paint brushed into each spoke hollow added detail.



Also back in 2008 when the wheels received aluminium colored paint, I converted the stock front rotors to full floaters using STM buttons. The post appears in the Performance section and is still current. I buffed the carriers to eliminate the original gold anodized finish and continue the polished appearance.



I've performed this conversion to many bikes and it reduces rotational friction against the pads to virtually nothing. Over time, however, the center carriers (not originally intended for a "life of the bike" full floating application), began to "mushroom" slightly at each button location. This is not surprising as the stock carriers might be a high quality aluminum alloy, but I do not believe they are hardened. Anodized gold yes - but not surface hardened. The braking force is transferred from the pad, to the disc, through the buttons and into the carrier. Since the brake disc is a harder material (stainless steel), most of the deformation usually occurs on the carrier.

BrakeTech AXIS rotors are designed differently. The interface between the disc and carrier is a flat surface, not a semi-circle as on most carriers, including our stock parts. Each button absorbs almost no brake force and subsequently does not need to be hard anodized.



More important - the orientation of this flat surface transfers brake force efficiently and directly to the carrier without distortion. As extra insurance, the BrakeTech carriers are hard-anodized a dark gray making them extremely tough and resistant to any potential deformation. Once disassembled, I repainted the carriers a bright gold, then reassembled.














A while back I salvaged front turn signals from a crashed R1. After repairing, sanding and repainting the housings red, I tucked them high and close to the plate.





If I had my preference I would prefer the signals to be about 30% smaller in overall size but I like the Yamaha part because it contains a dual-filament automotive bulb. This provides a low intensity 5W running light and a much brighter 25W turnsignal. I fitted a separate switch to the running light circuit so they can be turned on and off. I use them primarily at night when we need all the back end visibility we can get!



The exposure might be a bit off. The actual intensity of the running light is slightly less than what you see above - but still very bright after dark.

I think I've spent more time compiling this post :computer: than it took to polish the wheels. But after over 9 years of ownership, the bike still puts a smile on my face every time I ride it.



Safe riding to all.
 
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#2 ·
I always get excited seeing a thread from you. The attention to detail on those rims is very impressive. The black paint inside the hollow area is a really nice touch.

And those STM buttons. . .sexy. Thanks for the explanation on the carriers, good info as always.
 
#3 ·
Very nice!

I recall many a night in the miod 90's hand polishing some aluminum... Then of course the 93 zx7 (burgundy with black frame) changed the schematic of what would become Black painted aluminum frames being the norm..

one thing to love about the RSV4,,, all that sexy aluminum!... want to polish my panigale gas tank?:wink3:
 
#9 ·
Awesome write up superlight. I forgot you had done your wheels that way. They look even better in person. And yes, that bike is ALWAYS that clean.

Just to make you guys jealous, I am friends with superlight, and have dibs on that bike IF he ever decides to part with her.......>:)
 
#12 ·
Sincere thanks to all for the comments. Lot of work, but I love the look.

Can't seem to get the quotation wrap to function, so...
jdgun_13; want to polish my panigale gas tank?:wink3: In a word, no. !! :laugh2: It would look great, but my hands are still sore from the wheels. :nod:

Neanderthal; Very nice! Does the polished aluminum oxidize fairly quick without having a clear coat? Fortunately no. I've noticed no oxidization haze over a couple weeks that you might usually get. Even the other bare, polished aluminum OEM parts like the sidestand, rear sets, etc., hold up very well with next to no oxidization. I may have used a piece of slightly sub-grade aluminium when I made the shark-fin lower chainguard as that's the only part on the bike that seems to haze over in a couple weeks time.

Der Verge; I have dibs on that bike IF he ever decides to part with her.......>:) A blue AND a red one in your garage, Layne? Ah, of course. One for you and one for Louise! :kiss:

starpower: Where does one find that Brit. Flag decal you have on there? The flag is something I fabricated. I patterned the design from a decal on the tail section of an older model Triumph... possibly a 595? I don't recall. The new, larger graphic was made by cutting out all the individual pieces by hand from red, white and blue adhesive backed vinyl. I applied the design to a white piece of vinyl and everything went on top 1mm thick plastic acetate. The acetate adheres to the bodywork with 2-sided tape and covers the original turnsignal holes. This way, you can touch or push on the flag and the acetate prevents you from caving in the flag. :whistle: It's held up for many years without issue even at over 150, uh, I mean all the posted legal speed limits. Yeah, that's it.

 
#15 ·
Gee was it really that easy to come up with a decal?! :laugh: Good one! Oh yeah, just a 5 minute mod! Thanks starpower.

Thanks, Ditch.

I must be doing something wrong. :pout: I can't seem to use the "wrap quote" icon just above the message text box when I reply. I highlight a sentence in the message box, hit the "quote" icon, and nothing happens. I better stick to fabricating stuff.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for mentioning those, Dave. They were not purchased but fabricated by a friend a few years ago. :gavel: He obtained all the necessary electrical components and assembled everything. A talented machinist, he also made the aluminium housings and end caps!!! They are as bright if not brighter than anything I've seen commercially and draw a ridiculously small amount of power. I have them fused and wired as a separate circuit with a dedicated switch.

Considering our OEM headlights are one of the few shortcomings, these make night riding a pleasure. And they are EXTREMELY visible during the day as well.
 
#19 ·
Love your work! Polished lips do so much to brighten up an otherwise dull bike. Quite a bit of work, but man is it worth it. I'd love to see some Street Triples with polished lips, been considering it.
Appreciate that, SV. Yes, time consuming and rather arduous. Some might wonder why anyone would want to do all that work. :crazy: I figure, if I have to explain it to 'em, they probably won't understand anyway.
 
#22 ·
Just to make you guys jealous, I am friends with superlight, and have dibs on that bike IF he ever decides to part with her.......>:)
Der Verge!! :eek: !!.... since you just sold yours, :verysad: looks like you WILL have to wait for mine! Can't imagine what you bought, Layne, but I know you'll ride the hell out of it. :laugh2: Are you taking it to your October track day? :tow:
 
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