snow drop wheels

[antocas]

I'm renovating my 82 r100rs,,looking a bit unloved she was,,
so had to change the head stem bearings,and fit new rubbers to the engine
but its escalating into new paint and a good cleaning.
the rocker covers and barrels loo lovely after a hydro wash,as does the front wheel
my question is --will it be difficult to keep the wheel clean--does it need sealing

[SteveD]

I'm renovating my 82 r100rs,,looking a bit unloved she was,,
so had to change the head stem bearings,and fit new rubbers to the engine
but its escalating into new paint and a good cleaning.
the rocker covers and barrels loo lovely after a hydro wash,as does the front wheel
my question is --will it be difficult to keep the wheel clean--does it need sealing

Anything is easier than unpainted wheels.

[antocas]

I'm a bit sus on the glossy wheel paints at the local auto shops
how long will they last?
powdercoat?
,want to keep it as original as I can

[Chuey]

I have had a couple snowflake pairs powder coated. One silver and the other gold. When you clean a powdercoated wheel, the stuff washes off instead of working into the pores of the metal. That is my experience.

Chuey

[SteveD]

Powdercoated is easier to keep cleaner. However apparently chips are more difficult to repair. Clear coated powder coat will lift eventually and grime gets underneath the clear, leaving unsightly marks.

I'd happily powdercoat and have a couple of times.. Some prefer paint

[khittner1]

I use any of the suitable wheel cleaner sprays on my RT's un-painted/un-coated snowflake wheels, and, with a pass of a sponge, and a good rinse of water, they come out looking spiffy enough. The difficulty (sort of) is getting the spray, sponge, and rinse water to all of the many facets of a snowflake's "spokes". Even without any real "elbow grease", you can burn up a lot of perfectly good daylight and riding time detailing snowflake wheels to Barber Museum standards. Painted, coated, or not, road dirt flies onto all surfaces. Very clean snowflake wheels are probably on a bike/art object that isn't ridden much.

[PAS]

Years ago I removed and then meticulously cleaned my snowflakes. I hit them with a 3M pad then sprayed them with Duplicolor silver metallic lacquer followed with a couple coats of clear lacquer. They look OEM an clean up easily. I believe they were painted with Wurth silver paint originally.

[picturethis]

Wurth Silver is the same color as Porsche wheels and a great color silver - Nice paint and looks great withy the clearcoat - I've used this paint on Porsche 993 and Porsche 996 wheels. It is also the same color as BMW car wheels.
Interesting that the Wurth paints are now hard to find - They used to be readily available thru a lot of autoparts websites but now I can only find cans for sale on Ebay

[antocas]

well,,ive given them a spray coat of silver wheel paint,,and thumbs up on that,,
I bought a cheap lift table,painted the garage floor beige,got a nice thinkin chair,
presently worgimg on everythingfom the centrestand forward.
cant imagine a more comfortable bike to work on

[Duane Ausherman]

I'm renovating my 82 r100rs,,looking a bit unloved she was,,
so had to change the head stem bearings,and fit new rubbers to the engine
but its escalating into new paint and a good cleaning.
the rocker covers and barrels loo lovely after a hydro wash,as does the front wheel
my question is --will it be difficult to keep the wheel clean--does it need sealing

Antocas, all these answers and nobody commented on your wheel bearings. That probably forced soap and water past the seals and will ruin the bearings.

I made a lot of money due to this mistake.