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what can I use on the castings hubs etc? I,m not looking to have a show finish Thanks Frank

HI TO ALL , HI FRANK, ARE YOU ASKING WHAT YOU CAN USE TO CLEAN THE HUBS ( SPOKE TYPE , HUBS ) ? IF SO TRY KITTEN MAG WHEEL CLEANER AND USE A VERY STIFF NYLON BRUSH AND SCRUB LIKE YOUR GOING MAD YOU'L BE SUPRISED HOW WELL THEY COME UP , DID FOR ME ! THATS HOW I CLEAN MY ENGINE / FORKS / DIFF ETC . GARY

Yeah, be VERY careful with wheel-cleaner. Many of them are quite strong and will stain raw castings a dark gray.

I tried Eagle 1 mag wheel cleaner on the R100GS, the engine casting came out very nice and clean, the transmission casting turned dark gray. The casting are still dark gray after a couple of years and a couple of good scrubbing with different cleaners, WD-40, a wire brush and Scotch Brite.

yes have tried the eagle brand also, on a old honda cr 250 air cooled one, that did change the cases gray also , but have found the kitten brand very safe to use on course alloy like the engine cases / grearbox/ forks / diff /etc just have the hose ready to go. if you have polished your rims like i do, just put a good smear of pur car wash on the rims to protect them.

Go ahead, try everything and anything you can think of...The 'gspd method' works best
(it's on the old forum for those of you who missed it)

I get very nervous about advice to use wheel cleaner to brighten up airhead castings. I've been there and done that and turned castings grey. It's all to easy to leave it on too long before hosing it off.

I"ve used the gpsd method with success, not his kind of success, but I've ended up with better looking castings than I started with. I'll go ahead and talk about the gpsd method. That way he'll come around and tell us how I got it wrong and how it ought to be done.

You buy a can of Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Coating, P/N WP101. You wipe, not spray, the paint on a squeaky clean casting and then wipe it off. The idea is that the paint gets into the pores of the casting, which under a microscope probably look like grunge filled facial zits. The paint fills the zits with aluminum color and does very good things for the overall appearance of the castings. You've got to wipe off the casting while the paint is still wet to avoid it looking like you spray painted it.

I've only done a bit of this so far and my technique surely isn't the best. But the overall results were much better than the "before" appearance. Besides, you don't want it to look like factory fresh aluminum anyhow. These are old well used and well cared for motorcycles, not factory fresh ones.

Now here's a bonus tip from my own fertile mind. Don't put valve covers into the dishwasher to clean them and let them go full cycle. It will clean the valve covers nicely, but will leave them a dull grey everywhere there's unpainted aluminum, and likely baring some more aluminum by lifting off some of the paint. If you're going to re-paint the valve covers though, it might not be a bad idea overall. Related tip: Don't put the valve covers in the dishwasher while the wife is around.



Ken

Ken in Oklahoma wrote: You buy a can of Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Coating, P/N WP101. You wipe, not spray, the paint on a squeaky clean casting and then wipe it off.

I use Tremclad or Krylon ALUMINUM paint,
the cheap stuff you get in the auto section or paint section of any hardware store.
And I don't spray it on the parts, I spray it on a scotchbrite pad and rub it in.
If you mess up, use laquer thinner to thin it or remove it and try again

Ken in Oklahoma wrote:The idea is that the paint gets into the pores of the casting

Exactly! It works on all bare castings; don't stop at the engine!
Makes everything REALLY EZ to keep clean;