Restoring wheels XS650D

[Norwegian XS]

The rims on my 1977 XS are oxidised, and the spookes needs a little shine.

I do not want to dismantle the wheels, so whats the best way to make the løøk good again?

 

[fadingdaylight]

You could try lightly scrubbing the bad spots with a wire brush, or better yet, a gentle dremel attachment, then polish like crazy.

Posted via Mobile

 

[Ghetto]

Scotch bright the spokes. Rims themselves I'm assuming are aluminum and I would polish them up.

 

[resto]

I have a 77D also. Be prepared to expend a lot of elbow grease getting your rims back in shape. Before you can get to the polishing stage, you have to get down to bare aluminum. I tried a small wire wheel at first, but found it scratched the rim badly, so tried an abrasive nylon wheel with better results. After that you need to use a few grades of sandpaper, starting with about a 220 and moving up to 600 or 800. Then you can start buffing (I used a 10 cloth wheel on a bench grinder), going through black, brown, and white buffing compounds. A lot of work but worth the effort.

Probably not a good idea to do all this with the wheels on the bike. Also, a heads up, what I thought was pitting on the rim turned out to be some sort of factory chrome-like anodizing. A real bear to get off! That's where the abrasive nylon wheel really helped.

As mentioned earlier, it is very time consuming, especially the area between the spoke nipples. You might want to do this on the off season so you can take your time.

-resto

 

[oldbiker]

hi guys,,, i have re-done my alloy spoked rims on 2 different bike .my 77d xs650 and an old dr400 trail bike,, i did use some brass wire brushes that i purchaced from bunnings they were i think 10 bucks for 6 off different sizes and you spin them in your electric drill ... but not heavy handed ...and after that i used autosol a large tube to buff them all up they both came up great hope this helps you regards oldbiker

 

[5twins]

Your original spokes are just cad plated. Take a Scotchbrite pad or sandpaper to them and they will clean up but you will remove the protective coating and they will rust. You need to replace them, end of story.

 

[C-Los SD]

It's a pain in the ass, but taking the wheel apart, stainless spokes and polishing make the wheels look great.

 

[Belle]

Kerosene & a green scrubby works pretty good

 

[Norwegian XS]

It's a pain in the ass, but taking the wheel apart, stainless spokes and polishing make the wheels look great.

Wow! Nice wheels!