The wheels on my 1969 Raleigh bike looked awful. They were so dull, I thought they were aluminum. After I cleaned them a bit, I was surprised to find out they were actually chrome. So I polished them to make them look as good as possible considering they are almost 45 years old and kept in who knows what condition before I bought the bike. It took less than 10 minutes to polish each wheel. The polish I used was Mothers Chrome Polish, but there are many different brands.
▶ SUBSCRIBE & HIT THE 🔔 http://bit.ly/SubRJTheBikeGuy
👍 And please give my video a thumbs up 👍
▶FACEBOOK.com/RJTheBikeGuy
https://www.facebook.com/RJTheBikeGuy
▶TOOLS
▶SHIRTS
http://bit.ly/RJBikeGuyShirts
▶WEBPAGE
http://www.RJTheBikeGuy.com
29 Comments
you have to use rust remover, will get shine but if you do not care it will get again rust, because the rusted spots lost the chrome 🙂
here is what i been doing
i used aluminum tin foil & in the few spots that its into the chrome i used a sharp edge knife to get those spots gently scraped out, then aluminum tin foil again. i just also found a vid where one guys uses steel wool & wd40 , i havent tried that yet but it may get the deep stuff out.
i was also thinking of buying a spray can of clear , removing the tire (or taping it up, & spraying it with clear, this should help it not to rust again? let me know what u think
for the rust spots use aluminum foil balled up….its softer then chrome so it won't scratch , but its harder than rust
You can also use never dull to polish chrome. It comes in a can for about $6 and you only need to use a small piece to polish with. It will polish chrome and help remove rust. A great product to help get Chrome and metal looking like new.
Protip – if the rims on your bike end up having a coarse, uneven surface that eats away at your break pads, wet sand it with 500 and then 1200 sandpaper. What I did was put my bike upside down and use the rotation of the wheel as my polishing motion, as I wanted the micro-cuts in the rim to exactly fit the curvature of the rim. I did this until I got a near mirror sheen on the braking surface. Wear some sort of gloves- the fine dust that's left from sanding is a bitch to clean off.
which rims are good for bicycle…. aluminium or chrome.. for better stopping
I have a Hawthorne bike and I want to polish the emblem or logo, how would I polish it. But it has a little bit of spray paint on it.
my combo, carefully using a dremel with a brass brush (for harder rest spots) Extra Fine Steel Wool, qnd chrome polish.
Are the spokes chrome too? Do I have to clean then differently?
RJ, do you recommend using Bar Keeper's Friend for projects such as this?
Just used WD-40 and a brass bristle brush. Washed the bike real well. Sprayed a rag with WD-40. Went back over with the brass bristle brush. Wiped everything down. again.
Grade #0000 steel wool with some soap and water will restore it to new. Trust me.
2:45 LOL THAT SLAP
I use sos steel wool soap pads works great
So… how do the brakes work now that you've polished it?
You might enjoy my video on how to apply turtle wax.
Love your videos. Looking forward to one where you take a tired old steel frame from the 70s or 80s and give it a paint job, it's a difficult thing thing to get a good result.
I also do this on my bycycle
lots ponda
For more bike repair videos hit the subscribe button 🛑 and click the notification bell ► http://bit.ly/SubRJTheBikeGuy
Yeah alu foil works good on alu rims if wet with GT85/WD40 to remove surface rust/oxide and hard grime.
But I found foil was quite useless on chrome/steel rims to remove rust, for that fine steel wool or abrasive pad is needed.
Haha this vid "fast and easy" yeah only if the rim just needs a quick polish as described ^^
nice tips
What's the best way to clean and polish up aluminum bike parts (wheel hubs, deraillurs, cranks and crank arms)? hubs are especially difficult IMO because of the spokes making it difficult to access.
Aluminum wheels on my MTB…What'd you suggest?
i used to use autosol, these days i use 0000 grade steel wool
How about for aluminum rims?
Nice rims bro
Is there and advantage of steel rims over aluminium?
I got a bike with vintage rims and I'm thinking of changing them to aluminium or should I restore the original ones?
If you don't have any polish like Mother's polish, some wd-40 and a wadded up ball of aluminum foil would make a great alternative to remove rust as well as restore the mirror polish surface to anything chrome. If using on brakes pad surfaces you will want to clean afterwards with a product that will remove oils from the chrome to keep brakes working as well as possible since chrome rims aren't great for braking in ideal situations and even worse when they have any moisture or water on them.
dont know if you have them in usa but raleigh built bikes with stainless steel "westrick" rims can be used with rim brakes or rod and they never wear out! got some on my old dawes ,date on the hub 1949!