[Steve F]

I have an '03 1800, and was wondering if the wheels are clear coated or anodized. I was thinking of polishing the rim area, not the entire wheel since there are some black marks that don't come out with regular cleaners. I was thinking of masking off the spokes, and taking the buffing wheel to the rim and where the spokes meet the rim.

 

[whacker]

Steve, I'm new to the 1800 myself, but believe the 2012 is the first to have clear coated wheels. There are plenty of good wheel cleaners, Mothers aluminum polish with a power ball worked wonders on my 1500 wheels. I have also used a product from Cycle Armor, saw a guy polish an 1800's severely neglected "black" wheels using Cycle Armor in less than 20 minutes. As far as the black marks go, some have used progressively finer wet/dry sandpaper to recover the wheels. Other will be along with suggestions, good luck!

 

[L2R]

Steve,

there are several discussions here that are worth reading if you enter wheel cleaning in the search area, top, right.

If they are not clear coated, check out 'serious cleaning on old wheels' for easy way to clean the tough dirt.

 

[arhutick]

I also have an 03 and they are not clear coated. When I first picked up this bike the wheels had not been very well taken care of. I used some of the SOS pads that have soap in them and it worked great, and did not scratch the wheels at all.

 

[2003 GL1800 POLICE]

Bronze wool is available it Ace hardware and works great. Customized factory wheels by polishing them out, painting inset black metalic then clearcoating. Looks super and very low maintenance.

 

[ptwingmn]

I have an '03 1800, and was wondering if the wheels are clear coated or anodized. I was thinking of polishing the rim area, not the entire wheel since there are some black marks that don't come out with regular cleaners. I was thinking of masking off the spokes, and taking the buffing wheel to the rim and where the spokes meet the rim.

They are not clear coated. My wheels were pretty dirty and had tar and road grime on them. the front was worse for some reason. I tried buffing them, brusing them. Finally I used Mothers metal wheel polish. It took every thing off and they polished up nice and shiney.
It took me two days to clean them. It was tedious and a lot of rubbing but it was worth it, I did the rear wheel off the bike, the front I did on the bike with the fender off. (I was doing other maintenance so the bike was apart).