For some reason manufacturers have decided that painting every piece on a motorcycle is now "cool". I still like to see some bits of bare or polished aluminum...I don't know if it's because I like to see the brawn of raw metal, or because I was raised on the motorcycles of the 80's and 90's.

I had previous experience from stripping the wheels on my '98 VFR, when I swapped the rear from the OE 5 spoke to an elusive 8-spoke from a 3rd Gen. VFR.

The black paint was stripped off down to bare metal. The wheel lips had a nice polished finish while the spokes had a raw, textured surface.

I got a wild hair and decided last night to do the same on the ZX wheels, with the exception that I would only strip the wheel lips and leave the spokes painted their OE metallic silver. I already had the needed materials...Aircraft Stripper (aerosol), gloves, plastic scraper, painter's tape, 0000 steel wool, and metal polish.

Pictures show the procedure done on the rear wheel.

Remove axle nut...

Tap axle out...

Insert adjustable wheel chock under tire while removing axle...

Now that the wheel is off, apply first bottle of lubrication to mechanic. This procedure should have been done prior to starting any work, but I forgot. crazy

Remove cush drive/sprocket carrier...

Ready for masking...

Next I applied degreaser to remove chain lube, wax, etc. that might hinder the tape sticking to the areas to be masked off...

I almost forgot to remove the wheel weights, which would have left a spot of paint the next time I had a new tire mounted and balanced...

Spokes, bearings, and disk masked (I chose to leave the disk on the rear wheel...for the front I will remove the disks)...

This is the stripper I used...effective and nasty stuff. Wear gloves. Wear eye-pro. Wear long sleeves and pants. And don't forget that even though you're wearing gloves...do not scratch the itch on your nose. You will regret it.

Ready for spraying...

This is what the paint looked like 15 seconds after application...

The stripper won't harm the tire, and I'm about to replace this one anyway.

Wait the recommended 20 minutes or so, and begin scraping...

Revealing a nice, polished finish underneath...

The plastic scraper will get between the tire bead and rim to clean that edge, and the rest of the paint sloughs off with minimal fuss...

I applied a second coat of stipper just to remove any residual paint, then scrubbed the rim with 0000 steel wool before rinsing with water to deactivate the stripper and clean off the paint. After rinsing and drying, I used some more 0000 steel wool and metal polish to get a nice, final mirror finish.

Before...

After...

I like the polished rim look...to me it makes the wheel look wider. In the future, I may paint the spokes and hub with some "Metallic Graphite" wheel paint I have that is a shade darker than the OE silver on there now, just to give it more of a contrast.

Halfway finished...

Front wheel went just like the rear...

I used the entire can of Klean Strip brand of aircraft stripper on the rear wheel, so I bought a can of Rustoleum brand to try. It didn't blister the paint as quickly, taking about a minute compared to immediately with the Klean Strip...but when I scraped the wheel, all the paint came off on the first try without the need for a second coat as with the rear.

Taped and ready for spraying...

Finished product...

It's a very subtle modification, but I like the understated, "Hmmm, there's something different about that..." look.

Before...

After...

Looks good man! Are you going to clearcoat it or do anything to prevent corrosion?

I read the rest of your post here and saw you polished it with steel wool and metal polish that should be good enough for most circumstances to keep it shiny.

My VFR wheels had been stripped for about 2 1/2 years in those pics. No clearcoat, and only maintenance was to wipe them down every now and then with a rag and Honda Spray Polish. Never had any discoloration or corrosion issues.

I agree it looks much better polished I've done a similar job except I painted the spokes black. They look the ants pants when they're all clean

Love the look of the polished rims. Mine were done by the p.o. and they take a bit of maintenance polish now and then. I use Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish and a soft rag.

I have some Acura car wheels I wonder if I could do the same and remove the paint and polish the wheel? The paint on these wheels are too dark. But I know that Mothers polish works great! I have some I used on some other bare aluminum.

* Last updated by: ws6chad on 4/20/2014 @ 12:08 PM *

I did the wheels on my zx9 and the change with the green center and polished lip is truly worth the effort, no problems with them just a little metal polish every now and then since 97 and still looking good