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Polishing Comstars by
Freebyrd78
| I'm not going to lie to you, polishing
comstars is a LOT of work! It takes time, patience, and a whole bunch of
elbow grease. But, the results are worth it. When I first got my chopper
built, I didn't like the fact that it was dark. I had originally planned
on painting the frame something other than black, but time and money was
an issue. So rather than strip the bike bare and paint the frame, I just
used black lacquer from a spray can. To me, the darkest area was around
the rear wheel. |
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| After staring at the bike, I decided the
problem was with the wheels, and not the frame. I didn't have any money
to get another set of wheels, so I decided I'd try to do something about
them. The front wheel was trial and error, but the results of the labor
was great. |
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| Here's the fastest, easiest way I found
to make these wheels shine. To remove the black, I used a paint stripper
that doesn't stain aluminum. I used Bix stripper, but other brands will
work. Rather than washing the stripper off with water, (I didn't want to
get the stripper in the bearings) I used the little wooden craft sticks
you can get at Wal-Mart. I used the small square ones rather than the popsickle
sticks, because they would allow me to get into tighter areas. The black
comes right off, but there will be a few areas where you may have to apply
the stripper more than once. What the stripper doesn't touch, is the clear
that Honda used on the actual rim. I've tried several different brands
of stripper on the clear, and nothing touches it. The way I removed it
was by sanding it off. I used a 220 wet sand to remove the clear, and then
went back over it with a 400 wet sand. This is the hardest part of the
entire job. I literally sanded until my fingers bled. Whatever the clear
is, it's some tough stuff.
The hardest part of the sanding is in the
areas where the spokes are riveted to the rim. It's not easy getting into
the area between the rim and the end of the spokes, and there really is
no way to get all of it removed. You just have to do the best you can.
I used the same procedure for the drum brake assembly. The black doesn't
want to come off as easy on that area because there are dimples on the
face plate.
After the wheels had been prepped, I started
the polishing. I did it all by hand, because it's too easy to scar up the
aluminum if you use a dremel tool. I used a soft cloth and Mother's Mag
Polish. Part of the secret to polishing is to not use too much polish on
the cloth, and there is no need to apply a lot of pressure. Let the polish
do the work, and as it starts to dry, switch to a clean area of the eloth.
After each wheel had been gone over with the mag polish, I then used Mother's
Billet Polish. It's pricy compared to the mag polish, but it puts a deep
luster on the wheels that you have to see to believe. One thing I didn't
do, but wish I had done was get some sealer to help preserve the polished
aluminum. You can get this at just about any truck stop. It helps preserve
the finish.
As you can see it makes a substantial
difference in the look of the bike. |
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| For the center of the brake rotors, I
sanded the black area and used silver touchup paint to brighten them up
as well. I had a guy on an early 80's Gold Wing ask me where I had found
mag wheels for a Honda. I looked at his wheels, and replied "You're riding
on them!" He couldn't believe that my wheels were the same as his until
he got to looking a little closer. LOL |
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