Cleaning Oxidized Wheel Hubs R60/5

Hi Gang,

Making progress - swing arm back on today and new driveshaft bolts in as well as "das boot" (driveshaft gaiter)

Trying to figure out how to clean rear wheel with tire on it and off bike - almost seems easier if I do it with wheel installed on bike - have no idea how I can get my hands inside the hub to hit the brush on the heavily oxidized hub - any suggestions? A friend says he uses rubbing compound but still, how can I get in - all the grooves & such.

When I was a kid we kept our bicycle hubs shiny by placing leather rings (made from old belts) around the hubs. Worked great too! I've actually thought about some sort of 2 piece brush that assembled around the hub but figured a MC's hubs centrifugal force and the friction of the alu casting would keep it from having any scrubbing action thereon? Hard to do on bike or with tire. Mine are going to be blasted while the old spokes are gone. Spray with strong cleaner and pressure washer on bike? Maybe something like a huge dental water pic? or steam cleaning just the hubs-I used that on lift trucks in a factory before wrenching to remove enough grunge to see the nuts & bolts.

kantuckid said:

When I was a kid we kept our bicycle hubs shiny by placing leather rings (made from old belts) around the hubs. Worked great too! I've actually thought about some sort of 2 piece brush that assembled around the hub but figured a MC's hubs centrifugal force and the friction of the alu casting would keep it from having any scrubbing action thereon? Hard to do on bike or with tire. Mine are going to be blasted while the old spokes are gone. Spray with strong cleaner and pressure washer on bike? Maybe something like a huge dental water pic? or steam cleaning just the hubs-I used that on lift trucks in a factory before wrenching to remove enough grunge to see the nuts & bolts.

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Was thinking best route would be to remove tires & tubes & send to a shop - saw in resources & links about a shop in Denver that specializes in wheels - anyone worked with this firm before?

May just do my best to clean them, ride the bike this season and make this next winters project

Ken, it's not a H-D so no need to polish, just give them a good cleaning with a baby bottle brush. This way you save yourself a bunch of time as well as having a "patina" on the bike. Send pix, we need pix! -Bengt

mcrenshaw said:

Ken, it's not a H-D so no need to polish, just give them a good cleaning with a baby bottle brush. This way you save yourself a bunch of time as well as having a "patina" on the bike. Send pix, we need pix! -Bengt

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Thanks, Mike - will take a B4 and After - see how it goes it the weather gets above 30 in this g-d forsaken place!

kentuvman said:

see how it goes it the weather gets above 30 in this g-d forsaken place!

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Hey...careful, that's my home town (well, St. Paul anyway)!! My aunt says that things should begin to look up...next month! That's why I only visit in the "good" months.

oxidized aluminum

Marvel Mystery Oil is your friend.

20774 said:

Hey...careful, that's my home town (well, St. Paul anyway)!! My aunt says that things should begin to look up...next month! That's why I only visit in the "good" months.

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Soon to be my Ex-home town (at least in the winters) See, Kurt - you got smart and moved to San Antonio - would love to hook up for coffee when you're here!

Krpntr said:

Marvel Mystery Oil is your friend.

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Seems like it would make a huge mess! My wife's already livid with me for having the bike in our porch! She says it's going to forever smell like motorcycle - I promised her it will not!

A few drops on a rag. Wipe and done. No need to make a mess. It will dissolve the oxidation with no need for vigorous polishing.

If you have time to read go to ADV & in "The Garage" and find the fairly recent thread on cleaning aluminum. My 2 cents is there's nothing like a clean hub/spokes rims to make a MC look better & to be able to see cracks,etc.. If the tires stay on decide what you want on them? I'm in the Marvel aint such a marvel crowd-you could use ATF and accomplish the same?

kantuckid said:

If you have time to read go to ADV & in "The Garage" and find the fairly recent thread on cleaning aluminum. My 2 cents is there's nothing like a clean hub/spokes rims to make a MC look better & to be able to see cracks,etc.. If the tires stay on decide what you want on them? I'm in the Marvel aint such a marvel crowd-you could use ATF and accomplish the same?

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Yes I agree. I am no chemist, but I can not tell the difference between the two except the sounds the words make when you say it six times fast. They seem do the same thing.

check out Meguiars Hot Rims Aluminum Wheel Cleaner

Be sure and try cleaning the aluminum in the least noticeable spot. Some of these cleaners will dull the aluminum, depending on the type of acid they contain. Oak recommends Alumina-Nu Screen Door cleaner. I've used that in the past on some /2 valve covers and other engine parts, and it left a dark stain, which I had to work hard to get rid of. Fortunately, I wasn't having to work around spokes, etc., and I was able to rub out or lessen the visible nature of the dark stain.

kentuvman said:

Soon to be my Ex-home town (at least in the winters) See, Kurt - you got smart and moved to San Antonio - would love to hook up for coffee when you're here!

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Hub cleaning

Just did the hub on my /6.First go was with Simple Green.I found the best way to work it in between the spokes was using cut up pieces of Scotch Brite cleaning pads and a small pliable stick.It took quite awhile and several apps.When I got it as clean as reasonable I hit it with Busch heavy duty aluminum cleaner(very strong)and a good rinse.Not as good as I was hopping for but certainly a big improvement.If I could have found a way I would have polished it with Mothers Aluminum Polish as I did on the rest of the aluminum.

bruche said:

Just did the hub on my /6.First go was with Simple Green.I found the best way to work it in between the spokes was using cut up pieces of Scotch Brite cleaning pads and a small pliable stick.It took quite awhile and several apps.When I got it as clean as reasonable I hit it with Busch heavy duty aluminum cleaner(very strong)and a good rinse.Not as good as I was hopping for but certainly a big improvement.If I could have found a way I would have polished it with Mothers Aluminum Polish as I did on the rest of the aluminum.

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Could you post a picture of your results?

Aluminum cleaning

I have not found any "for sure" easy way to get any of the old aluminum cleaned.

However, I have found that this seems to work best.

I was a buyer for a company that made all aluminum semi-truck trailers, and most of our customers ALSO wanted aluminum wheels (they are lighter and on long hauls, saved a mile or two of gas mileage).


I purchased thousands of aluminum wheels from ALCOA. As a gift once, they sent me an aluminum "cleaning and polishing" pack of cleaning supplies.

It had an liquid aluminum cleaner, a paste cleaner/polish, a liquid polish, and an aluminum sealer. It does work too, but I haven't found anything that will take the really old aluminum on my /7 (like the front forks) look like new. What I want is "clean" but not shiny on those types of parts.

I would bet that these aluminum cleaning materials are available at any of the truck places.

No pics

Sorry but my level of technology does not allow me to post pics and none of the kids are home.The hardest part was spending time going around the spokes and ridges.

junkjohn said:

check out Meguiars Hot Rims Aluminum Wheel Cleaner

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John - thanks for the suggestion on this product - I had to go to O'Reilly's to pu some power steering fluid for my Honda Accord EX - there's a recall on the power steering hose, I've been putting off taking it in, although it's no a no charge deal - but now I know whey there's a recall

While at the store, I picked up a bottle of the aluminum wheel cleaner - I did take some before & after pics and will get them posted soon - feeling like this today

So, I brought the rear wheel into the mud room where we have a large sink next to the washing machine - had to let the air out of tire for it to fit in sink - wife was busy cooking in kitchen so luckily, I got the job done w/out detection
I filled a spray bottle with warm water & Dawn - sprayed the wheel and used a hand brush but had to cut off handle so I could get my hand & the brush inside the spokes - scrubbed away and kept rotating wheel & then turned it around to do the other side - the brush got into the grooves pretty well - after rinsing the wheel in the shower (remember, I'm in Siberia (aka MN) and can't work outside yet - still too cold to connect hose). Next, sprayed on the Meguiars product and scrubbed again - have to say, the hubs look much, much better - worked well - just took some patience - after drying things up, I used 0000 steel wool to work rust off spokes & cleaned rims - it's really looking nice - pleasantly surprised - thought I'd have to remove spokes to accomplish the task.

So now, when I removed the chrome wheel cover, I see the wheel bearings are still in the original brown grease from Germany - looks like they've never been serviced in 80k or maybe grease turns brown after years and years - service history unknown on this one - the grease in the swing arm bearings was also brown before I washed & re-packed the cleaned bearings with new grease.

I just read the thread on ADV Rider http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=388220 - it was easy getting the first bearing out - now I've got to read a few times the thread to get out the other components to get to the other bearing so I can clean it.

Very pleased with the results on cleaning the hubs! Thanks as usual!