Best way to clean wheel hubs

Rookhill · Post by **Rookhill** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 2:22 am

Seasons greetings every one.
Yesterday I started to strip the front wheel of my CB72 and was wondering the best way to clean the hubs ? Polishing ? Vapour blasting. Its a '61 model and stood in a barn since '69. The're dirty but not corroded.
I've carefully removed the spokes/nipples and was going to have the rims rechromed. The original chrome is flakey, but the rim is solid. Is this viable or should I replace the rim ?

All the best for the New Year, Rookhill

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 3:33 am

You can clean up the centre section with a wire brush or a 'satin finish' mop in a bench polisher grinder.

Hot soapy water may be enough on the hubs but you can either polish them by hand or with a bench polisher.

Prestige Electroplating in Mexborough will do a great job on your rims. Post some pics. Difficult to offer advice without seeing condition.

G

Rookhill · Post by **Rookhill** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 4:09 am

Thanks G-Man, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Rickytic · Post by **Rickytic** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:00 pm

Hey Rookhill, I just had my rear rim chromed, replaced the spokes/nipples, and had the hub polished. All went well with the exception of the center part of the hub. The polisher couldn't get into the grooves but the sides came out like glass. When I got the part back, I went to LOWES and bought a couple of brass wire brushes that fit into a drill, used it on the center groove section and then coated the entire hub with clear lacquer. I have the pieces back together and it really looks nice. Don't know how fussy you are with your project, I kind of want mine to look factory or a little better. Will add some pics so you can see the end product after rechroming, polishing, clear coating, wire brushing, and adding new stainless spokes and nipples. It will take a few minutes to go out and take some pics and download them to this site. By the way, cost was about $400 for just the rear wheel to be brought back to my satisfaction.

Rickytic

pkay · Post by **pkay** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:21 pm

Hiya

I am a big fan of vapour blasting. I have had quite a few hub sets done amongst other things and I think they look awesome.

Cheers

Paul

Rookhill · Post by **Rookhill** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:28 am

Thanks Guys. After a little cleaning I was surprised at how well the small section I'd done on the hubs looked. The rims will be re-plated and laced with new spokes, but sat in the garage cleaning the hubs listening to "Fly to the rainbow" on in the back ground was very therapeutic !!
With an English winter (bit like our summer only darker) I should have the wheels done and onto the front end pretty soon. Looking at the vapour cleaning process, should be handy for plenty of other parts.

Its the Newark Show tomorrow. I will give you a report later

Thanks again.
Regards Rookhill

mips · Post by **mips** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:35 pm

I really, really like my soda blaster. Does a great job of cleaning up chrome as well. The aluminum hubs might need a little help after if you've got a lot of corrision, but if it doesn't it can make it a lot cleaner than most other methods I've tried. You need a large compressor to run one, but the blaster is invaluable.