# Best product/method for renewing wheel appearance



## RuggsRoh (Aug 16, 2014)

Greetings everyone 
I have begun the project of re-creating a vintage Schwinn. I've acquired some S7 wheels that have some minor pitting with rust. Does anybody have suggestions on the best method or product to use to help restore the finish and remove the rust? So far I have tried rubbing compound and Never  Dull wad compound. Both bring the metal to a good shine with a lot of work. The rust is what seems to be the issue. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated.


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## Freqman1 (Aug 16, 2014)

RuggsRoh said:


> Greetings everyone
> I have begun the project of re-creating a vintage Schwinn. I've acquired some S7 wheels that have some minor pitting with rust. Does anybody have suggestions on the best method or product to use to help restore the finish and remove the rust? So far I have tried rubbing compound and Never  Dull wad compound. Both bring the metal to a good shine with a lot of work. The rust is what seems to be the issue. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated.




There are a number of methods. You may want to search the restoration tips section of this forum for some help. V/r Shawn


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## syclesavage (Aug 16, 2014)

*Rim rust*

I've seen where people have been buyin a liquid that goes in water they put their parts in a kiddy pool and let them soak for a while I'm new this restoration thing but that's what I saw on some of these posts wish I could help more


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## rollfaster (Aug 16, 2014)

*This is what I do...*

There is a product called Krud kutter sold by ace hardware. Wet rim and spray on, don't let it sit to long. Use a brass bristle brush. Rinse and repeat. After rust is removed use a good chrome polish, mothers McGuire etc. I like turtles. Always have great results with this procedure. Rob.


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## Pantmaker (Aug 16, 2014)

*Rust and Wheels*

Hands down, the best method for rust removal on wheels (or any chrome) for me is wadding up a healthy piece of aluminum foil (about the size of a golf ball) and simply rubbing the rust off with the foil wad. I do it at the sink so I can keep both foil and chrome wheel adequately wet. The foil will slowly degrade and shrink as you clean so you will need to replace the foil as it becomes unmanageably small. This method does not scratch the wheel whatsoever.  I never use wire brushes of any kind since I destroyed a decent wheel with a "safe" brass brush. If I need a little ooomph in some trouble spot I use a piece of 0000 steel wool soaked liberally in WD40 and rub it in a very controlled way. Wear gloves unless you are sufficiently redneck like myself...your hands will get almost black. Just my two cents... Peace.


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## indiana dave (Aug 16, 2014)

Search for Bikeman4u on youtube. He's got some great videos on every aspect of bike resoration.

I was being gentle with some Schwinn rims, but after seeing him take a wire brush to a set, and then polishing it up, I tried it out.
Worked great!

I use a wire brush, some 0000 steel wool to get the heavy rust off, then wipe them down, and use some Neverdull on them.

I follow up lastly with some Mothers chrome polish I've had for my cars.


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## RuggsRoh (Aug 17, 2014)

57 spitfire said:


> There is a product called Krud kutter sold by ace hardware. Wet rim and spray on, don't let it sit to long. Use a brass bristle brush. Rinse and repeat. After rust is removed use a good chrome polish, mothers McGuire etc. I like turtles. Always have great results with this procedure. Rob.




I will to definitely try this, since I work at an Ace Hardware.  Thank you


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## RuggsRoh (Aug 17, 2014)

Thank you everyone for the information and suggestions. I'm going to try them all. 


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## Joe Buffardi (Aug 22, 2014)

*oxalic acid aka wood bleach*

wood bleach aka oxalic acid. I post post some before and after pics very soon for you. I have a 1942 Shelby built Western Flyer. It looked like the paint was long gone by the amount of rust that was on it. I dissasembled the entire bike, bought 2 kiddy pools and filled them up with water, let the water get to outside temp. added 2 small buckets of wood bleach to each kiddie pool and soaked the parts over night.

The rusty Flyer is now a brilliant Royal blue. Original finish all the way down to the scallops on the tank.


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## rollfaster (Aug 22, 2014)

*Hey joe*



Joe Buffardi said:


> wood bleach aka oxalic acid. I post post some before and after pics very soon for you. I have a 1942 Shelby built Western Flyer. It looked like the paint was long gone by the amount of rust that was on it. I dissasembled the entire bike, bought 2 kiddy pools and filled them up with water, let the water get to outside temp. added 2 small buckets of wood bleach to each kiddie pool and soaked the parts over night.
> 
> The rusty Flyer is now a brilliant Royal blue. Original finish all the way down to the scallops on the tank.




I know wood bleach works great, but I'd love to see pics of that western flyer. Rob.


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## Euphman06 (Aug 22, 2014)

Me too!


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## Monarky (Aug 23, 2014)

Euphman06 said:


> Me too!




Me three


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