Ducati Monster Forum

I am thinking of removing the powder coat from my wheels and wanted to know if any of you all are running with the bare aluminum. Any pics you have would be great.

I would think you'd want them clear coated anyway?

Someone on TOB had a set for sale awhile back. Maybe search there if you dont find anything here.

I believe bare aluminum oxidizes.  If you are going for a polished/mirror finish then you will need to clear coat it.  I think it oxidizes into a dull, whiter finish.  If your cool with that then rock on!

I am certainly not going for a blinged out shiny aluminum. I think when it oxidizes is a clear-ish film. I will have to try it. The worst that can happen is I will end up powder coating them later in a new color.

My wheels are partly bare.  The lip was machined to remove the powder coat.  It needs some attention to keep looking fresh - and it doesn't oxidize 100% evenly. So you can get some spotting

Yuu, can you post a pic please? been thinking about what that might look like.

If you sand it without polishing it, then you should not have it blinged out shiny. Someone hooked up their wheel to a drill press, attatched a rubber wheel to the bit and used that to spin the wheel while he held sand paper to the edge of it.

it might look like this. very quick photoshop.
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc296/ruester007/color.jpg)

 Here is a pic of the treatment done to Yuu's wheels. This I did to Jewcati's S2R last year but it looks the same.

(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/AriasS2R.jpg)

 Yuu,

 I'm not sure if I mentioned it but just use a scotchbright pad on the machined edge to keep it looking fresh.  [thumbsup]

Here's a few pics of Yuu's wheels right after they were done. Sorry, I forgot I still had pics.  [roll]

(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/Front1.jpg)

(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/Frontlip1.jpg)

(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/Rear1.jpg)

(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/Rearlip.jpg)

I think that made up my mind. What product have you used to strip the powder coat?

Black wheels with paint removed looks awesome!

Dave I think you need a pic with more contrast to do the Photoshop.

I think you're right about the contrast. I am going to strip them when I get a chance. I might need to borrow your stands so I can take the wheels off. What stripper are you using to remove the powder coat?

that looks AMAZING man, is it a secret? or can you tell us how you did it? [bacon] :D

pompetta did the same to a set of wheels, it was remarkable simple, and it looks amazing.

Mi casa, su casa bro.

I got the paint stripper at Home Depot.  It is the jelly type and appears to have methylene chloride in it.  I have some left over, so you can check out the label.

I'm hoping that your wheels are painted and not powdercoated.  Powercoat is MUCH tougher to remove than paint.

Maybe you can PM or post up and ask if anyone knows whether the OEM Marchesinis are powercoated or painted.

That said, we could remove the rear wheel, de-mount the tire and try paint remover on the inside of the wheel.

sounds good. I'll give you a call.

That polished lip set-up is sick. 

Awesome looking wheels!  I have a spare rear rim for my bike, that was media-blasted.  I was thinking about painting it, but after seeing these pictures, I think I'm just gonna polish the lip.

Good Job!

Wow that looks real good.  I thought you were a little crazy for considering this until I saw the pictures.  Looks very nice, be sure to post up some pics after you finish.

I'll be sure to post picks of the process. I hope to complete them before next week.

got bored (this is what happens when you get a week of) went to the home depot bought some $8 stripper, masked my wheel. and sprayed teh stuff on. 15 mins later i have paint just rubbing of. No need for aircraft grade stripper, regular sprayable stripper works fine.

I just need to see how my finish looks tommorrow morning since it isnt well lit in my garage.. I wish i had a camera to show you guys, but the thing died and im waiting for my new one. :(

 I offer that as a service to DMF members at a discount. I have done a bunch so far and they always look awsome. I even did a set on a friends RC51 and it looked hot!

is that like a happy ending? [laugh]

 Ummmm.....no.  ???

You no likey long time?
 [laugh]

I started stripping the rear wheel last night @ 8pm. Bad Idea! at 4 am I had to go to bed with only 70% complete. Got up this morning I am nearly complete with all the removal of paint on the rear wheel. It takes a very long time, and I am still going to need to media blast the hard to get to places, then polish the lips and leave the spokes a more matte finish.

are you completely stripping the wheels?

I used a gel an built up about 4-5 layers of stripper an let it sit for 15 minutes, since it was pretty dry out, it dried rather quickly, so i kept adding alyers to help it stay wet instead of tacky. When i got tired of scraping, i just cranked on the compressor and hit it with 120psi and it blew the paint clean of. However stripper got everywhere and well that shit burns the second it touches anywhere sensitive on your body. I initially used a liquid stripper and it was driping everywhere and soaked into some parts of my masking tape. so the edge is a bit uneven so i ahve to go back at it with some paint or strip a bit deeper into the rim.

im going to do my front wheel when i need to change my tires cause i really dont feel like trying to squeeze my hand in between the discs. i have a hard time cleaning it as it is.

I am stripping the entire wheel. The gel is the way to go, and I found an aerosol version that was supper easy to apply, I think it was an aircraft paint stripper.

If you're gonna media blast it, why bother stripping the paint off first?  I just blasted it with paint and all.  The paint came right off.  The primer took a little longer though.  I think total time blasting was about 1.5 hours.

the original plan was to not media blast. Since all the paint would not come off, it has become necessary.