Thread: polishing hubs

Removing the paint is far & away the easiest part of the project. In fact, you'd be better off using it as a guide coat. Every square millimeter of outside surface will have to be metalfinished before polishing can even begin. It's a 5-6 step process. For a pair of CT70 hubs, done well enough to look good polished, plan on two-three days worth of hands-on labor. It's one of the most difficult and demanding mods on these bikes and also why you'll see very few polished OE hubs.

Try shortcutting the project and you'll quickly learn, firsthand, why Honda chose cloud silver for the rough-as-a-cob sandcastings.

I've never done hubs, so I can't comment on how difficult they would be, but I've made clutch and stator covers, and brake backing plates bright and shiny. I blast the old finish off in the blast cabinet then go to work with a buffing wheel and compound. (mounted on a bench grinder motor) I've got a couple of buffing wheels; like fine and really, really fine. It takes a while so put on some old Pink Floyd and safety glasses, and plan on getting filthy while you're doing it. When I'm done I've always applied a clear coat, though the stuff I used to use isn't available any more. I'm afraid it's been a while since I've had enough ambition to do any polishing.

I suppose that the compound curves and tight quarters on the hubs may be why they're so hard to do. Never did a hub before. Still, I figure there's no harm in trying, . . . if it doesn't work out the way you want you can blast it again and reapply a coat of cloud silver, right?

-kevin

wow I didn`t know they were that hard to do.I was going to sand it off and the use Mothers wheel polish and some light grade steel wool but I guess I just will repaint them
I don`t have a polishing wheel, or anything like that .

I've known folks that did it by sticking their buffing wheel in a drill and using that. It's one of those, "How bad do you want it?" kind of deals. Most of the polishing I've done was for other people. I'm too lazy to do it for myself.

I like it the polished look plus no more painting...

Polished surfaces act like a magnifying glass, making every casting flaw really stand out. The hubs are a relatively hard alloy, as one should expect. Removing all of the casting flash and original grinding marks is tough enough on the easily accessible surfaces, but the spokes will wear you down as you attempt to remove the sandcasting rough spots from those little recesses. I have an extensive polishing setup with three dozen different wheels, six types of compound plus myriad polishing bobs, catridge rolls, glue-on abrasives and sanding drums of various sizes & grits, along with years of experience. Polishing a CT70 hub is still a bastard of a job.

Where most guys go astray is at the beginning of the project. The drum portion of the hub goes fairly quickly, giving the impression that it's an easy job. It's the details that take 90% of the effort. Once polished, the hubs aren't all that easy to clean & keep waxed, a constant headache if you don't enjoy polishing your bike. I would never clearcoat a hub. Unlike the brake backing plates, that would make maintenance more difficult.

By comparison, a hub can be media blasted and prepped for paint in under 30 minutes, including solvent cleaning. Wheel paint should last a few seasons, it's at least as durable as polishing, and a lot less work to redo when needed, let alone keep looking decent.

the castings on mine are horrible,hairline cracks thruout.i stripped them and painted them gloss black.to avoid what racer mentioned,days worth of work with no gaurantee they would look presentable after i was finished.