Aftermarket look on stock rim

[bertmoog]

I was looking at some circa 2004 models the other day and I thought wow! That silver really pops. I love the flat black on my 07 but its just too much black. For one thing, there's no contrast between the tires and the rims, it's one black blob. So i thought I would borrow from the 04's a little bit and make my rims partly silver, namely the part adjacent to the tire. Here's what I did:
I went to Walmart and got a cheap drill and a 3" wire wheel grinder. I grinded off all the black paint up to the middle. That leaves a nice brushed aluminum look. Then I taped off the the part I just grinded and spray painted it black just to give a defined line. Then I taped off the tire and clear coated the wheel (both brushed aluminum and black parts) with Duplicolor wheel coating. The best part is I didnt even take the wheels off the bike. The picture is not deceiving or altered, it really looks like that. Total time 4 hours. What do you think?

 

[bertmoog]

more pics:

 

[grommit]

I think it looks good. :thumbup:

 

[Nelly]

more pics:

A very clean professional finish. I like it very much.

Nelly

 

[RedRider]

Nicely done, looks orginal:thumbup:

 

[08fz6]

same idea as what i plan to do with mine except i plan to spend many more hours and polish them. will give them an amazing shine!

 

[bertmoog]

same idea as what i plan to do with mine except i plan to spend many more hours and polish them. will give them an amazing shine!

you must post pictures when you complete.

 

[armystrong]

I like it!

 

[Sawblade]

What material are the stock rims actually made of?

 

[stevesnj]

What material are the stock rims actually made of?

I think they are cast magnesium

 

[CHEMIKER]

Looks terrific!

 

[madmanmaigret]

Looks really good!

 

[bikerider]

Thats looks good :rockon:

 

[Doorag]

Good job, those are way cool!

I'd also like to see some done like supermoto wheels with the dual colors. Like this.

 

[AlanB]

Very nice. Not to mention very brave. I'd never have the stones to take a grinder to my wheels! :scared:

 

[bmccrary]

Looks nice, but I definatly would have pulled the wheels off for that job.

For some reason I am having a hard time with the magnesium wheel thing. I dont think they are. Marsuchi's (spelling) are cast mag and are extreamly light and expensive.

-bryan

 

[bertmoog]

I dont have any way to back this but i could have sworn i read somewhere that they were aluminum alloy. At any rate, I'm fairly sure that they are the same wheel as on the R6. On all the websites i looked at, the only thing it says is "lightweight, r6 type wheel".

Thank you for the compliments guys. I did this previously on a kawi ex500. come to think of it, it seems like this was basically the same material as on that bike.

 

[bmccrary]

I dont have any way to back this but i could have sworn i read somewhere that they were aluminum alloy. At any rate, I'm fairly sure that they are the same wheel as on the R6. On all the websites i looked at, the only thing it says is "lightweight, r6 type wheel".

Thank you for the compliments guys. I did this previously on a kawi ex500. come to think of it, it seems like this was basically the same material as on that bike.

Yea everywhere I looked it was "R6 type wheel"

-bryan

 

[wrightme43]

There is another way to do this.

I did it to my ninja wheels.

Remove wheel tape off partition line, and tape around the tire, apply aircraft paint remover and wait 5 mins, apply again and wait a few minutes. Then scrub off paint with steel wool, then polish with buffer and compound.

It looks good, but if you dont keep it waxed or clearcoat it, the alum will oxidise pretty quickly.

 

[bertmoog]

that's why i said in my initial post that i clearcoated it.
i recently read something about applying the solvent, that would have made it a lot easier! i didnt think it would work that well on the powder coating, plus, what would do to the tire if some got on it? oh well, next fz6 i get, i'll try it.:thumbup: