While I wait for the steering head bearings and the tools to complete the job, I'll go ahead and inspect and clean all the parts from the front end, starting with the wheel.
At first glance, the wheel doesn't look so bad, but if you take a closer look, it is really grimy. There are spider webs, old spider egg sacks, dirt, grease, and oxidation. Thick aluminum oxide.
I was looking for ways to clean up aluminum and I saw an old crackpot on youtube, who demonstrated how he uses Marvel Mystery Oil to remove aluminum oxide. That dude loved the stuff. He was just about bathing in it! Just rubbing it all over the place with bare hands. It looked pretty good in his video, and I saw the stuff in the auto parts store, so I grabbed a bottle - and some thick nitrile gloves to keep it off my tender, soft hands.
I re-purposed a brown paper bag, and opened it up to cover up my garage floor. I also used a couple of 2x4's to lift the wheel and make sure the brake disc doesn't get warped.
I then I liberally applied the Marvel Mystery Oil using an old shop rag. I was fairly impressed - it definitely cut through all of the dirt and grime, and took a big bite out of the aluminum oxide. That was only rubbing it with a rag.
Next, with the oil still on the wheel, I used a brass brush. That really cut through the aluminum oxide and cleaned the wheel up really well.
To get all that oil off the wheel, I used some good old Simple Green with a nylon brush, which cut away all the dirt and oil, leaving the aluminum rim squeaky clean. After a good wipe down with a microfiber cloth, the rim was really looking good!
Quite remarkable, really.
To finish it all off, I used some tire cleaner to clean and rejuvenate the rubber.
Again, what a transformation!
It hardly looks like the same wheel!
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