The Honda Owners Club

by **Straightsix** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:00 pm

Hello

Just wondering whether anyone can offer advice on restoration of Comstar wheels.

I know Honda always said they could never be dismantled (or repaired) however mine
has corroded bolts (which I would like to remove to have re zinc plated) and the rims
themselves are faded and or scratched. Thing is, no one can tell me the torque setting
for these bolts which may be the type you can only tighten once, and I am of course
wary for safety reasons. I was even willing to maybe just remove 3-4 at a time to ensure
the wheels integrity is retained but I really dont want to cause a safety issue whilst I am
riding.

In terms of restoration of the alloy, I have heard you should start with say 120 grade
wet and dry (wet) and progressively work down to 2000 grade to achieve the anodized finish,
same goes for engine casings...

Thanks for any advice

Andy C

by **Witchmaster** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:26 pm

Hi Andy and welcome to the forum,

When you talk about the wheel restoration are you talking about the rims of the wheels or the spokes?
If you are talking about the rims I wouldn't go near them with anything as course as 120 wet and dry.

If they have scratches then these can be sanded out then polished up .... Hard Work on my 1979 CB750KZ
I just used Autosol with a buffing head in my drill. Take a look at the pics in "Me and My Bike" here on the forum.

Cheers Witch

by **Straightsix** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:08 pm

Thanks Witch

I need to deal with scratches on rim and spokes.

I wouldnt start with 120 maybe 400 as 120 may be too extreme as you say.

Buffing wheel would be difficult to get an even finish surely.

Did you achieve the same anodized finish or are they now super polished ?

What about the bolts, can I remove them safely for re zinc plating ?

Thanks

Andy C

by **Witchmaster** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:27 pm

Hi Andy

As my wheels were in really good condition to start with they are just super polished ( Ihave only done the front one as yet and I took it off the bike to do it and removed the disks I found no problem using a polishing/buffing wheel on it ... the spokes had been painted and I removed this using the finest grade of wire wool before buffing ... I didn't do the insides of the spokes however just washed them.
Use a Dremmel or similar for getting to difficult to reach parts and a series of different size brushes for washing.
The bolts I treated with "Hammerite Kurust" with does not look original but turns them blackish and puts a silk finish on them (I personaly like the way they look now) , I could imagine that removing the bolts one at a time and replacing them with new ones being the best solution, but I too would be very wary of doing this as the trim of the wheel may be affected if the torques are not mached exactly I therefore opted to leave this alone.

Cheers Witch

by **Red V Four** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:41 pm

No way can you dismantle a Comstar wheel. Well, you can but you won't be able to put it together again. At the rim end of the spokes are rivets (of sorts), and the 'bolts' you mention, have you actually looked at the 'bolt heads' ? No spanner will fit these properly, as they are not hex heads, or like anything I have seen before. They are listed, along with the corresponding nuts, in parts books, but not as standard 'nuts and bolts', they have special part numbers. Must be a special tool to tighten them too. (At least, they are listed for my CX500B, with 'reversed' Comstars, as they call them). The rivets at the rims are also not available as replacement parts. So I think all you can do is clean them up as best you can.

Been polishing up some alloy today myself (cam covers). 120 grit would only be any use to remove serious corrosion, but will create deep scratches. You'll probably make it worse than it was before. Try 600 or 800 grit maybe to start, but it depends on how deep those scratches are. Finish up with 1000 or 1200 grit (with oil or water to lubricate) then polish with Solvol or Belgom Alu.

by **Witchmaster** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:26 pm

I agree with Red V Four although 400 git would do for a start if there any deep scratches and then work through 600, 800, 1000 ... and I have some very difficult to get hold of poishing emery cloths that go from 400 grit up to 12000......yes no typing error 12000.

Cheers Witch

by **Chimp Boy** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:06 pm

I don't have too much problem polishing parts up and I've used 80 grit on a sander to remove deep scratches before moving on to finer grades before ending up on the polishing machine which we have in the workshop.

Here's a 750 timing cover that had some really deep scratches on it that had a quick polish up.

: IMG_0001.jpg (21.48 KB) Viewed 138 times

You can get Comstar wheels professionally rebuilt, repaired, straightened and polished if you want, which means you can do it yourself if you know what you are doing.

Regards

Chimpy

by **Red V Four** on Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:48 pm

Chimp Boy wrote:I don't have too much problem polishing parts up and I've used 80 grit on a sander to remove deep scratches before moving on to finer grades before ending up on the polishing machine which we have in the workshop.
You can get Comstar wheels professionally rebuilt, repaired, straightened and polished if you want, which means you can do it yourself if you know what you are doing.
Regards
Chimpy

I was doing polishing by hand, and 80 grit would have been far too coarse for what I wanted to do, as it would have left too many scratches in the alloy, or even worn away any cast-in detail. I started removing mild corrosion with 400 grit, but even that left fine scratches, so I then used 800, then 1200 (wet), then metal polish. As I haven't got a polishing machine, and don't really need one, I feel I got a reasonably satisfactory finish by hand.

As to the Comstars, as it appears a special tool is required for the 'bolts' it's probably not a good idea to 'try it at home'.
And the 'rivets' ?
Hagon (among others?) do Comstar wheel repairs, so they probably dismantle and reassemble them too. They should know what they are doing, mind! Don't know if they refinish them, though.

by **2 Strokes** on Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:11 am

Chimp Boy wrote:You can get Comstar wheels professionally rebuilt, repaired, straightened and polished if you want, which means you can do it yourself if you know what you are doing.

Yep, I'd agree with you there Chimpy.

The RS500 came with two rims, and one set of spokes. You just changed the rim to suit the tyre you wanted to run. It's almost impossible to assemble the wheel incorrectly, as the "spokes" are all cranked, so it's pretty obvious if they're wrong. All I would say is use aircraft quality fixings, and torque to suit. Then keep checking them periodically. Don't forget that Honda designed Comstars to be maintenance free, and to last the life of the bike.

They didn't factor in people who want to carry out resoration work on bikes long after their sell by date..

Just a thought, but once the wheel is in component form, it should be easy enough to have it clear anodised, which will give you back the original factory finish, and provide weather protection, so you won't need to constantly polish the alloy..

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