[Mark Rowell]

A word of caution. I took succesively lighter sanding paper (started at 200 grit) to the rear wheel of my 1989 GL-1500 to get some pits smoothed out and finished up with rubbing compound to get a fairly decent finish. I didn't really think I went down into the metal that far but aftwards I started leaking air on that wheel. I thought I had picked up a nail (no), gotten some sand in the bead (nope), or just had a bad tire (not that either) and was trying to track it down with a bottle of soapy water. Finally I started squirting the whole rim and got some bubbles forming right where I sanded out the worst of the pitting.

I knew that nothing would work applied to the outside of the wheel so I had the tire demounted and I took the wheel home and applied some Thompsons Water Seal to the inside and let it dry throughly. I had the tire remounted and the wheel never leak again. Not sure if I just got a wheel with a defect in the molding process or if the Honda wheels were just more porus than they should have been. I also can't tell you if Honda wheels manufactured now are the same, better, or worse. The fix is pretty simple so if it does start leaking, it will only be an inconvenience and not a real expensive fix.

Just a word to the wise. Fore warned is fore armed.

Cheers


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