painting spoked rims but there is surface rust on spokes

[nimh2600]

So there is a fair amount of rust on the spokes and scrubbing with wd40 and steal wool is not working to well would it be bad to paint over ?

 

[nrcb125]

Yes. You need to remove all the rust before painting. A few more inexpensive things to try might be naval jelly or a wire wheel. Good luck!

 

[Sonreir]

Wire wheel takes a few hours, but it's hard to argue with the results.

 

[plagrone]

I used a cheap bench grinder with a wire wheel attachment. Worked pretty well

 

[DesertKZ]

Step up to a more coarse steel wool, and use metal polish. If the metal is too deeply pitted you may have to start using sandpaper.

 

[hillsy]

If the spokes have deep pitting you would probably want to think about replacing them.


I have no idea how "bad" they have to be before they fail, but wheel integrity is pretty important IMO.