alright ive recently moved into a newer truck and it needs the wheels and tanks polished something terriable

i just wanted to see what everyones tips and tricks are to get aluminum polished up

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-Ed

I know who you drive for, but I was gonna say go with TMC

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

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Do the aluminum with an acid type cleaner first. It will make the polishing go much easier.

If ya have a few buck$ to blow, take it to the Streakin' Beacon' and have them put "brightener" (acid) on it. Then take a trip to Florida and stop at Wildwood. Next to the Pilot there some good ole boy redneckes who'll put a super shine on that aluminum. 6 wheels and 2 tanks can be had for roughly $150, depending on tanks size and oxidation.

To do it on the cheap yourself, get the magic mix cleaner/polish combo pack.

A buffing wheel that locks into a variable speed drill is your biggest friend.

pay someone to do it

im a sucker for polished tanks and wheels

thats a hell of a good price! i was thinking it would cost at least twice that much

yeah thought about that...i dont mind to work but it seams that it would take a little extra elbow grease

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-Ed

i use turtle wax chrome polish, rags and LOTS of elbow grease. they look pretty good. more like polished aluminum than that mirror finish you get from other methods.

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tip for new truckers: to err is human, to forgive is not D.O.T. policy.

im looking for the mirror look

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-Ed

you can pay $250 or spend a whole weekend doing it yourself. Sorry, my time is worth more plus I hate polishing aluminum. I'll do it but I don't like it.
not to mention covering yourself with aluminum oxide ad breathing that stuff all weekend. Plus you'll still spend a healthy chunk of money of buffer wheels, compound etc

Polishing is an art and it's all trial and error. There is so many different pads out there now and you use a blue pad with tie dye compound and white pad with pink and red pad with green etc etc etc... lol it's enough to mak you pull your hair out.
That said though if it is badly pitted you start with a random orbit (aka DA) sander and 250 grit then 400 grit then get the buffer out and use the brown rouge and then white for mirror finish White really is overkill though. ANd if red isn't enough to take the marks from the sander out then you will need to go to the next coarser rouge. Honestly I forget all the different compounds but the ones you use are green, brown (or dark red), and white. I think green is coarser then brown but I have to check to be sure. And then of course which wheel you use matters too because they have different coursness.
A little trick I use is when you are done buffing it you take some flour and put it on there to dry it out and it helps wipe of the excess