Questions about Aluminum Polishing

Sand it by hand not a DA sander. If you want a really good shine after the 400 go to the 600, 800, then 1000 grit wetsand.

 

Personally I would use the DA,it's faster and sands more evenly and any of the polishers that have workrd on my truck use them on parts that are pitted.I would hate to have tried to hand sand my oil pan for polishing.The grit you need to used will depend on how badly the parts are pitted.

 

Thanks for the advice. I tried the D-A tonight when I got home with some 400 and followed it up with scotchbrite on the junk fuel tank I have. Its in worse shape than my grille surround is. After hitting it with the buffer and red compound, it looks amazing. I am going to try the same thing on my truck hopefully Saturday if I have time before I head back out.

 

Something else I should have added was that washing the part with brightener will help give you a much clearer finish,as it will clean away soap,wax and general road gime that can be trapped in the pours of the aluminium.

 

Got a newer truck. I want polish up the aluminum, any suggestions on a brand that will bring it back to life?? Someone told me baking soda and water will make shine real nice. Anyone ever try this???

 

try metal masters easy cut and final shine check out the site ultashine.us

 

Pick a metal polish, before that , use gasoline to clean and open the pors with a clean towel/rag. Use your metal polish and rub, you don't need much, the more friction the better, then when it turns black, use a clean cloth and put CORN STARCH on it and it will wipe the black polish with ease.

 

Don't light up or the only polishing you'll be doing is the pearly gates!

 

Their lying to you. Polish has to abrasive to take off a layer of metal and their almost all the same. The only way to polish without breaking a sweat is to pay someone else to do it. Tell whoever told you to do that you "heard from a guy who was friends with a guy" that if you mixed hangover pee with the blood of a baby seal and rubbed it in with human skin it made it shine real nice.

Aluminum brightener works great, cleans, brightens, non flammable.....almost like it was made for it.

 

I never tried it on a big rig, but on my 4-wheeler I used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and it cut through brake dust like it was nothing. Not sure how well it would work for what you're looking to do, but they're not that expensive, and even if they don't work for your wheels, they're the best thing I've seen for any other hard surface cleaning you might need to do.