Refinishing Aluminum.

I need to do some polishing on my truck

 

I need to HIRE someone to do some polishing on my truck.

 

good job OP. I hate polishing my truck, but I like the results after I'm done.I still polish my aluminum by hand, I tried using a buffer but just couldn't get the hang of it and ended up leaving swirl marks all over. I drive slow on the gravel and polish at least once a month(more in the winter or during the rainy season) so I haven't had to use a sander yet and can usually do both tanks and the wheels in about 2hrs. My drives and steers are off my old truck and are 9yrs old and are starting to get a few nicks that I can't get out by hand but still look pretty good. The tanks are pretty sandblasted down towards the bottom because the previous owner didn't have any mudflaps on the front, but I think eventually I'm going to put some fairings under along the bottom of the tanks to hide the bad spots. The deer guard is pretty rough in the bumper portion and really needs to be sanded smooth, but I've just been too lazy to do it.
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I was not aware of the green or yellow airway who is the best supplier of airways and compound sticks?

 

You can get them for $10-$15 each off of Amazon and fleabay. The compound bars are on there as well. If you are looking to polish your wheels it can be done in 10 minutes if your not looking for truck show awards.

 

I would rather find a used a used lathe and cut that wheel. Then used the lathe to polish by hand.

 

4 states carries quite a few of the zephyr products and can be bought online.

 

I had a 93 Frtlnr COE that had a huge drom/deck, 2 boxes plus the tanks and wheels. I was bored at home one week and just started polishing. I wish I had an air sander as I did it all by hand. Used a dewalt buffer for the polishing. I went through an 18 pack a day but I had a really good time. The big drom deck was diamond plate and I went through 6 wheels(2 of each type). I wish I had pictures of it when I was done.

 

So now that I see this is back up I will share what I did. (As if you care)

This is an 01 I got in February that along the way someone gave up on polishing.
Heres what it looked like before so you can see its a total revamp for the aluminum to shine.





The pictures are to show how bad the tanks were. The driver side tank was bad and I did replace it with a tank from the same year, so it was just as oxidized. The front rims are there to show the before also.

As a disclaimer; I am not interested in show truck shine, just shinny as you drive by.

First the rims. No sanding, as this was the first thing I tried to polish. I just cleaned the dirt off and then started with the Airway yellow wheel and the red compound. Then the whole thing again with the white cotton wheel and the white compound.



Now the tanks were my first evolution. I decided to go further into it. I first used the die grinder with the scotch bright pads to gouge the bad and deep corrosion crevasses out. This does leave dimples, but I just wanted the tank clear of the corrosion. Then an orbital palm sander with 80 grit. That leaves a nice pure aluminum base. To get rid of the deep scratches of the 80 gr. I went to 220 gr, to smooth. Then yellow airway wheel with red compound brick. To the white cotton wheel with white compound brick.







The end result is nice on the truck. I do have alot more to do yet. The battery covers still need to be done and the rear rims.