Questions about Aluminum Polishing

Thanks Northern Flight, appreciate the comment on our truck, it did take a fair bit more then we had anticipated but i am very pleased with it after the paint job. I was hoping to find something like a pad to give it a quick clean just to keep them shining all the time, Quater or Nevr Dull sounded like it would be perfect, fast and simple, hope someone can give me an idea where to buy it. Is Nu Finish polish a cream or paste? Just driving it home it got a little light road spray and you can see the finish getting a haze on it already this is why i thought if i got a cleaning pad and wiped it then it would clean and polish and protect it, thanks.

 

I seen nevr dull at canadian tire but the other stuff i dont know.The stuff im using is a paste but you can get it in liquid too.My wife is reading a book and im cooking dinner and im going back and fourth here LOL

 

never dull is good and it's been around a LONG time. I think that is the one where it's like a cotton pad wound up in the can and you just pull out a bit and rip it off and us it.
You can find a plethora of polishing products at truck stops. My local farm an fleet up north even carried ever dull. Mothers works okay but I feel it leaves some scratches, others seem to like it. You can find that anywhere, even walmart carries it.
If you want to keep it up by hand you will have to do the whole truck every month. if it gets much further out then that you ill be pulling out the buffer to get your shine back. You can do a bit each weekend or something, as long as you touch every part once a month.
I could buy a house for what I'v spent on different polishes over the years. It's trial and error to find what you like and toss the rest.

Personally I don't use any of them, I use jewlers rough and a buffer. I'm lazy and I hate to polish. You polish for an hour and you will be head to toe black aluminum oxide. I do it mabey three times a year, two when I was up north. Once in the spring and again lightly in later sumer. If you don't let the truck washes wash your truck and do it yourself by hand your shine will last a long time. If you use beacon then you shine will last untill your net trip to the beacon. Oh, and if you do go there just telling them not to use brightner isn't enough. you have to tell them to cover the aluminum, that's what the blue mats hanging on the wall are for. Then you have to stay on there butts to rinse the heck out of the underside before they try to take them off

 

Has anyone else ever tried putting wax on polished rims. I did some on some satin finsih rims, gave them a good scrubbing and got a bit of shine by hand and applied wax to them and after a couple years still look good, was hoping the polished rims would work the same.

 

Our truck never gets any further then 50 miles from home and the only washes it gets is by hand here on the farm and it never gets used in the winter time either, sits in the shop all winter which helps keep it so much better. If it shines reasonable well for a couple years i might just do what a buddy of mine did and take the truck in to a place near here, they remove the wheels and dismount then a machine polishes them, $100.00 a piece and they come back looking like a mirror, i hate polishing too. I was kind of hoping something like the Nevr Dull would be a simple quicky to keep it nice and hoping easy to use too, would it wipe on and then wipe off, if so thats what i was hoping for.

 

Get you a green bar of jewelers rouge and mineral spirits....cut it into real small pieces and put it in a CLEAN half gallon milk jug......cover it with mineral spirits to where the mix is about 40% rouge/ 60% mineral spirits and let it sit overnight..shake it up good the next day..wipe it on in small patches let it sit a minute or so and then hand buff it with terry cloth.I would NOT do this on any aluminum that has clear coat or any kind of sealer on it.Also do you a test spot like backside of tank to check it out first. You can also do a google search for Moonshine polish and theres a forum started with some pretty wild recipes.Just avoid the ones that have anything to do with heating the compounds on a stove or heating source of any kind,thats assinine.

 

I have not seen any Quater (Water) around for several years now.I used to be sold in tins ( looked exactly like a band-aid can).You would unroll a piece of the pink,great smelling,soaked cotteny material.Rub for 20 miutes with a piece the size of your thumb.I even had the applicator pad.It used 3 pieces laid in the foam pad.used low speed 1/4" drill.The "Black Stuff" would oze out like hot butter.I have never found Neverdull up to the job,Big truck wise.A couple other pointers I have not noticed and worth mention is the use of WD-40 (keeps the paste from drying up so fast),Clindo (aerosol glass cleaner),and throwing flour,powder,ect on towels to remove "Black Stuff" .Waxes,Sealers? Go-For it! I like to think of it like brusing your teeth.Its more important that you do-it,Than what kind of paste you using.Keep'it Kleen!

 

Had a buddy of mine brew up a pot of stuff on his kitchen stove, if i remember right one of the ingredients was ammonia. Besides making one heck of a mess, the smell was nauseating. Then his better half came home, thats when the #### hit the fan. After all that it didn't even work. I been using the blue magic with a hi speed buffer and get good results. Don't let'em go to long, i do mine at least four times a year.

 

You know that would have to hurt your lungs pretty bad too.

 

There is a product called Zoop, it's expensive but after you buff the aluminum you put it on (it's clear liquid) and it seals it. the shine will last 5 times as long but like I said it's expensive. We have used it on polished aluminum intake manifolds where it's just so hard to polish it since it invlse removing it from the motor. google it