Polishing fuel tanks!!!

I have a squirt bottle of mineral spirits. Spritz a little bit on while you're polishing, it minimizes the residue & seems to make the compound cut a bit better.

 

Which type of residue? From hand polish or machine?

If it's from hand polish, you have to make sure the aluminum is cool and not in the sun and you wont have that problem.

If it is little spots, it's probably a pit and mineral spirits and a tooth brush will work (or the lighter fluid)

Machine, I use mineral spirits for the heavy stuff before the hand buff.

I also found after polishing with tripoli and a yellow wheel on the tanks, I switch to a white wheel and no rouge and go over the tank. This eliminates the need for final hand buff.

 

Use Billet polish as the final polish, really makes them "Pop". You can use American Wheel Wax to help protect the aluminum.

 

Mine are old and a little pitted should I sand them first ?

 

You could sand them if you want "show quality" results. Even if you didn't they'll still look great with a cut and polish (machine), they worst you'll have to deal with is the polish residue building up in the pits and causing "comets" while your polishing. Comets happen when the machine wheel drags the built up residue in the pits out and forms a bit of a small tail like a comet. They are usually removed with the final hand polish.