Aluminum polishing...

SpecOpsScout

Registered
Hey Folks,
Unfortunately, my bike currently lives outside, under a waterproof, but breathable cover. As a result, my wheels, swing arm and some other odd parts, have taken on that dullish, cloudy appearance, and in some spots a slightly rough texture, after the long winters rest.
I bought one of the Mothers Mini Powerballs that hooks to a hand drill and have been attempting a true cleaning with Mothers Chrome and Metal polish. I spent a few hours just cleaning one side of my rear wheel. It's about seventy five percent done, and while it's getting some of the true mirror shine back, it's very very slow going...
I'm really hoping someone has a better, faster, and more time efficient method of cleaning the bike. I have been offered a garage for next winter's storage, so that will hopefully preclude this issue next summer.
Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully,
Harry
 
I have had the great fortune (if you want to call it that) of taking regular aluminum to "polished"... nothing easy or clean about it at all....
Those polishing balls work best for "maintaining" the finish, not getting it back, they are not very aggressive is all. Same with that ammonia based metal polish, it is for stuff that is already shiny and just needs touched up or maintained.. (great for that)

Honesty the best thing I found was a large cloth polishing wheel (they are about 1" thick, and about 10" diameter) and they hook to a regular disk grinder (or bench grinder)...

Raw aluminum needs sanded first (wet is best to keep grit out, the grit ruins your life) I started with an 800 wet/dry and worked to a 2000 wet/dry and then proceeded with my cloth wheel on the grinder with 2 sticks of polishing rouge..

Eastwood has good supplies Here

get some good latex gloves and good dust masks (respirator if you can afford it) because that crud gets friggen everywhere.. I hate it... I now powder coat everything...
 
I have polished a lot of aluminum. It is satisfying when it is done, but it oxidizes very quickly and is a high maintenance activity to maintain it. I have gone the chrome route for a lot of my parts now.

One thing health wise: they have found that Alzheimer's patients have a high concentration of aluminum in their brains. They are guessing it is from aluminum cookware, or deodorant spray depositing the metal in the body. Take care and wear a mask, and clean up the dust.

Joke for the day:
I think I have Alzheimer's, but I can't remember if I am getting treated for it.


Here are a couple of other articles:

http://www.englishcustompolishing.com/eneu/powerbuffing.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3825/is_200209/ai_n9123869

And some on how to do wheels (the info is the same for other aluminum parts)

http://www.englishcustompolishing.com/eneu/aluminum1.html

http://www.s10forum.com/how_to_polish_aluminum_wheels

http://www.superchevy.com/technic....lpolish

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techart....r-4.htm

Good luck!
 
The outcome of the polishing is all in the sanding part,cut with some 1200,1500,2000 then finish with 2500 and you can hand polish it to a mirror..

img_0412.jpg
 
just go over it with fine sandpaper(wet sand) as alot of people said. then polish it. The shine will come back better than ever.
 
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