Polishing Metal - Help me Refine my process

[chefwong]

Polishing Aluminum is a chore.....
The product is generally a mix of solvent and abrasives.

I generally go a 1st round which gets the oxidations off unpolished aluminum. and the piece of cloth gets dirty quick. I continue polishing till the solvent get's close to dry or the cloth just get's too dark.

I switch cloths and rub again till I get NO more oxidation on the cloth.
If the cloth is not too dirty, I'll readd some more polish at this point to get the aluminum even more mirror finish.

I litterally repeat these steps over, and over and over, till I get my desired results.
I have a contining bagfull of old cottoen t shirts meant for this grunt work.


Just curious is there a better approach to this !
I'm really loving the Heavy Metal Polishes.

I've also found that metal is (absorbic). After high polishing, if I get even the slightest water on them, the metal will *absorb* and the mirror polish will haze up. Even chasing it with a cloth to dry doesn't help.

However, if it's left to set........the oils in the polish do form a coating of some sorts...

[blucpe]

my heart goes out to you bro, i've got aluminum wheels to but i use zephyr pro40 on mine with my mini power ball or cotton bob and it really cuts down on the elbow grease. also try dipping a microfiber towel into some baking soda to take all the black off the wheel trust me this work great at removing the black stuff wth absolutly no smearing.

[Coupe]

mothers power ball mini, nuf said

[chefwong]

I can't use a PB. The centers are cleared but the wheel halves are not.

[mikebai1990]

Wait.. But what's the difference whether it's clearcoated or not? You're still using the same polish, except you're using the powerball to do the hard work for you. Am I missing something?

[chefwong]

At $1500 a wheel (HRE), there is too much at risk and the accuracy/detail of only touching UNCOATED aluminum as opposed to clear coated with a tool like that is not even an option.