aluminum polishing on a timing cover

[superchargedg]

hey im def a newbie,just signed up today.ive got a question,i have a 03 g35 coupe and my aluminum timing cover is stained.do you have any suggestions on how to clean it up.im not looking to make brilliant shine,but just get it to sparkle a little bit,thanks.

[cj99si]

post a pic.

[superchargedg]

sorry i dont have a scanner or digital camera.but it has discolored to a darkish grey color.and also what looks like salt corrosion.

[sspeer]

just pick up something like mothers or nxt polysh and work at it.

Or try my new favorite metal polish..Mr. Buffer..about the easist thing I've used...made my aluminum parts on my bike about as shiny as the chrome

[Diesel1]

I hear you man! Same problem here. The difficulty is getting the space to polish it. I have seen plenty of covers sent to polishing shops and they come back better then chrome. Now the maintence on the other hand is a PITA!!! Too many tight places on that cover to really maintain unless you get it cleared after polishing.

If you just wanna clean it up and not "polish" it, I would go by what was mentioned above, but it will only happen again! It's def a tough area to get totally clean!

[superchargedg]

yea i figured as much,but i was thinking the mini powerball might work just dunno.i dont want it polished just cleaned up a bit cause it looks like crap.

[White95Max]

I assume it looks something like this, only not quite as severe?


That spot was polished many times with Mothers mag/aluminum polish and a cotton towel, by hand. I was able to do the same thing with the timing chain cover on my Maxima.

After probably 8 hours of polishing the valve cover, I've got it to this point...

[superchargedg]

yea exactly like that and you did a sweet job on that v/c cover,well im gonna try the mini powerball and hope.