Polishing Aluminum

[LucentTeg]

Hi, I am going to be getting a set of clear coated aluminum rims. The clear coat is damaged and I want to strip them and polish the aluminum underneath.



Does anyone know of any tutorials or how-to pages on the internet for polishing aluminum? Any tricks I can use?



I have a PC random orbital, will that do me any good? If I get fine enough sand paper then move through polishes until I work it to a nice fine polish for a good shine will that work?



Thanks in advance. :nixweiss

[Black240SX]

Aircraft paint remover is the best for removing the clearcoat. I don`t have any tricks for the polishing, though.

[Cork]

Eastwood sells a kit with stripper, various buffing wheels for a drill , and compound. I think their address is www.eastwood.com

[crc32]

This is by a fellow who polishes aluminum motorcycle wheels which should apply to mag wheels:



http://home.sc.rr.com/gameguru/



I have polished lots of aluminum on my motorcycle using similar procedures that he suggests.



Depending on how smooth the raw piece is, I start with 220 and then work my way up through the grits to 2000, all wet, crisscrossing the sanding motions. Mothers Billet Polish works best for me. 220-400-600-800-1000-1500-2000



In the photo, the lower forks had a brushed aluminum finish. Using the steps listed above, they look about 80% like chrome. I seal them with AIO.



http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/196/196560/folders/196583/1615902polishedforks-7-16.JPG

[Way2SSlow]

http://www.impalasuperstore.com/naisso/forum2002/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20868



This is a really old thread, but his results were amazing. Not all the pics work, but the writeup is one of the best that I have ever read. I have a set of stock polished wheels. They are not the easiest thing in the world to maintain. The Powerball is a huge help though.

[imported_Sullybob]

Thanks for the links those are great!

[Arved]

An Introduction to Buffing & Polishing (http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffman.htm) by Caswell Plating (http://www.caswellplating.com/). Be carefull - polishing metal has been found to be addictive.



Best product I`ve found to maintain polished metals is Bom`s Away Metal Polish (http://www.badtothebom.com/id23.htm/). I`ve tried a lot of metal polishes. This is the last one. Satisfied customer for 3 years, with no need of looking any further. Can it get any easier than wipe on, wipe off? I don`t think so.



TwinsDaddy - great job on the fork sliders. I`ve been thinking of doing that to my Aero. The fender`s off as I try to adapt an Indian front fender, so while the front end is torn apart, I may go ahead and polish up the forks. Thanks for the inspiration!

[crc32]

Thanks Arved.



Does the BOM`s metal polish offer any protection to the aluminum? The AIO seems to keep the shine longer than everything else I have tried. I have read that sealants like ZoopSeal dull the finish.... and we can`t let that happen.



Yes, polishing aluminum is addictive, yet not very easy to do. It can be tedious, but the results are worth it to me. I do most of it by hand, but have a bench buffer for tight spots. In my mind, it is a leveling process. Get the metal as smooth (level) as glass and the shine comes right up.



Boz



Forks before and during back when I did them first. I have re-done them again because I missed some corners:

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/196/196560/folders/140200/1451887sidebyside.JPG

[diogenes]

I wanna polish up my 357. itz stainless.



should i use that AOI stuff too, or is there something else I an use to make it shine?



I figure shinyer bullets go faster when they hit the beer cans.

[Bill D]

I just got the entire line up of English Custom Polishes. Apparently one or more of them can tackle just about any metal. I believe whatever parts of my exhaust system that aren`t aluminum are stainless, so next I twist and contort myself under the car I`ll give them a shot.

[admac]

I wanna polish up my 357. itz stainless.



should i use that AOI stuff too, or is there something else I an use to make it shine?



I figure shinyer bullets go faster when they hit the beer cans.

i don`t believe you can polish stainless to the same level of shine as aluminum. i`ve tried with a couple parts. if you can, it takes a lot more force than you can get with a regular buffing wheel.

[diogenes]

i don`t believe you can polish stainless to the same level of shine as aluminum. i`ve tried with a couple parts. if you can, it takes a lot more force than you can get with a regular buffing wheel.



oh man, that`s too bad. I see lots of silver guns in the movies and wanted to make my 357 (it`s aTaurus, a real good one, better than the car) shine like they did.



I have a wire brush that I use on my 4 wheeler in a drill. Doyou think it will make it shine up some if I use it with the AOI?

[admac]

i`m sure any waxing and polishing will shine it up a bit but as far as shining it to a chrome-like finish, i don`t know if that`s doable. aluminum is quite a bit softer and can be polished out fairly easily.

[Arved]

Thanks Arved.



Does the BOM`s metal polish offer any protection to the aluminum? The AIO seems to keep the shine longer than everything else I have tried. I have read that sealants like ZoopSeal dull the finish.... and we can`t let that happen.





BOM claims to have a sealant in it, but to tell the truth, I haven`t found anything that will hold up to Florida`s humidity and temperature ("humiture"). The only chrome on my bike that hasn`t been pitted from rust are the chrome plated plastic peices :(. Colonite glass wax is, arguably, the best wax I`ve found for protecting chrome and polished metals (I think the same wax with a mild abrasive is used for thier metal wax), but that`s splitting hairs. It would be more honest to say "nothing works." Of course, Honda`s micro-thin chrome plating doesn`t help much. I`ve owned 4 Hondas over the last 30 years, and they keep finding ways to make the chrome thinner every model year it seems. I`m no longer as big a fan as I used to be. :angry



The only way I`ll buy another Honda is if they fulfill thier promise to add ABS to all thier street bikes, including the cruisers, and nobody else follows thier lead (actually, BMWs lead). With all the wet we get here in Florida, my next bike`s gonna have ABS.



But I digress....



Take care,

[Way2SSlow]

It might be worth it to just trade yours in at the gun shop for a nickel plated model. I seriously doubt you will get the finish you desire with a wheel and AIO. I`m sure you could look into having your firearm nickel plated, but it`ll probably cost as much as if not more than the gun did. If you do get a nickel plated gun, remember to wipe it down EVERY TIME it`s handled...that`s how you keep them nice. I wipe down all of our guns every time they`re handled...habit I guess. I`ve got an old nickel plated S&W (that actually has belonged to Dad for like 20 years +) that shines like crazy. I like my firearms black though.