I recently purchased an Infiniti FX35 with aluminum roof rails and there are a bunch of water spots. Nothing seems to get these off. Any thoughts on what I should try?
I've tried various waxes, all non abrasive, I have not tried any metal polish (I'm a little cautious as I don't want to use something that is going to damage them). I will try your recommendation. Thanks.
Well waxes will not do anything really. You will need to try a polish or something like AIO. There are some aluminum safe metal polishes, I think the NXT metal is one of them.
I never really noticed the aluminum rails on the FX. Post a pic if you can. Are they shiny or dull? But I would first try some AIO or polish. Lets see what others say about the metal polish.
those rails are brushed aluminum (i have them on my fx). i think they might be coated with something though because they haven't suffered normal aluminum corrosion on my car and i live 2 blocks from the beach.
Found a product called Luster Lace (stated it could be used on aluminum) - this got off the water marks but there are still white spots that did not come off. I'm not sure exactly what those spots are but the rails defnitely look better.
I now know that Luster Lace works...the problem with this product is it is best used for smaller cylinder shaped items (it is actually like a ribbon and you wrap it around the area you are polishing and just pull back and forth). I just purchased some new aluminum polish that is more of a paste/liquid. My assumption is any aluminum polish is going to do the trick. Still need to figure out the white spots though - haven't been able to remove these yet.
Here is a pic of the rails after polishing, I only did the part that connects to the roof. You can see the water spots on the rest of the rail to the left. Notice the white spots. I am not sure what these are or how to get them off.