Taking aluminum to autopian standard?

Todd@RUPES

Todd@RUPES

Just a regular guy
I have a muffler and tail pipes at my house from a Ferrari 360, which I believe is aluminum.



I was goofing off with polishing it yesterday by using Menz Power Gloss on an orange pad and Menz PO85u on finishing wool, hand polishg with mother's mag and aluminum polish. The result is very very shiney (though I think it could be more).



If you wanted to refinish aluminum to autopian paint standards and go for maximum gloss, what products would be recommened. I used some English Custom polishes in the past, and while they looked great I don't think they would have produced a much higher or "darker" shine then did using traditional polishing compounds.



Ideas, exchange of the thought, or experience would be super appericated. Thanks guys!



Todd
 
Also, do any companies make metal polishes or particular pads. (I know wolfgang/pbm) does but is there a menzerna of the metal polishing world?



I really want to start bring the metal of the cars I work on to perfection as well. Thanks in advance.



(I will post pictures of the muffler in a minute),
 
I just got some of the English Custom polishes as well Todd. I was pretty impressed with them but not blown away. I think you can do just as well with some of the other readily available metal polishes (Wenol, Impressive Reflections, Mothers Billet, Simichrome, etc)



Looking forward to some pictures of the exhaust...
 
I use to do some aluminum polishing with metal compounds and polishes that come in bars and use with Buffing Wheels and Mushroom Buffing Wheels. I hoped this might help you out Todd.
 
Todd: for aluminum, I typically start with an aggressive polish like Simichrome and a sewn cotton buffing wheel attachment for a drill. (this process is for smooth metals. for "as cast"...you need to use a sanding wheel).



I get the finish in the condition I want, then move to English Custom with another clean buffing wheel. Following that, I use Meguiar's NXT Metal Polysh and another cotton buffing wheel. Mother's Billet Creme works well as a final step.



My Team III wheels



Team3Wheels.jpg




For harder metals like stainless, I start with Simichrome and 1,500 grit paper and work my way to 2000 grit. Then use the buffing wheels similar to above.



Stainless SLP Exhaust



SLPmirrorFinished_Large.jpg




SLP_Installed.jpg




Finally, are you sure the exhaust is aluminum? Generally that metal is a poor choice for exhaust due to the corrosive action and heat of exhaust systems.



Toto
 
Pretty sure it is aluminum Toto, thanks for the great response.



I would imagine that with metal what is used to cut and refine the finish isn't as important as the finishing steps. I was out in the garage working out a few things and trying to teach myself and came up with pretty good results.



One thing I noticed as a haze in the aluminum, even when polished, so I went back over my steps and tested on each rib of the muffler until I got the best results.



So far my best process is



Menz PO91E (powergloss) on a wool pad at 1800 RPM x 4-5 passes to remove deeper scratches



Menz PO91E (IP) on an orange lake country pad x 2 at 1500 (using very little polish the second time)



Menz PO85u (MicroPolish) on a lake country blue pad at 1200 rpm



Mother Mag and Aluminum polish as a finisher.



All the defects and swirls came out (as did the hazing, the finish is much deeper now) but I am wondering if a dedicated metal polish can provide better results, at least as a finish step to get maximum refinement out of the metal.



The right side is my previous best, while the left side a before.



a001-3.jpg




From the results last night, even though the improvement was signifcant, it still wasn't great.



a002.jpg




It did have a nice shine though



a003-2.jpg




Much like polishing a paint and going from compound to final polish you can still have a haze because the final polish didn't do the job correctly. So I added a middle step of IP on an orange pad and started the processes with Powergloss on the wool pad. The results where very good, but I wonder if more is left.



a008-1.jpg




a009-1-1.jpg




a009-1.jpg




Here the tail pipe (the top one). It is a little harder to see the difference because the polished pipe is actually reflecting the unpolished pipe (making it appear brown).



a010-1-1.jpg




a010-1.jpg
 
Have you tried playing around with the last polish, replacing mother's mag? Adam's #1 & #2 with the right buffing tools/materials are good. Think it all varies with metal type, application style (mostly not hand for deteriorated metals).
 
I have to agree with Toto that on GP's I would expect the exhaust to be stainless, and from the pictures I would say that it is. Aluminum looks more "white".
 
The key to getting metal to really shine is sanding. Metal shows minor scratches and is tougher to fill than paint. Starting with 1500grit and going as high as you can stand and/or find is the best option. Once it looks like you have all the micro scratches out clean with a solvent such as laquer thinner. A couple wipes and you should be getting no more black off. Once that's done I have had good luck with various metal polishes. If the piece is not going to be heated you can get some good results with your normal polish and wax routine. Something with some fillers like Meg's #9 is a good choice as it will give that last little bit of pop.
 
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