Trying To Get Started Polishing Aluminum

[longislandwrx]

I've never been into anything polished before, and after picking up lower control arms and lateral links and seeing how much road grime sticks to them I am considering polishing them. How do I get started with minimal cash investment in case i'm not happy with the results? Does anyone make a cheap starter polishing kit? Just looking to make the parts easier to clean, not necessarily a show car finish.

thanks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/14-piece-aluminum-polishing-kit-98707.html

[fastthings]

I use acid, Alumi Bright, from NAPA. Makes that aluminum clean. You can hit it with a wire wheel, scuff pad, what ever you want to give the finnish you like. Then clear it with shaky can paint. I been doing that for over 10 years, works good, you can use a wash mit with soap to clean them.

Or you could pollish, and we know it looks good, but lots of maintenance.

Gene

[Turboguy]

As someone who spent a LOT of time polishing panels for his MK3 Cobra build, I would offer this piece of advice:


Pay someone else to do it.


It's dirty, and very hard work with "DIY" tools. Hunt down someone who polishes tractor trailers/tankers for a living and cut a deal. What -literally- will take you 30 or 40 hours to do (and only for a halfway decent job) they can do in an afternoon. An added plus is that these guys are mobile businesses meaning they can come to your place and do the work if you so choose.

[RM1SepEx]

Eastwood sells kits with the various compounds etc...

It is a ton of work & PITA

[skullandbones]

Hi Longislandwrx,

I would give up on the idea of a cheap starter kit if I were you. Here's the reason why from experience. The process is really labor intense and the products you use to perform the task are likely to wear out before you get started well. I have a shelf full of them! The one thing I did do was get a decent dedicated polisher on a stand. I also have a hand polisher. I will eventually get back to the process after I license my roadster but for now it's on hold. You might get by with the minimal cleanup of the aluminum with a less expensive kit but to get real mirror polish, you have to work you a** off. To give you an example, I would rather port heads than try to polish aluminum. Another thing I found was that you can contaminate the surface when you use the wrong stuff such as a wire wheel. It's like using brass scuff pad instead of steel wool to keep from impregnating foriegn particles into the surface that will rust or discolor. Speaking of discoloring: even the type of clear you use can discolor the nice polished surface of the aluminum so you need to to a test patch to check that out. As mentioned above, PITA! Good luck, WEK.

[longislandwrx]

Sounds like i'll just call the pros. I have two companies near work that do it. I'll bring the pieces down for an estimate... I'll let you know what they say and if its worth doing myself at that point.

[Nuul]

I've never been into anything polished before, and after picking up lower control arms and lateral links and seeing how much road grime sticks to them I am considering polishing them. How do I get started with minimal cash investment in case i'm not happy with the results? Does anyone make a cheap starter polishing kit? Just looking to make the parts easier to clean, not necessarily a show car finish.

thanks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/14-piece-aluminum-polishing-kit-98707.html

Oh you just haaaaad to link to harbor freight didn't you. That place is my crack-house, I can't go anywhere near it without buying something. *Twitch* must. use. 20% off. coupon.

[longislandwrx]

Yeah that was my original plan, that kit plus a 6" buffing wheel for my grinder and some 1000/2000 sand paper. about $30 for everything

[skullandbones]

Hey, I forgot to mention that the type of alloy you work on is also a major factor in how the process goes. The techniques I used for a flat peice of one type of aluminum was nothing like trying to polish an intake manifold. I think what you mentioned about the control arms is more like the manifold. So the brass wire brush and elbow grease will probably produce a presentable yet not show car result. So far I haven't found an abrasive rouge that is very effective (rough enough) for these items after you get it to the presentable stage. You know, so you could really make it shine and then use the finer rouges for the final step. Most of the kits are for starting with a relatively smooth surface.

[Xusia]

If the point is easy cleaning, why not sand blast and powder coat in black?

[longislandwrx]

Because the bushings are all pressed in, that would require removing them all, powder coating and replacing them. polishing I can do with the bushings installed already.

[David Hodgkins]

I used Nuvite. 3 different compounds, at least a half dozen pads and ruined a perfectly good Milwaukee drill, But my aluminum shines up real purdy. I buff it out once-a-year for the HB show.

Here's my polished trunk last year:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10786&d=1342915656

It doesn't look that good now! I'll have to polish it up again (can be done by hand) for this year's show.

I have a thread on how I did it on the other forum, and I might have re-posted it here already; I'll have to look it up.

Like I said, it's really nice when it is all shined up, but it take a ton of work to get the raw (these panels are not cladded) panel to a clean shine!

Going through the process gives you a lot more respect for the look when you see it on other's cars.

:)

[Vman7]

The reason it takes so long and hard work to get the alum to a high polished look, is that the alum becomes oxidised, more oxidation the more work to pull the oxidation out of the alum. My Dad used to sell rustproofing chemicals to companies. He had a warehouse full of 55gal drums with all kinds of different chemicals, some liquid, some powder.

Back in the early 80s we had a jetboat with an alum bellhousing, we cut down a plastic drum to fit the bellhousing in, put water in then some kind of powder which pulled the oxidation out of the alum. Had to wear rubber gloves and a face mask. The water solution was steaming and bubbling. We let it sit in that solution for a few hr.s, pulled the bellhousing out. The alum. bellhousing was all black from pulling out all the oxidation, rinsed off with a hose. The bellhousing was still dull, but all the oxidation was out of it. Then I just took rubbing and polishing compound to it using a drill with a polishing pad and some hand rubbing here and there, hand buffed it with a buffing cloth and it looked like chrome. The whole thing was done in a day, and that wasn't the polishing part, it was waiting for the solution to work.
If my Dad was still alive I could have asked him just what to use, now I have no idea, but I am sure there is something out there.

David

[Mechie3]

Here's an interesting idea for smaller parts:

http://www.jurai.net/~winter/tumbler/tumbler.html

[bromikl]

Ha! he spent all that time and effort to save.... Wait for it.... $11.00.

And he still needed to buy the polishing medium.






<-- Sounds like something I would do!! :D





.

[Mechie3]

Depends on the size of the bowl. HF has a large and small size. From what I found, the large size (@$160) had good reviews except you can't find replacement bowls. The smaller one didn't have great reviews. I plan to build my own, but I can get all the materials for free from the scrap pile at work.

[longislandwrx]

Ha! he spent all that time and effort to save.... Wait for it.... $11.00.

I noticed that too. I may just buy one, will be nice for cleaning up bolts.


The recent reviews on the $60 have all been great... maybe they fixed the problems.

[Mechie3]

I bought the small harbor freight one yesterday. Normally $100, tag on the shelf said $100, online price was $55, rang up at $55, and they let me used the 25% off coupon on it. Total price ended up being $41 before tax. Tumbled some nuts yesterday with the HF rust cutting resin. It worked pretty well. Brought it to work today and put more stuff in it, we'll see how it looks later.

[longislandwrx]

not a bad deal. throw your lateral link bolts in there see how they look!

[Nuul]

I bought the small harbor freight one yesterday. Normally $100, tag on the shelf said $100, online price was $55, rang up at $55, and they let me used the 25% off coupon on it. Total price ended up being $41 before tax. Tumbled some nuts yesterday with the HF rust cutting resin. It worked pretty well. Brought it to work today and put more stuff in it, we'll see how it looks later.

Are you talking about the shaker that you put the resin cube stuff in? I was looking at that on Saturday when I was in there.

[longislandwrx]

yes. I get the ads but never the 25% off coupon... where do you get them?

[Nuul]

I've never gotten a 25% but I get a lot of 20% off ones. I typically get mine from those junk mail coupon envelopes that show up in the mail once a week or so.

[Mechie3]

Email. This was the first 25% one I've gotten. It was good Easter Sunday only. I usually get 20% ones in my email. I once bought a trailer from them, and a couple floor jacks, that's when I started getting the 20% off.

It is indeed the little shaker (the 5lb-er) with the green resin pyramids. So far it works well for taking off loose stuff. Really heavy stuff doesn't seem to get cut quite all the way down. It still smooths it out and removes most of it. Next step is in the ultrasonic cleaner with simple green and vinegar, maybe CLR.

[Xusia]

Just out of curiosity, what is the advantage, if any, to this vs. sand blasting?

[longislandwrx]

Just out of curiosity, what is the advantage, if any, to this vs. sand blasting?

you set it and forget it.

step 1: dump 5 lbs of rusty parts in the drum
step 2: turn on
step 3: walk away drink beers
step 4: remove shiny parts
step 5: profit!