Aluminum polishing

[cstm68]

how would i go about polishing aluminum so that it is shiny like billit aluminum or aluminum wheels.

[EdB]

If the surface is smooth, you can polish it with almost any good
polish (Flitz, Never Dull, etc.) If it is not smooth, you will have to
work it down with progressively finer grits of sandpaper. Polish
it when after you get to, at least, 600 grit

After it is polished you will probably want to coat it. A trick I
have found is to wipe it with clean paper towels until there is
absolutely no black showing on the paper. Do not touch it
with your bare hands. You can then spray it with clear lacquer
or enamel. If you get "fish eyes" then you did not rub it enough
If it will be exposed to the elements,these coatings will not
last much longer than a year. POR makes a product, I think it
is called Pelqulid that is supposed to last a long time.

EdB

[tk-mpl]

After you polish it you can Zoop Seal it.. Heard it works well..

[chevy_mike]

I tried one of those Mother's polishing balls on a set of wheels I picked up. The wheels were almost black from brake dust and grime. I power washed the wheels, used some Simple Green to clean off some of the crap and then spent about 10 minutes each with the ball.

Let me say, I was highly impressed. I could have spent a little more time on them but they shined up great. From a couple feet back they almost look like chrome. Up close you can still see a few spots of really bad brake dust. At some point I will hit them again with the polishing ball and really get them done up.

Worked great and fast, without a whole lot of effort.

[leddzepp]

Harbor Freight sells a kit for use with an electric drill that includes several buffs and polishing wheels, with the 3 compounds you will need to bring out the shine. It sells for 20 bucks and works great.

[chevyboy55]

Here's a link with a bunch of info about polishing.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffman.htm

[Riveted1]

Seen this stuff on Trucks, seemed to work awesome... Metal Armor

[pooz911]

I use Adams Polish #1 and #2 with a microfiber cloth on my aluminum wheels and it works great. I learned about this polish when I did some work with the owner of real rodders wheels.

www.realrodderswheels.com

[Mudder]

I moved this to detailing becasue thats where it shold be and there are other threads here on this subject. Once the wheels are polished, I use California Customs.. They do not advertise and can only be found online. Best and easiest I have used. I gave other stuff away that I had been using when I started using this.

[chris71]

i would stay away from zoop seal if you are near the coast, that stuff doesnt like salt, i did a pair of valve covers with it and went to the beach for a weekend, came back with them pitted from the salt in the air, just my experience

[LONGHAIR]

Originally Posted by cstm68

how would i go about polishing aluminum so that it is shiny like billit aluminum or aluminum wheels.

This is a vary general question, with a not so simple answer.
A lot of it depends upon the aluminum itself, it's not all the same. The better/higher quality heat treated stuff can be polished to a perfect shine that will last much longer than the soft stuff. Softer alloys will never polish up the same and what they will achieve will oxidize much faster.