removing fine scratches from alum. mag/alum. polish do it?

[benoit454]

I got some nevrdull and polished up my trucks diamond plate bed rails and the factory center caps (mid to late 90's style) I had to sand down the center caps, started with 400 then went to 1500 to remove the left over scratches and after using nevrdull they still have light scratches that can be seen when the light hits them. Would mother's mag/alum. polish in the lil' tub take care of this? power metal polish? hot wheels from meguairs? blue magic? or something else?

Now on my centers, the nevr dull itself after sanding wasn't enough, I had to use some rubbing compound and machine polish on them first then the neverdull. If not they were very milky and not very shiney.

[piecesparts]

Think about what you stated in getting the caps polished in the first place. You used 400 grit and then 1500 grit paper to get where you are at. This is my suggestion to close this up. get out the 1500 grit paper once again and work on those scratches a little more, THEN go get some 2500 grit "wet-N-Dry sandpaper and use WD-40 as a lubricant to keep it from filling up with metal. believe me, if you haven't done this--it works great. The 2500 grit will make the scratches smaller, faster than any polishing compound. If you wish get some 3000 grit for a final polish. I would then suggest that you go to some place like Harbor Freight or Sears and purchase some small buffing wheels and some sticks of polishing rouge, but that may not be avialable to you in your area. The Mothers aluminum poish will take the small scratches down to almost invisible, but it will take time and elbow grease. There will always be scratches, but you can polish them down to where they are invisible to the eye. If you can find some more coarse rubbing compound than the Mothers, such as "Simi-Chrome" or "FLITZ".

I would finsih the metal polishing with Mothers "Billet Polish" for a mirro finish.

I have a grinder pedestal set in my garage with buffing wheels on it to do aluminum and it can get monotonous trying to get one polished, but it can be done.

[benoit454]

what kinda grit would 0000 steel wool equal up to? I got some of it too.

I have some rubbing compound, turtle wax brand, my 30 HD rubbingbompound was messed up. Then I have some nevrdull, turtle wax scratch remover, machine polish from 3m, and could get some other grit paper.

As for the scratches funny thing is they are swirl ones. I sanded straight across, with 400 then 90 degree angle with the 1500 wet. I don't know if they are old scratches from road debris or what.

[72BlckButy]

Chris, you can also try apply the wax on the wheels with a rubber glove and then wiping off the wax with a microfiber towel. Since the rubber glove will be working in the wax to the wheel it will not 'cut' into the wheel and leave fine scratches.

[benoit454]

ok

everything I applied to the centers was with microfiber towels and rubbing in with them and wiped off with a fresh micrfiber towel. I didn't use any applicator pads at all.

[72BlckButy]

Check out this link, and I think you'll see what I mean...

http://www.s10forum.com/how_to_polish_aluminum_wheels

[piecesparts]

The swirl marks are from the polish and the rag that you used, I imagine. I too, have started using the microfiber towels to polish with, they give a better finish than anything else that I have ever used. I also use a detail spray to remove old rubbing compound and polish from the aluminum. If all else fails, use toothpaste.

[benoit454]

tooothpaste? really? I know it works on headlights and plastic, didn't think about alum. though.

That was m reason for using microfiber on the compounds because I know buffing pads can leave swirls after compounding.

[benoit454]

That's what I'm working with...

[piecesparts]

To take care of that once and for all, you would best off getting a buffing wheel at a swap meet or from Eastwood and put it on your grinder. Once you have that, then you could use the sicks of rouge and polish that to a shine.

[mooseknuckles]

I've hand polished aluminum lots and i've found that using progressively finer grits of sandpaper from 120 or so up to about 800- 1000 grit and using mothers aluminum polish directly on the sandpaper worked the best to bring out a deep chrome like shine and get rid of the small sanding marks. the sandpaper will have a aluminum look to it this way, and the more used and worn out the sandpaper was the better it worked!

[nbpro]

1000 grit Wet/Dry use wd40 to keep it wet Clean with automotive cleaner/degreaser then mothers aluminum polish

[imsuchaman55]

Originally Posted by benoit454

That's what I'm working with...

I used to polish aluminum for a company that did aluminum bumpers for 4X4, Ive attached a pic of the bully dog truck we did.


It sounds like you jumped too much between grit sizes, and also may be going too fine. When you polish aluminum, you want to use grits that are aggressive enough to get the scratches out, but not soo agressive that you are removing a lot of material. once you find the grit that removes the scratches you see, jump up by about 100 grit count and DA again. continue this until you are up around 800-1000 grit, then use white rouge on a buffer, then mothers aluminum polish. The scratches you are seeing is from your 400 grit that the 1500 could not get as deep as. As you sand it, you go from rougher to finer grit, slowly going from bigger scratches to smaller, to smaller, until you dont see individual scratches but a dull aluminum finish. this is the surface becoming completely uniform. Then when you hit it with the wheel it polishes up quickly and easily, and the mothers (or your fav other aluminum polish) to finalizes the shine. You will not have any of the hazy spots if done this way either, but a chrome look. We always used 160, then 220, 320, then 400 grit, sometimes 600 if polishing stainless steel just because its easier the get the scratches smaller with a DA than on the buffing wheel (stainless is a pain to polish and gets super hot). You have to make sure you seal it once you are happy with your results or it will oxidize and you will be doing this more than you want, as we learned the hard way on these big bumpers haha

[freddrick]

hi my name is fred i own a auto detailing business on vancouer iland if any of you guys need any detailing tips i will be happy to help you guys out hope to hear from you.