ex-eclipse

Thought that I would share with those of you who didn't know that you can polish your own aluminum pipes, and brackets. For me spring is almost here and I didn't want to send my parts out to get polished and not have them back for over a month. So with just what I could find in my garage I thought that I would try it myself.

Tools needed:

sand paper 50,120, and 600 grit
palm sander (optional)
dremel tool or corded drill &
some sort of buffing wheel
old rags or towels
aluminum polish

This is the polish that I used.

The first thing I did was sand down all the seems, scratches, and pits with the palm sander and 50 grit. Don't stay in one spot too long, aluminum is very soft and you will make a flat spot that you will see later once it is shiny. The pipe that I am starting with here in the picture was already polished once but as you can see I scratched it up pretty good during the install. Now I know to tape it up first.

Here is after the 50 grit on palm sander.

Next I used the 120 grit with palm sander and concentrated on getting out the heavy sanding marks from the 50 grit. From there I went to a sanding sponge used for drywall. The sponge makes it easy to keep the natural shape of the pipe. You should have a smooth surface with scratches that you can see only, not feel. Repeat with the 600 grit to get as many of those scratches out as you can.

ex-eclipse

This is what it should look like after all the sanding is done.

Now, put your polish on with a rag first and spread it out. This is so your buffing wheel doesn't throw it all over the place. Buff it back and forth and keep on adding polish, don't let it dry up. Once all the polish is really black and slimy take it off with a clean cloth.


Now, I had to finish by hand because the dremel was leaving buffing marks. So you put the polish on a cloth and rub it in until it is black and just like before you wipe it off with a clean cloth.

I did this about about three or four times. It doesn't take long for the polish to turn black and make sure you use enough polish so that it doesn't dry up or else it is harder to wipe off. About the time you are ready to give up it will look like this.

From here you can go for as deep of a shine as you want by doing the same thing as before. I found that using a little heat worked great for making a better shine. Heat the pipe up and than polish just like before.

Here is the finished product.

Here is a battery tie down that I made for the Hawker Odyssey.


There are still tiny scratches in the pictures because of the flash and the camera is close up. If you want a better finish than that you can sand and than wet sand with 1000 grit and polish a lot more to make a perfect mirror like finish.

thetz99

Looks great! Great writeup

I'm thinking a machine like a PC or an orbital would help take the toil out of the finishing process to get the most reflection posible.

gary_phd

If you want even more shine - from 1000 grit -> w/d 1500 grit -> can go with 2000 grit, but not necessary -> Medium cut polish like Meguiar's -> fine cut polish -> 3m Finesse-it polish -> Meguiars Glaze

It's a long process, but you won't have any micro swirls, etc. and have a clear mirror like finish.

A PC or other orbital makes this work much easier, particularly for large jobs.

Emil St-Hilaire

Nice.!!!

XclusiveAutosports

Thanks, great write up!

pikkashoe

To take it to the next step check this out.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=366819

iam7head

make sure you put a clear coat on it, or the unprotected finish will get dull fast.

maybe it's fine for engine bay item but for polished lip on wheel, it gets dull fast without a coat.

i hand polished a set of 16 before and it's a pain in the arse.

there's 42bolts for each wheel that need to be hand clean and polish.


too much time...lol