I had great success in polishing my aluminum casting parts the following
way:
With a good metal cleaner, like Mothers or SimiChrome (I don’t know where to
find the latter these days), you get a great shine on the parts that are
smooth to begin with, but if there is any etching or pitting from abrasion,
chemicals, antifreeze, etc. it will still be there.
On such parts, I use 320 or 400 grit wet-or-dry paper, using lots of water,
to rub out the pits and imperfections, then do the same with 800 grit
wet-or-dry, again lots of water, THEN put the metal polish on and rub it to
a good shine. I brought back a water manifold, thermo housing, and even a
badly scratched radiator badge this way, although on the badge I used a
buffing wheel and cleaning car wax as the finishing step instead of the
metal cleaner. It all shines like new now.
I used the wax and buffing wheel as the final step on my woodwork also -
worked great, as long as it’s out of the car.
Gary
Portland, OR
63 Mk2
59 Mk1
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A good source for chrome and aluminum cleaning supplies is your local
“Hog” i.e. Harley Davidson dealer.
Thad DabrowskiOn Wed, 16 May 2001, O’Dells wrote:
I had great success in polishing my aluminum casting parts the following
way:
With a good metal cleaner, like Mothers or SimiChrome (I don’t know where to
find the latter these days), you get a great shine on the parts that are
smooth to begin with, but if there is any etching or pitting from abrasion,
chemicals, antifreeze, etc. it will still be there.
On such parts, I use 320 or 400 grit wet-or-dry paper, using lots of water,
to rub out the pits and imperfections, then do the same with 800 grit
wet-or-dry, again lots of water, THEN put the metal polish on and rub it to
a good shine. I brought back a water manifold, thermo housing, and even a
badly scratched radiator badge this way, although on the badge I used a
buffing wheel and cleaning car wax as the finishing step instead of the
metal cleaner. It all shines like new now.
I used the wax and buffing wheel as the final step on my woodwork also -
worked great, as long as it’s out of the car.
Gary
Portland, OR
63 Mk2
59 Mk1
[Commercial use of subscribers e-mail addresses prohibited.]