Polishing Aluminium

Rick, I see your bike shines beautifully.. Care to share any of your secrets??

 

you can make aluminum shine like chrome, takes awhile though, first you sand the peice up with 1000 grit sand paper, depending how bad it is it takes a while, but if you use a courser sandpaper you'll leave scratches and have to sand even more to get them out, then you move up to 1500 gritt, and finally to 2000 grit, then you get yourself a buffing wheel that will fit on your power drill, some alluminum polishing compond, I can't think of the name, but they come in blocks in different colors, I use the white and the green blocks,
first you use the green block to clean it up you just pick up some pollish on the buffing wheel and apply it to alluminum, don't go to fast. or you will get a burn mark and have to sand again, but when your done with the green polish you'll have a nice shine,
Then you do the same with the white polish and then it will shine like chrome

 

you can get the buffing compound at www.jestcoproducts.com They do work great, The secret is the tedious sanding, but it's worth it in the end

 

I polished the aluminum. Pretty much the way Gearhead says. Some heavy sanding got out some rash and scratches. Most things on the 900 were just buffed.

The 750 was a Midnight. I stripped-off paint and polished it up over the course of restoring it. I used rotary buffing pads mounted in a Craftsman Keyless Chuck Drill for easy swapping of buffers of different compounds.

The "Sticks" of #5 and #6 Jewelers Rouges will make the cases look like mirrors.

 

Does anyone know of a good way to preserve the polished aluminum (if you don´t want to clear-coat it)?

Heard of bee-wax dissolved in mineral turpentine - or you think any ol´ car wax will do?

 

I just use spray-on wax.

I also do a lot of re-buffing.

 

I've found (on another forum) that most bikers are using Lemon Pledge on the entire bike. I have since used it also and it works great. I works for light cleaning while on trips and leaves a protective coating, like wax. I polished the aluminum on everything I can get to on my Seca and it stays like chrome all year long, rain or shine. Once you polish it nice and shiny, it seems like it's easy to keep it looking good if you just go over it with Lemon Pledge (you have to clean the bike once in awhile anyways) and your good to go. I even used it on my saddlebags and the water just beads up and runs off. I wouldn't use it on my seat however - it would be too slippery, like using Armor All, which is another big no no.

 

After doing what gearhead stated, "sanding" I use "Mothers" aluminum & mag wheel polish. Very satified with that. Also used "Aircraft" remover on the forks to remove all the yellow anadized crap off, then Mothers & look out! Good Stuff.

 

I use autosol for polishing aluminum, chrome, stainless, ect.
It works great, just dont use it on hot parts, make sure everything is cold first.

 

I have always liked to use SemiChrome polish on the chrome and Never-Dull on the aluminum. It seems to shine it up pretty quickly...

 

once yu get yure bike all nice n shiny and clean...give er a spray with s100 engine brightener.....GREAT STUFF especially on black.....and it will take the heat of the engine....wont burn off. makes the black engines and plastic parts look brand new.

 

I've found that Flitz works great for polishing aluminum (as well as brass, etc) and leaves an anti-oxidant coating that lasts several weeks, if not months. I'd like to try the Pledge idea on it, though.

 

I don't use the Lemon Pledge to polish the aluminum. I use it to protect the shine after I polish it. I use a buffer with three steps of compounds to get the shine like chrome. I couldn't believe how shiny it gets.
My brother in-law told me to bring my parts over to his shop and he'd show me what can be done. Holy crap Batman!!
I have since got my own buffer setup and compounds and do all my stuff in my shop now. I wish I'd known about this process years ago with all my other bikes. >PD<

 

Ive done the tree step polishing on a diff bike i had, i thought it took way too long.

When i need a part done, i pay my nephew to do it and he's cheap.

 

I have two old motorcycles, one a 1970 Honda which was/is my Dad's, and a 1981 650 Maxim I'm putting back together. Both have sat for at least five years or more, and both are in need of some aluminum polishing. The Honda has yellow gas stains all over the block, and the Maxim has some kind of yellowish coating on the forks and other parts. From what I've read, this may have once been like a clear cote of some kind? The block itself is just dull from having sat for so long. I've used medium steel wool, but frankly that wears out very quickly. My dad is a former mechanic & body shop man, and he told me that they back in the day they used some sort of chemical that really made aluminum shine like chrome. Are there any good chemical cleaners out there? I understand that brasso and some of the wonder cleaners you see on TV for cleaning old metal is no good for aluminum. Is this true?
Tony

 

Use the wrong stuff ... and you can stain that aluminum almost black.

To get the Clear Coat off:
AirPlane Paint Stripper.

To shine the Aluminum to a Mirror Finish:
Gord's Aluminum Polish

 

ya i know they use some kind of cleaner for rims. andi know that "Trucks" when stacy was the host still, dont remember the name.

 

I use autosol and the wifes arm. Lucky me lol.

 

"Aircraft" remover?

 

Aircraft is the Name Brand for a paint remover that takes paint off aluminum
surfaces.
It's a spray-on application with bubbles that cling to uneven surfaces.
Strong and effective paint remover ~ stripper.

 

The stuff mentioned on "Trucks" was Zoops metal sealer, never used it but it might be worth a shot.

 

No. Not that. It was like "Mr. Jacks" or something along that line.

Rub it on the worst looking aluminum and then wipe it off and ... Bammo! ... the aluminum shines again!

 

I have this side cover that I've hit with 1500 grit. I do see some fine scratches. Not sure if I should go to 1000 or move ahead with buffing? There is also some slight staining or oxidation, not sure. Recommendations?

 

higher grit 1500-2000 and wet sand it with wd 40 will give a mirror shine. if you are going to buff it you are done sanding. by buffing you mean a wheel and polishing sticks?

 

I did a bit more wet sanding with 1500 which removed more staining, but I was still seeing some scratches. I went ahead and tried 2 polishing stages and saw improvements each time. Here's what I have.

Not completely happy. I think I may need to go back to 1000, then 1500 and on through buffing again. It has some overall bling, but still a bit more rough than I'd like.

 

It almost looks like you still have some clear coat (yellowed) on the part. Did you use a aluminum paint stripper to remove the clear coat before starting the sanding process? If not, you can still do so. What sand paper you start with depends on the condition of the part. I have stated with a light file on certain road rashed or gouged parts (mainly in the area of the damage and blend it in). Then would go to 400 in just that area to get the file marks out. Next I go up to the next finer grit to get out the scratches from the prior step. Sometimes can't completely file away a defect, so you have to compromise on how much of the rash/gouge/indentation you are willing to leave on there in order to retain the shape and esthetics of part. Once sanded, you can then use three grades of compound with the buffing wheel starting with black, then brown, then white. On a part that is good shape which has no damage, you may be able to sidestep the sanding process and just use the three compound process with the buffing wheel.

 

It's possible there's some clearcoat. Once I started wet sanding, I saw black residue which is what I expect from aluminum, more than clear-coat. I'm hesitant to use stripper on the entire part since I'd like that black paint to stay in the recesses.
Oh, another thing. On the buffing kit I got, it mentioned the black compound wasn't to be used on soft metals, so I went to the medium (red in my case).

 

I wish my wife wouldn't use air quotes when she tells people that I'm "polishing my aluminum" in the garage.

 

This joke was made in another polishing thread... by Matti! Do we have a second comedy guru?

 

It's true! I have never even polished any aluminum! I made it all up for the joke. I my sub conscience must have remembered your post in the other thread. Now I know how Amy Schumer feels.

 

I wouldn't mind knowing how she feels...
when she sleeps on her mattress made of money. I'd try it once, then exchange it for a mattress made of xjs!

 

Bringing this post back up.
What I'm specifically looking for is what clear coat to use when done polishing.
I'm doing the forks and all the side covers on the engine this winter.
thx

 

I did some recent work on an XS650 and purchased a bench polisher but am still learning to use it properly so did most of the fishing work by hand.
Here is what I used.

To remove the UV faded clear coat, Citristrip. Compared to the aircraft paint remover I used, this was much easier and cleaned off w/o scraping. Just wiped or brushed off.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Citrist...rnish-Stripping-Gel-Non-NMP-QCSG801/307416109

Where the aluminum turned spotty black, I used 400 grit, then went to 800 grit with these wheels on a dremel.
400 grit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R1XKVD4/
800 grit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S2QWRYG/

Than hand sanded w/ 1000 or 1200 grit

Hand then wet sanded with 1500/2000 grit

Mothers aluminum polish on a drill mounted polishing wheel/cone. You may have to do some areas by hand.

It is not a mirror finish but I hope to get that when I'm better at using the bench polisher.