** Repost from MOL and the original SCG
Hey Everyone,
As many of you know, besides being a detailing fanatic, I am also a fishing maniac! As such, my tools of choice are a fly rod and an aluminum 12' boat. However, since my first love is detailing, having an oxidized aluminum boat sitting on top of a detailed truck, takes away from the overall impression and all of the hard work that went into the truck.
So, I decided to do something about it. After oodles of research, I was left scratching my head on which method would work best to provide the best finish. I decided to tackle the project with:
* Meguiar's All Metal Polish M-2805 (Professional Mirror Glaze Series)
* Meguiar's Wool Buffing Pad W-4000 on a Makita rotary buffer
followed by
* Gold Class All Metal Restorer G-9110
* Meguiar's W-7006 foam Cutting Pad on a Makita rotary buffer
Let me tell you right from the start, this is a messy job!! As you buff, the white polish turns black from the oxidized aluminum and makes everything very messy to say the least. You have been warned!!!!
First, the Meguiar's All Metal Polish is a paste that comes in a 5 oz. Container. Though the container seems small, it is surprising just how far a small amount of this polish will go. To me, the polish smells a little like coconuts, which is a pleasant change from the normal ammonia smelling products I used to use. I used some old towels (do not use good ones as they will be ruined from the black residue; ask me how I know!!! ) I applied a small amount to a 1'x 1' area on the boat, ran the rotary buffer at a much higher than normal speed (advice I received from an aluminum pontoon shop) at around 2000-2200 rpm! I buffed the area until the black residue disappeared. I had to spur the pad with pad spur quite often in order to remove the build up of polish.
The finish from this step was amazing!!! I could actually see my reflection like I was looking into chrome and not an aluminum fishing boat!! Now I was intrigued!! I wanted to see just how bright and shiny I could make the boat.
So, I decided to move on to the next step and use Meguiar's Gold Class All Metal Restorer (a liquid) on a Foam Cutting Pad W-7006. Again, I did a very small area at a time. The GC All Metal Restorer smells very similar to the All Metal Polish but not quite. Because this one is a liquid, I placed a fair amount on the pad, rubbed it around and proceeded to buff at a little lower but still high 1800 rpm. I found the GC All Metal Restorer was streaking a little and required more effort to remove. But once removed, the finish was incredible!! I could see my reflection as if I were looking into high polished chrome!!
Of course I had to now finish the rest of the boat. The painted sides were finished off with some Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze and topped with Meguiar's #20 Polymer Sealant for long lasting protection. By this point I had several neighbors standing there wondering why I was detailing a 'fishing boat'. One commented that the boat was now a hazard for on-coming motorists as they will be blinded from the reflection of the sun in the boat!!
After the full detail, I used my pressure washer to remove any remaining black polish residue from around the rivets etc.
Here is a before and after shots. It is hard believe how good a job the Meguiar's metal polishes did on the aluminum boat. From this experience, I can hardly wait to try them on other pieces of metal!!!
Cheers!
Tim
Before:
After:
