Need a little help polishing aluminum

S

sabresfan

New member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
I made the mistake of putting the "summer" tires/wheels on my car before the last snow. The salt chewed up the clearcoat on my nice wheels. I stripped the CC off and want to polish them nice and shiny. I have a few jars of Mothers billet polish and a mini powerball. Ok so far......my questions are as follows:

1. The ball becomes black so fast, I am wondering how long you buff after it turns black? Do I just keep adding polish and buffing or do I need to clean the ball every 2 minutes to get rid of the oxidation?

2. Does the black residue ever stop? I have never polished anything long enough to find out....lol

As always, thanks for the help!
 
sabresfan said:
I made the mistake of putting the "summer" tires/wheels on my car before the last snow. The salt chewed up the clearcoat on my nice wheels. I stripped the CC off and want to polish them nice and shiny. I have a few jars of Mothers billet polish and a mini powerball. Ok so far......my questions are as follows:

1. The ball becomes black so fast, I am wondering how long you buff after it turns black? Do I just keep adding polish and buffing or do I need to clean the ball every 2 minutes to get rid of the oxidation?

2. Does the black residue ever stop? I have never polished anything long enough to find out....lol

As always, thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

1. Ball still cleans when black. Still clean it from time to time.
2. Yes when it is fully cleaned.

I use Flitz similar in concept. Bare aluminum is way better.
 
Billet Metal Polish is for a fine finish. If you've just stripped the coating, you'll likely want to use our regular Mag & Aluminum Polish as it has more cutting ability. Then, you can finish with the Billet Metal Polish.

What type of rim is it - have a pic?

Your PowerBall should be cleaned after use, and allowed to dry before putting away. The blackness (a chemical reaction to the nickel in aluminum) won't effect the polishing ability.
 
What did you use to strip the original clear coat?

I've tried to do some spot repair on a couple of my rims, but that clear is truly like a plastic rock.

Thanx...

Bill
 
320 wet sand will strip it with some elbow grease. I followed up with 600, 1500 and 2000. Regular Mothers mag polish and finish it with Billet polish and a coat of Mother's synthetic wax. They look puuuuuuuuurty ;)
 
While you can sand the clear off of aluminum rims, if the rim in question has any sharp lines in the design, you have to be careful that you don't sand them rounded.

Another way is to chemically strip the paint but you want to be careful that you don't use a paint remover that will at the same time stain the aluminum gray.


See what Anthony says in post #34 in this thread...


http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...eam-polishing-nashville-tn-b-b-detailing.html


IMAG1823-1.jpg





:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
While you can sand the clear off of aluminum rims, if the rim in question has any sharp lines in the design, you have to be careful that you don't sand them rounded.

Another way is to chemically strip the paint but you want to be careful that you don't use a paint remover that will at the same time stain the aluminum gray.


See what Anthony says in post #34 in this thread...


http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...eam-polishing-nashville-tn-b-b-detailing.html


IMAG1823-1.jpg





:)
Click to expand...


Oh wow! Great memories lol! Was that last year?!?!? It feels like a lifetime ago :buffing: Thanks for shining light on that thread Mike :props: I love polishing Aluminum - but do not love stripping clear coat :/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top