Sanding and Polishing Aluminum

[cwcad]

I washed the Black truck the other day with Optimum No Rinse and noticed that the canopy was looking rather bad

Anyway, since I had the truck all cleaned up and the aluminum on my canopy was looking horrible on top of the shiny black truck I took out some Poorboy's PP using a PC with an assortment of pads.

PP was doing it's job but I was not satisfied so I used 300, 1000, and 1500 grit sand paper with my PC and went over it six times using two pads of each grade of sand paper.

Then I hit it with PP polish again. Still not perfect but I think you can see the difference.

the thing that makes me laugh is the fact that the work was only about an hour but I spent six hours sitting and standing looking at my work. Wife was gone and the LD was in school. So left to my own means I did what I know is fun. Boy it was fun to be outside for a whole day working on the truck.

This is how it looked the next morning.

 

[budman3]

That sure is a big improvement! Polishing metal can be a real pain in the you know what. It looks good when its polished but after a few weeks it looks like it needs polishing again. Wait, black vehicles are like that too! You have a double dose of it, don't you. They both look great when kept up with. The truck is looking good. I haven't seen a pic of your new wheels and tires on the truck in a while... looks good.

 

[cwcad]

I had a chance to get to the other side using some suggestions from the folks on the forum.
I used a 320 grit,1000grit, and 1500 grit sand paper with PC. Then I used the rotary and Poorboy’s SSR2.5 and finished off with ProPolish from Poorboy’s. It certainly is not perfect but a heck of a lot better. I have ordered other things and will post the results at a later date.

I think it looks better..... Do YOU?

 

[budman3]

Another great transformation. There are actually reflections in the after picture . Great work.

 

[cwcad]

Another great transformation. There are actually reflections in the after picture . Great work.

I need to get some finer sand paper to get some of the haze that still remains. I also ordered one of the heavy cream products that Beercan suggested. It will be here in a few days.

I will stay with it and post changes if there are any.

 

[seabreeze]

I have a great website for you to see. Go to perfectpolish.com. . The Nuvite Polish they use along with there techniques will amaze you. I do alot of tractor wheels and high end motorhome wheel polishing, for that I use rouge and a high speed buffer. For flat panels such as your truck you need different stages of polish just like a car needs different stages to reach a final product.