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Aluminium grilles
Posted: December 27, 2009, 6:44 am
by GDG
Any tips on polishing an aluminium grille? Mine has some small gouges, scratches and oxidization. It is in fair shape and I would like to use it but it needs a good clean up. So far hand polishing has been a slow process. Any tips on polish, or buffers, etc, I'm thinking of a Foose power ball or something like that.
Thanks
Doug
Posted: December 27, 2009, 7:21 am
by DV65CustomCab
Did you remove the anodizing first? That's the first step.
alum grilles
Posted: December 27, 2009, 8:21 am
by Red66
Wet SOS pads work good.
Posted: December 27, 2009, 8:46 am
by fseries
The previous owner of my truck used a blast cabinet with the pressure set at around 60 psi to remove the anodizing. Im not sure what media he had in the cabinet but something like smooth glass media would probably be best. I am pretty sure he polished it by hand after getting all the anodizing off.
Posted: December 27, 2009, 10:37 am
by Fanatic
When I polish raw alum. I use a small disc 4 1/2 " that has that stuff like scuff pads on it. Get and xtra fine one then use a buff pad and compound. I have recently found that Meguires Ultra Compound works REAL nice.
Posted: December 27, 2009, 3:33 pm
by GDG
Some of the anodizing is already off. Sounds like it will take a lot of elbow grease to get it down to bare aluminium!! What do you coat it with to keep it bright?
Thanks
Doug
Posted: December 27, 2009, 7:28 pm
by 64low-n-slow
Eastwood makes a stripper for the anodizing (wish I'd bought it) for cheap money. After you get it off, then use sandpaper to smooth the defects. Finish to 1000 grit, then polish with rubbing compound, machine if you have a small buffer, otherwise it takes a LOT of elbow grease. To protect your hard work, POR 15 makes a clearcoat for aluminum. YOu MUST use their metal prep first (they don't mention it in the ads for the clear). And follow the directions TO THE LETTER. It works great if you do this.
Hope this helps
Posted: December 27, 2009, 8:30 pm
by Anthony
O.K. guys, so do you think that if I took the anodizing off of my grill the etched stains from the PO that cleaned it with I'm guessing aluminum coil cleaner (for A/C's) would disappear so I could polish it and use it??? Any ideas???
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Posted: December 28, 2009, 5:29 am
by 64low-n-slow
Anthony,
I'm pretty sure your grille will clean up.
Posted: December 29, 2009, 3:50 pm
by BikerDude
When you get your grill (or any other aluminum for that matter) polished to the point where you are happy I suggest using Zoopseal to make it last. I used it on some aluminum valve covers and it was easy to use and is advertised to last 2 years. Kind of pricey but it's better than polishing all the time. Got mine at Summt Racing.