Aluminum Polishing

[jakengle]

I picked up a set of slot mags from the pick and pull. I pretty stoked about this since I wanted this look for the '72 effie--like a truckin' magazine readers ride from 1975...

anyway, after scrubbing, they're down to raw, dull aluminum with some pitting. How can I polish these at home? I don't want/need a mirror finish, just a smooth semi-polished finish like they came with originally. Eastwood has kits--has anyone polished alum wheels with they're stuff? I found a guy that will polish them for $200, which violates the tenets of this DIY, low buck, parts runner project--but maybe that's not a bad price if this job is really tough. Any suggestions are welcome.

[DanStokes]

Re: Aluminum Polishing

A trick I picked up from the guy who ran out machine shop at EPA. There's a thing called a "green wheel". These suckers are NEAT! You'll need one of those long-nose buffer motors to make it work on a wheel (or a long-snout hand-held). Maybe you can rent 'em? Anyhow, the green wheel will smooth and polish ANYTHING, and it goes pretty quickly, too. Aluminum comes out looking a LOT like these wheels would have looked originally. If you want a mirror finish, you follow the green wheel up with jeweler's rouge and a soft buff.

Hope this helps.
Dan

[henny496]

Re: Aluminum Polishing

Many years ago a friend of mine who had little money, took a set of wire brushed rims and sanded them by hand with progressively finer paper
He used Autosolvol and finished with it
They where not really shiny as rims are today but they looked pretty good
His rims where wire brushed...big scratches

[IndyShiftman]

Re: Aluminum Polishing

Believe it or not, the Mothers Power Ball that Foose advertises works pretty well.
I use the smaller ball on the long shaft. It should be pretty easy on those wheels too.
I think the yellow ball is for the more aggressive polishing, which is what you want at first.

I've charged my drill and have taken it on the road with me and used it on the Power Tour in hotel parking lots. So you don't need extension cords or air hoses for air powered buffers.

It's not perfect, but I think it will do what you want and probably more.

[KeithTurk]

Re: Aluminum Polishing

Hmmm okay first off if you want to DIY go until you get a perfect wet surface finish with 1200 or as much as 2000 then you can simply polish them with Mothers or the like equivelent...

I have 4 levels of rouge for polishing.... Black, Brown, Red, and then white... bought them at Sears a million years ago and then I bought big sticks of the stuff at a swap meet... but I've never actually finished using the stuff from Sears... it simply lasts forever... and it allows you to use all kinds of differnt tools... like a electric drill with loose sewn buff... or a regular buffer.... in any case you can make them look like Glass... but I wouldn't go that far... just clean them up and do the light sanding and polishing...

Keith

[jakengle]

Re: Aluminum Polishing--SUCCESS!!

I appreciate the advice on polishing my new disco-fantastic slot mags. I'll post a picture of the whole truck with them once I get the front tires mounted and on the truck.

I started with 400 grit wet, then 600 wet, then '0' grit scotchbrite wet, then 0000 steel wool, then two stages of polishing rouge. I hand sanded and then used a 6" cotton buff on a drill--found the buff and compound all at Lowes. It took about 45 min per wheel once I had the proceedure down and they came out nice 5-footers--now they make the rest of the truck look shabby since it's a 25-footer...

[Monster]

Re: Aluminum Polishing

Nice job. I knew you'd manage it for cheap.

[Ron Ward]

Re: Aluminum Polishing

Nice work. You are going to make some 70's van owners extremely jealous! LOL