Anyone Have Tips For Polishing Aluminum?

[Initial-D-Nerd]

Well i finally started doing some detailing on the engine i pulled out of a Mustang this past summer for my winter project. The Intake manifold upper had some battery acid splashed on it at one point in its life, and really took a round out of the factory grey paint. I didnt like the look of it at all. Anyways, i cleaned and rinsed the whole upper intake manifold off in a varisol tank, but there were still the ugly splotches of etched away paint. I then decided to polish the intake manifold and valve covers, all made of aluminum, and started off with using 3M scotch bright wheels and a right angle die grinder. its smooth right now but no where near the polish i want out of it.

Does anyone on here have any tips or methods of getting the mirror polish out of aluminum. Any suggestions would be awesome.

The pic shows how it has come along so far.

[sxtasy]

well its going to be a lot of work to get a good polish. You can go and pick up an alluminum polish kit, with a whole bunch of compounds and polishes. Basically you will have to go over starting with the heaviest compound working your way down and eventually to the polishes. They have different polishing wheels as well that you can use on a dremel type tool. good luck

[Initial-D-Nerd]

Originally posted by sxtasy
well its going to be a lot of work to get a good polish. You can go and pick up an alluminum polish kit, with a whole bunch of compounds and polishes. Basically you will have to go over starting with the heaviest compound working your way down and eventually to the polishes. They have different polishing wheels as well that you can use on a dremel type tool. good luck

alright, thanks a bunch

anyone know where to get these kits, and ballpark price ranges?

[sxtasy]

I'm not sure on price. Try Barry's auto, thats where i used to get all my detailing stuff.

[africano]

yeah also your local Canadian Tire sells a few compounds, but nothing great. Also if you don't want to end up polishing it again in a couple of months check out a product called Zoop Seal, they use it mainly for aluminum wheels but can be used for any part really.

http://www.zoopseal.com/zoopseal.asp

[Alpine Autowerks]

check out Eastwood for their kits, they have 1 for polishing an intake manifold for 50 us bucks


http://www.eastwoodco.com/Department...Specialty+Kits

[xerxes799]

this page has some great pics and step by step info
http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobinette/polish.htm

[Scott]

Use a dremel to smooth it out more before you polish. Get polishing wheels for it too.

[Initial-D-Nerd]

ok guys, i'll give it my best shot and then post up some pics when im finished. thanks for the help.