Indycars
Well-Known Member
I've been polishing some of the aluminum on my trailer, which does entirely no good unless you are going to spend the rest of your waking hours keeping up with maintaining it or coating it with some kind of clear. I bought a quart of Cerakote MC-5100 for polished aluminum. This is an Air dry coating to the touch in 15-30 minutes (it was 15 minutes for me), so minimal dirt to collect on the surface, total cure in 24 hours.
There is no thinning required, just pour into your spray gun thru a number 325 mesh (equal to 44 micron) and go. I used the Preval system, so there was very little clean-up with some acetone.
But don't let this stuff dry, acetone will NOT touch it after it starts to cure. I found out the hard way. I tried to go back over the fender cause I didn't like how it looked and thought I could smooth it out by putting another kinda heavy coat on, it didn't work. Within 20 minutes I sprayed straight acetone on it, then I started wiping it with a rag soaked in acetone. Nothing worked, just made everything worse. Jumped on Google, damn the only way to get it off was to blast it off and that was not an option for me. I had to spend a couple of hours sanding it off.
Preval - Refillable spray system - Spray any paint!
I bought this mesh to use instead of Cerakotes mesh that fits a spray gun, I can use this to pour coolant thru when I want to reuse it. It always seems to get trash in it before I can get it off the ground.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B1SD92H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I found with the Perval sprayer and the MC-5100, I could not spray it on without it running. It was running so bad that it was dripping from several places and pooling on the driveway. BUT, it flows out and looks great if you just leave it alone. It has great self-leveling properties.
Prior to using the 3M Aluminum Polish, I wet sanded with 600 grit (some places) and then followed up with 1000 grit. I tried some 2500 grit that I have, but I really think I needed something in between that and the 1000 grit, something like 1500 grit.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RZPNNW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
To apply the aluminum polish I used my drill and some of these buffs. To clean them occasionally I used a file card.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VHQBKJ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
By far the worse thing to polish was the diamond plate, can't sand that obviously. The polish would collect and dry out around all the diamonds and would require wiping almost every diamond with a micro-fiber towel to remove the polish. What a pain, but it's all done now on the nose.
I think what we all want to see is what this looks like a Year from now, that will tell me if all this work was worth the trouble.
I've polished all the [trim along the bottom, the fender] both sides, the vent and the diamond plate on the nose.
There is no thinning required, just pour into your spray gun thru a number 325 mesh (equal to 44 micron) and go. I used the Preval system, so there was very little clean-up with some acetone.
But don't let this stuff dry, acetone will NOT touch it after it starts to cure. I found out the hard way. I tried to go back over the fender cause I didn't like how it looked and thought I could smooth it out by putting another kinda heavy coat on, it didn't work. Within 20 minutes I sprayed straight acetone on it, then I started wiping it with a rag soaked in acetone. Nothing worked, just made everything worse. Jumped on Google, damn the only way to get it off was to blast it off and that was not an option for me. I had to spend a couple of hours sanding it off.
Preval - Refillable spray system - Spray any paint!
I bought this mesh to use instead of Cerakotes mesh that fits a spray gun, I can use this to pour coolant thru when I want to reuse it. It always seems to get trash in it before I can get it off the ground.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B1SD92H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I found with the Perval sprayer and the MC-5100, I could not spray it on without it running. It was running so bad that it was dripping from several places and pooling on the driveway. BUT, it flows out and looks great if you just leave it alone. It has great self-leveling properties.
Prior to using the 3M Aluminum Polish, I wet sanded with 600 grit (some places) and then followed up with 1000 grit. I tried some 2500 grit that I have, but I really think I needed something in between that and the 1000 grit, something like 1500 grit.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RZPNNW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
To apply the aluminum polish I used my drill and some of these buffs. To clean them occasionally I used a file card.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VHQBKJ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
By far the worse thing to polish was the diamond plate, can't sand that obviously. The polish would collect and dry out around all the diamonds and would require wiping almost every diamond with a micro-fiber towel to remove the polish. What a pain, but it's all done now on the nose.
I think what we all want to see is what this looks like a Year from now, that will tell me if all this work was worth the trouble.
I've polished all the [trim along the bottom, the fender] both sides, the vent and the diamond plate on the nose.
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