Recomendations for polishing aluminum

[Edwin Hazzard]

Hi guys..what do you all use to polish your aluminum intakes , wheels and other parts. Good name brands? Also do you apply it by hand or with a buffer wheel? Thanks for your help!

 

[Indycars]

When you say polish, do mean to take it from a rough casting to chrome like finish or just to restore the polished look that was already there ?

 

[Neshkoro]

When you say polish, do mean to take it from a rough casting to chrome like finish or just to restore the polished look that was already there ?

Excellent question! They both suck.

 

[409T]

For something large like an intake manifold I just drop my stuff off at the chrome shop and ask to have it polished. I did an aluminum firewall from rough to polished once, I had over 100 hours in it. Never again.

 

[Swampdog]

Purple polish

 

[AusBucket]

+1 for Purple polish, beats everything else hands down. If it's just maintenance polishing, then SILVO does an excellent job and doesn't go black like the others.

 

[Edwin Hazzard]

When you say polish, do mean to take it from a rough casting to chrome like finish or just to restore the polished look that was already there ?

Just to restore parts like wheels,intake manifold and chromed front end

 

[Edwin Hazzard]

When you say polish, do mean to take it from a rough casting to chrome like finish or just to restore the polished look that was already there ?

Basically to clean already polished stuff up

 

[rbsWELDER]

I use Mother's!

 

[Indycars]

If you don't want to continually have to keep up with polishing aluminum, then I spray it with Cerakote MC-5100.

You don't need to thin it with anything, just spray it on and clean up your sprayer with Acetone. I've used on my trailer after polishing the fenders and diamond plate. Still looks good after more than a year now.

Cerakote - CERAKOTE CLEAR - ALUMINUM

 

[Edwin Hazzard]

If you don't want to continually have to keep up with polishing aluminum, then I spray it with Cerakote MC-5100.

You don't need to thin it with anything, just spray it on and clean up your sprayer with Acetone. I've used on my trailer after polishing the fenders and diamond plate. Still looks good after more than a year now.

Cerakote - CERAKOTE CLEAR - ALUMINUM


View attachment 23494

View attachment 23495

Indycars...that looks good!

 

[Indycars]

Thanks !

It dries to the touch in 30 minutes, fully cured in 24 hours. It feels like a teflon coating, very slick, so dirt doesn't stick like it normally would. I haven't found a chemical that will touch it, I've tested brake fluid, brake kleen, alcohol, acetone. I use it on all metals even thou it says for polished aluminum.

I use this spray gun, it cost $14.

https://www.harborfreight.com/adjustable-detail-spray-gun-92126.html
.