Aluminum polishing

M

mtmaher1

New member
Over spring break last week I spent quite a bit of time polishing aluminum rims, tanks, battery boxes etc on our fleet of Peterbilts.

I managed to get a couple of pictures of a before and after.

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With the hub and nut covers off.
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after one pass with a blue aluminum polishing wheel on porter cable rotary and brown jewler's rouge.
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some after shots
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They didn't get the best job that i can do because
1.they weren't taken off the truck which makes it more difficult work some areas.
2. In MN we still aren't done with winter and road salt does a number on highly polished alum. - they will need a touch up before summer.

I would say my knowlege and ability in metal polishing is greater than my paint buffing abilities, so if you have any questions, just ask and i'll do my best.
I forgot to get a pic of my polisher and setup. Maybe next time.
 
Interesting!!

Thanks for sharing the pictures. After attempting to fix some wheels on a pickup this last weekend I have a better appreciation of the work that it takes to make a wheel shine. This is so much more of a job. WOW!

My hat is off to you!
 
Is your blue polishing wheel the same blue one that's seen on e-bay and the like from Flitz or is it a special "industrial" brand? Felt, foam or other?
Also, do you find that Jewlers Rouge works better than a liquid? I would have thought having that much to polish, a liquid would be faster, but I don't do much metal polishing, so I don't actually know... ;)
Of course, it looks much better!
 
I don't have a pic of the acutal wheels i use but they look similar to this accept they have a meta center with the same treated pleated material around it. There are different stiffness wheels that are parallel to cutting and polishing pads for paint.
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This type of work is done much easier with the dry stick version of polishes. They are like a grease or a hard dry material that is applied to the edge of the wheel worked back and forth in line as you can see i had started in one of the pictures.
I follow up the machine buffing with a liquid polish to get rid of any residue and get the best finish.
If you were to try and tackle jobs like this with strictly a liquid polish you would have a very sore arm and many many terry clothes filled with oxidation.
 
Great job I learned allot about aluminum polishing with my last rims...I used Zephyr pro-40 and a high speed rotary with cotton bob's and the same wheels that you have pictured...again nice work
 
Thanks for the complements, I like polishing alum that is pretty far gone. The transformation is so dramatic.
The only part that I don't like is all the black crap that gets flung around.
Here's a pic of me after doing a full day of polishing before I started wearing my painting respirator. The little dust mask wasn't cutting it as you can see!
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mtmaher1 said:
Thanks for the complements, I like polishing alum that is pretty far gone. The transformation is so dramatic.
The only part that I don't like is all the black crap that gets flung around.
Here's a pic of me after doing a full day of polishing before I started wearing my painting respirator. The little dust mask wasn't cutting it as you can see!
IM000375.jpg
Click to expand...

come on we know you are getting ready to go to a paint ball game :roflmao
 
Here is another site that offers a large selection of metal polishing supplies.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/index.html

I haven't ordered anything from this company but i have looked into their products.

When i called my compounds "jewelers rouge" earlier- they are also called named
tripoli compounds depending on the company they are purchased from.
 
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