Polishing an Old Cast Iron Bathtub.

[ryotto]

Hot Tub forum, huh, how appropriate. Anyway, I recently bought a house that was made in 1954 and I'm in the process of remodeling the bathroom. I decided to keep the original 1954 Kohler Cast Iron bathtub, because it's in too good of condition to smash up and replace it and because new cast iron bathtubs are expensive. The Porcelain Enamel finish is in good condition overall with no chips or stains, its just kind of scratched, marred, and dull from 56 years of use.



Anyone ever polish the Porcelain Enamel finish of an old cast iron bathtub? I have a Porter Cable 7424 Polisher and some Menzerna Final Polish 2. I used up my Intensive Polish on my sisters car and was wondering what polish I should use on the bathtub. Any recommendations for Meguiars polish (because I'm going to have to buy locally and Meguiars is all thats really available). I believe Porcelain Enamel is like glass, which would be harder then paint. I do have some Autoglym Glass Polish, would that work? I'm not really looking at necessarily removing the scratches, just make them look less noticeable and to make the tub shiny.



Also, would I wax this bathtub? I'd think that would be the Autopia way. What wax or sealant would be best? Also, I bought a new gloss white acrylic tub surround, would I wax this as well.



On a side note, has anyone ever waxed the painted steel siding on their house? I'm not that OCD to ever do it, but I wonder if someone actually would be?



Heres how that would play out: :work: I'm bored. :idea I got an Idea, I'll wax my house. :waxing: I love detailing. This sucks. :wall What the HELL was I thinking!

 

[wickedwrx02]

LMAO i just had this conversation with my wife the other day. We are also remodeling our bathroom. I was wondering if there was a way to save our tub instead of replacing it. I thought about buffing it out too. I was going to hit it with some FK336 compound then 2180 it but a friend of ours suggested some Zep cleaner from home depot. I think its called Zep tile & shower cleaner. It really pulled out the embedded dirt and grime. It even left a decent shine after you scrubbed it. I was just worried that if i buffed it and waxed it it would be slippery as s**t.

 

[ryotto]

LMAO i just had this conversation with my wife the other day. We are also remodeling our bathroom. I was wondering if there was a way to save our tub instead of replacing it. I thought about buffing it out too. I was going to hit it with some FK336 compound then 2180 it but a friend of ours suggested some Zep cleaner from home depot. I think its called Zep tile & shower cleaner. It really pulled out the embedded dirt and grime. It even left a decent shine after you scrubbed it. I was just worried that if i buffed it and waxed it it would be slippery as s**t.

Huh, I suppose I could try that. The bottom of the tub has so many little scratches and is pretty dull, I was thinking I wouldn't polish the bottom and leave it the way it is for grip. I would focus on the sides and top. Like I said, the bathtub isn't stained or anything. Anyway, I'll try by best today to restore it and post results.