Is there anything which actually works well or at all and isn't just more snakeoil? I have seen some things advertised for aluminum and magnesium but ... I'm a skeptic. Who's got experience with a product that works?
Mothers Billet is what I use on a lot of aluminum. The Harley guys have a saturated mineral wool, whatever they call it, it looks VERY similar to what I use on my Nambe collection, which is not aluminum, but must be pretty close! No one knows what Nambe is....
An aluminum alloy. Nevr Dull is the saturated wool polish. Simichrome works well on small pieces. Keeping aluminum bright requires a protective coating as it oxidizes quickly.
You can use Simichrome or other metal polishes to remove corrosion and get a bright finish. Then use regular paint wax that has some abrasive in it-something that will deal with scratches and stains on clearcoat-and wax the metal to keep it from oxidizing. When I buy new polished wheels,I wax them and they keep their shine for many years. I use Polymer II from BAF industries. Waxing polished metal usually blackens the cloth,so don't use the cloth that you wax the paint with. Clearcoat seems to keep polished metal shiny forever. Clearcoat came on the centerpieces of my Fikse 3-piece wheels.
Try Adams Polish. I picked some up for my exhaust. It is amazing. There is a cleaner and a polish. Mothers works great. Never Dull is really messy. Definitely wear some rubber gloves.
If you have the parts off the car, and want to spend the money ---- clear anodizing is the only way to fly in the long term.
MOTHERS BILLET and ELBOW GREASE! bare aluminum will polish shiny bright trust me I have Etoile aluminum rims and always get compliments on how shiny they are! it is work , do small sections at a time
OK some clarification as to the application is in order. I'm restoring some late 1980's Hayashi 3 pc rims and the outer rim halves are polished or soon will be. So while I have it apart I thought I'd put something on to extend the shine longer but I also want something that's easily renewable. Once the center sections are bolted back in the outer rim plus the areas behind the basket weave of the center section are what show. These take a lot of road abuse, removing the nicks and dings has been work! So anything hard like anodizing or clearcoat is out. Looks like some decent potentials listed already so thanks.
I'm not doing magnesium in this application though I have seen some Campagnolo wheels which were painted but left 1" or so of the lip polished and that worked pretty well as long as you polished it regularly.
Don't tell Roger Penske that! Ever seen his race cars? Always polished those wheels, elbow grease, elbow grease, ask me how I know. The suspension is also polished, chrome moly will shine beautifully, just needs upkeep.
I won't go into a whole dissertation here on the topic.....but.... It is not good Engineering practice to "polish" the surfaces of metals / alloys on structural components ---- it actually reduces their fatigue resistance by promoting surface micro-cracking and thereby weakening them. Wheels are fine, but I would not recommend it for other parts such as suspension components, etc.
I was merely commenting on the practice at Penske Indy, certainly in the 80s. Mine always were parker-luberised (sp?) and wheels chromated, less upkeep........
not at all --- Brian's comment just reminded me of the caution --- just adding some relevant info for anyone here who is interested in more detail on the original topic, and the pros vs. cons.
I have tried several polishes for aluminum including neverdull, mothers and meguires on a couple of my show cars. The best results I have found for cleaning and putting on a great shine has been Bushes Metal Polish. I apply with a sponge power cone on a drill. Amazing finish.
Thanks. After finishing the the main buffing with a white rouge compound on the big wheel buffer I went over it with neverdull and then put a coat of Mothers carnuba wax on. It looks great but I know it's temporary protection at best. I'll have a look at Busch's metal polish next time around. I didn't seal any sealing products. They have some nice instructions on polishing aluminum on their website. That's essentially what I did except that after 400 paper I went to the buffing wheel and I had to use 120 paper in some tough areas. Wheels get some pretty good nicks over the years.
If you are dealing with an item that flexes under load, such as wheels, than a synthetic polish such as Polymer II or Ice would be the route to take. If you are dealing with a polished trim item, then there are clear finishes formulated for the musical instrument manufacturers that are applicable. I would start by searching the industrial products made by Sherwin Williams.
I have used this product on car parts and guns. It is a unique wax product and not cheap; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax Available here; http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=renaissance+wax&tag=hydsma-20&index=aps&hvadid=40465492074&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11928301975146490593&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=m&ref=pd_sl_6zjfwafrng_e
I've already used Mother's carnauba wax on my rims. As I was putting the car into storage I noticed a few spots where it has now failed and I'll have to polish them again in those spots plus re-wax. Now this is for 3 pc rims and the painted (powdercoat) center section bumps right into the polished area so I'm wondering what the product you describe will do to that paint? It would be near impossible to not get at least some of it on there?
This microcrystalline wax will not hurt powder coat. I wouldn't recommend it on painted surfaces since I think paints need to breath so carnauba wax would perhaps be best. This wax is used to preserve and protect without yellowing with age. It is used in most museums on all metal objects and many wooden ones as well. It's been around for a long time and I have never heard of any problems using it on anything. Recommend reading the link I posted above to learn more. Disclaimer; I am not a spokesman or affiliated with Renaissance company.
