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Aluminum panel polishing

2K views 15 replies 14 participants last post by  Sherrell 
#1 ·
I'm looking for the best way to polish the aluminum panels, used the search function and wasn't able to find anything helpful. I'm sure this has been covered in detail previously. Can anyone provide a link to a good thread? Thanks.
 
#2 · (Edited)
I had ALL (and by ALL I mean ALL) my aluminum panels polished and let me tell you, after god knows how many hours I've pumped into it I've come to one conclusion - WASTE OF TIME!

It's so @#$@#@$#@$#@$ delicate you can scratch it easily and then it's time to re-polish it. If you touch it it's time to re-polish it. If you let time pass the elements will force you to repolish it (no idea how long until some form of corrosion sets in, but if you let it sit and get dusty it looks like absolute crap after several months)

I'll always say the biggest mistake of my build was getting into polished aluminum - for reference, now my engine bay/footboxes is powdercoated silver vein. My cock floor is pc silver vein, and the rest of the panels are custom NCPainter carbon fiber. Only polished pieces (after having polished EVERYTHING) is my 2 main trunk pieces and my firewall.

Does shinneeeee shinnneeeeeee look awesome - absolutely! It is possible to maintain it without turning into a slave to it - absolutely not!


Anyways, so you want to make the biggest mistake of our build, okay! The general process is like polishing a car - start with an agressive grade of compound and work up to finer and finer polishes to remove the marks left by the previous one. What I found was generally:

6'' stiched cotton wheel (drill or bench mounted) w/ tripoli
cyclo w/ Nuvite F7 & fleecewrwaps
cyclo w/ Nuvite S & fleecewraps

Bam. Mirror shine, no swirls. To fix up damage (e.g., scratches), cyclo+wool pads+ Nuvite F7 and REALLY crank down on the cyclo almost to the point of bogging it. A few seconds and the scratches should be gone. Then F7 and S it with fleecewraps. If wool pads don't take it out, then you need to get into wet sanding - I usually ended up doing 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, then wool, the F7 then S. Your mileage may vary.

With aluminum there is no way to obtain the maximum possible shine with 0 swirl/cut marks without using a cyclo and fleecewraps

http://www.perfectpolish.com/CycloPolisherforAluminum.htm


RIP shinee

 
#3 ·
I polished mine before installing using 400 grit then 600 grit wet dry paper then polished with mothers paste aluminum polish. After completing the the installation I waxed everything with a good liquid wax and 6k miles later I only spray and wipe dust away shines great!

Rick
 
#4 ·
I second what EFN says. All I did was my firewall. I spend 15 minutes on it every time I'm working on the car because it always looks like it lost its brilliancy. And I'm still not legal. love the look, hate the maintenance.
 
#6 ·
What enfnfast said and if you really want to waste some time, when you're all finished polishing, hit it with a good coat of clear. That way when it gets dull and cloudy you not only have to polish again but remove the clear before you do it. Ask me how I know.

Tom
 
#7 ·
Okay...

As I understand it, most of you guys are not in favor of polishing...

Does anyone know what that "Shark Hide" stuff on FFmetal's site does?
 
#14 ·
Shark hide protects it from corossion and a number of other things. Gregg_M and several others have used it with good success. I tried 2 cans of it and for the life of me it kept looking like crap. (my two main problems were rainbow sheen and the fact it brought out cut marks in the metal under harsh lighting).

I honestly have no clue if this is due to

- How my panels were cut
- The products I'm using to polish it
- I'm far pickier than most (when I test clear-coated a piece, the clear-coat brought out the cut marks again.....it really bothered me, but the guy who did it said it didn't bother him since it's natural for metal to have cut marks in it)

Yep, you guys go with something else, and maybe I'll take another trophy home from HB next year.


Edit: IMHO if EFN had just done a few panels instead of the entire interior he MIGHT have a different opinion. He threw quite a bit of money at that part of his build and it didn't work out for him. I did mine as a labor of love and I have no plans to change them out of paint them over...
:)[/QUOTE]

Between all my supplies and paying for the initial cut with a rotary, I probably spent less than $1200 on it ...... what really (and I mean REALLY) pisses me off is that I probably spent months polishing and re-polishing when necessary, the panels. Absolute wasted time - however, with only 3 primary panels polished now (firewall, 2 big trunk pieces), I think I should be okay.

Now, if carbon fiber panels fail to turn out nicely (and by this I mean they just don't flow nicely; I'm not worried about NCPainter doing a poor job on them), oh boy oh boy, there's major $$$$$ gone.


[QUOTE="Greg_M, post: 1676525, member: 5245"]I polished all my panels that show. The Sharkhide is a clear acrylic coating that's a little tricky to apply but once you get it, it's easy. That said I did mine 3 years ago and have driven the car 7000 miles with absolutely no degradation of the panels to date.

So for all you who poo-poo it, take a look at my buildsite and see the results. The car looks the same today in every aspect. It still looks great.

Greg[/QUOTE]

No doubt, your car does look great! =)
 
#8 ·
I'm trying a semi-polish, kinda shiny satin finish (engine panels only) but far from mirror. I used a hi-speed buffer with rough cut followed by green rouge on the wheel, spent a whopping 5-10 minutes max on each panel. Will hide minor scuffing and i can clean it up with hand polish, but i'm not planning on spending much time on them after install. Looks much nicer than the original finish IMO. FYI i use buffing compound for paint to hand polish aluminum, I found the aluminum polishes I've tried scratch the aluminum while the paint polish doesn't (finer grit).
mark
 
#9 ·
$150 worth of powder coating - done. Zero maintenance and tougher than raw aluminum.
Polished does look pretty when it is maintained though.
Arch
 
#10 ·
WOW - You need read no further than EFNFAST's post - that says it all - and I must say, I admire him admitting that after dozens of posts of his shiny panels. If the king of bling says it was his biggest mistake, take heed - it takes a big man to publicly admit a mistake like that - I am impressed.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Yep, you guys go with something else, and maybe I'll take another trophy home from HB next year.



I'm happy with my polished panels, but I'm still building. I plan to put carpeting with a soft backing in the trunk for everyday use and pull it out when I want to show some bling.

Edit: IMHO if EFN had just done a few panels instead of the entire interior he MIGHT have a different opinion. He threw quite a bit of money at that part of his build and it didn't work out for him. I did mine as a labor of love and I have no plans to change them out of paint them over...



:)
 
#13 · (Edited)
I polished all my panels that show. The Sharkhide is a clear acrylic coating that's a little tricky to apply but once you get it, it's easy. That said I did mine 3 years ago and have driven the car 7000 miles with absolutely no degradation of the panels to date.

So for all you who poo-poo it, take a look at my buildsite and see the results. The car looks the same today in every aspect. It still looks great.

Here's a few photos:









Greg
 
#15 ·
Between all my supplies and paying for the initial cut with a rotary, I probably spent less than $1200 on it ...... what really (and I mean REALLY) pisses me off is that I probably spent months polishing and re-polishing when necessary, the panels. Absolute wasted time - however, with only 3 primary panels polished now (firewall, 2 big trunk pieces), I think I should be okay.



Jezz, less than $1200, like no big deal. Sorry, to me thats a LOT. If its that easy for you, throw some my way:)
 
#16 ·
My two cents is that I wouldn't bother with polishing or powdercoating the panels. I'd clean them up well and apply a thermal coating like Cool It by Thermo Tec to the engine-bay panels. I'd cover the visible side of everything else in the cockpit and trunk with carpet, vinyl, or leather. That's actually what I'm doing for my build.

Don't get me wrong. The panels look absolutely beautiful if done well (see Greg's above). But it is SO much work.

Aluminum is an active metal (chemically/electrically). It's very difficult (but not impossible) to achieve a surface finish that is shiny, stable, and lasting. You really have to keep the oxygen away from the metal, and this is a challenge - especially in the engine bay. Thus, after achieving the desired luster, one has to apply a chemical surface seal that will adhere to the polished surface to lock-out the O2 for as long as possible. And then there's the fact that aluminum is so soft and is rather easily scratched by (it seems) almost everything that touches it.

My personal view is that this is a street-legal race car. Thus, I kind of like for it to look like one.

All of this said, it's your car, and you should do what you want with it regardless of anyone else's opinion. That's the beauty of these cars...

Cheers and good luck...

Sherrell
 
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