Hi guys, I'm looking to find very detailed info on polishing up painted raw metal to almost chrome looking appearance. I'm particularly trying to polish up the engine maybe some other parts to. Is it best to use a paint stripper or sand paint off first? Thanks guys

 

i would use stuff called barts stripper verry verry strong. just the mist of it makes your skin hurt and then use sand paper.

 

would something like that hurt the gaskets.

 

probably. if you take the covers off your going to need gaskets anyway. if you dont take the covers off the material from sanding will get on your motor and frame and its hard to get off.

 

In the past other forum members have posted easyoff oven cleaner to strip paint & elbow grease to polish them out.

 

Take a look at my pics page and tell me what you think of my spindle and hubs. I have polished almost everything made outta aluminum on the quad so far. If you need some tip PM. Be prepared to use lots of "elbow grease". Ohh yeah I have also done both levers.

 

Go to your local auto parts store and get some "airplane stripper".

That will take the paint off. That's as far as I've got. The aluminum on the cases has some pitting to it so, it will take some work.

 

Hey ds jobber, I don't see the pictures of the spindles and hubs on your page. Matbe I'm just blind.


I have the engine on my work bench because my bike is out of commission for now. Figured I would start polishing the engine.
Since some of the metal is pitted I'm assuming there has to be some sanding involved. So what grit do you have to go to before you can start polishing.

Also, do you think that the whole engine will polish out the same, I'm not sure if the engine is made up of different metals(or is it all aluminum). I think different metals may polish diferently.
Thanks for the info guys

 

Use 240 grit. You can either use wet or dry sandpaper or you can use this greaseless compound that is 240 grit. The way the greaseless compound works is that you spread it on a buffing wheel and let it dry. Basically turns a buffing wheel into a sanding wheel. Check out a company called Eastwood. I have bought all of my buffing supplies minus the motor from them. I also bought one of the HotCoat setups from them.

 

I have polished many parts on my quad. Airplane stripper does work great but it takes longer to sand when you use it. I don't use any chemical strippers anymore. Good old sandpaper and elbow grease gives the best result without having any special polishing equipment. I use wetsand paper it doen't clog up as fast and seems to cut in better. I use about 200 grit than 400 grit. at that point you can use steel wool to give it shine but if you want it to look like chrome you have to try this stuff. It is a polish called Heavy Metal comes in 3 coarses, coarse, midium and fine. It will polish almost any metal and is the best I have found. 1-800-529-9400. I can make a peice of flat alum look like a mirror in mins. with just using a rag and elbow grease.