Getting ready to polish the side cases on the DS.

Found this thread. . . do you have any input other than this?

Polishing Aluminum

What have you guys done to make the job go easy?

 

Welp, I polished the frame and swing-arm on my sportbike. Not sure about quads, but the bike had an anodized coating that needed to be removed. Some said oven cleaner will take it off, but that didn't work for me, so I started with 180 grit paper and an electric sander, then (I think) 600 grit, then 1500 and wet sanded with 2000 before buffing. You might not need that rough of paper, but I had to get through the clear coating before I could do any polishing. Then I went to town with a 10-inch buffer. Other than that, patience, a soft rag, and good alum. polish will take out all the swirls and leave an awesome look. Everytime I open the garage door and see my bike I smile and tell my bike "Your f@#king gorgeous!!"

 

clear powder coating is a good thing seems i'm always repolishing things kind of a pain.

 

the clear coat will not last and starts to get a yellow tint to it and it is hard to remove after that...if you have some powder coating stuff or questions i can forward to my buddy who doeas all that for over 20 years, he did my bike and rims and everything else that has paint..

 

when i did mine i striped them with some liquid stripper and then sanded , about 4 or 5 cycles and then just polished them with mothers, you will repeat these stages if you are a little pickey like me about the shine..They cam out nice but the metal was a little beet up from slamming those gears on my side cases....

 

my dune rims have lost there shine[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] so i went after them with 1500 grit wet sand paper and just a weird green solution (has a grit in it for alum) after buffing on them with a small grinder w/polishing wheel they look worse than when i started. must have skipped a few steps. well i guess the satin look is back for me[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

already polished wheels dot need to be sanded down again or it could have been that green stuff or you used dirty rags, atleast i never sanded something down that was already shiny..

 

i asked a guy (he sold me the green polish) about what to use and he said because the sand wore off the smooth finish and pitted it, i would need to smooth out the alum first (wet sand w/1500) then repolish with his stuff. damed don't tell my wife another salesmen got me[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

Clearcoat Powder coating works great.
If it yellows, it was put on incorrectly, or was cheap material.
If its aluminium, you can clear anodize, thats the best way to go.

 

When i want to polish my aluminun i bust out all three of my varitable polishers 6 diff compound bars my steam cleaner two cans of mothers two bags of polishing rags. My best of lynard skynard and a twelve pack of MGD then i go down to homedepot and pick up hector and his cousin put them to work and listen to my lynard skynard and drink the beer while they polish there arms off !!!! im telling you i enjoy polishing my alum.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]