polishing alluminium

[Anonymous]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me how I can polish alluminium, my motor to get it so shiny like chrome????
What do i need for it??

Thx

[Anonymous]

I don't think you can polish between the fins.

I have polished flat surfaces before on my GSX-R frame and swing arm. All you have to do is use stripers and fine sand paper to remove the finishes. Next get a cloth polishing wheel on your drill with a stick of polishing compound, and go to work. I have no idea how you would go about getting between the fins. I don't like to use a dremel. Its too fast and you end up with a wavy finish. I think if I was doing a motor I would just try to clean up the existing finish or re-finish it.

[Anonymous]

Polishing compounds, like Autosol, and alot of elbow grease always worked for me. But then again, I've been lucky with most things I've owned that were aluminum. Had a set of aluminum car rims once that turned out good using rubbing compound and a buffer on a hand grinder.

[Anonymous]

Do a search for 'Make it brighter'. There is a detailed way of polishing aluminum.

[Jay B]

Polishing between the fins is going to take a massive amount of work. My suggestion is to strip and repaint or to have them bead blasted and repaint. Dont even beleive a Dremel would work there because of the depth of the fins.

[Anonymous]

Jay's right, getting between the fins is a royal pain in the @$$. I don't go that in depth (sorta speak) with my business. Best best is, like Jay said, clean the cylinders, glass bead blast them, and paint. You can then take a sanding board or something and sand the fins and shine those up, but I would not recommend going through the hassle of doing in between the fins, cause it won't last long anyway.