How to polish aluminium engine parts???

[SSTibet]

How to shine aluminium parts?

Folks, I am absolutely crazy about cleanliness of my 95 Vette Coupe, especially the engine bay. I clean it with WD-4, tooth brush, cutips, and even with tooth picks. However I give up at the end since color of aluminium parts remain dull after all the effort, such as the pipes, manifold, etc etc etc. Is there any practical way for an ameteur like myself to shine the aluminium components?

:eyerole :cry

 

[c4cruiser]

I use 0000 steel wool to smooth the surfaces and after that, some Wenol metal polish. This works great on the A/C hard lines and the coolant hard lines.

The suspension components can be polished in much the same way but I only use the steel wool on them. I have seen the control arms polised and they look really nice but it is a tremendous amount of work to get them that way! Use non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner to hose off any grease or road dirt and then use the steel wool. Be careful around the rubber grease boots for the balljoints as you do not want to tear them.

Sometimes a Dremel tool with the cone buffing pads will do the job where your fingers cannot easily reach. You might want to get the flexible extension shaft for the tool so you can reach down into really tight areas.

 

[SSTibet]

Thanks Buddy

I use 0000 steel wool to smooth the surfaces and after that, some Wenol metal polish. This works great on the A/C hard lines and the coolant hard lines.

The suspension components can be polished in much the same way but I only use the steel wool on them. I have seen the control arms polised and they look really nice but it is a tremendous amount of work to get them that way! Use non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner to hose off any grease or road dirt and then use the steel wool. Be careful around the rubber grease boots for the balljoints as you do not want to tear them.

Sometimes a Dremel tool with the cone buffing pads will do the job where your fingers cannot easily reach. You might want to get the flexible extension shaft for the tool so you can reach down into really tight areas.

I tried the steel wool (or an equivalent of it that my wife uses from time to time to clean pots & pans) and also Scotchbright (also a dish cleaner pad that has green color) together with WG-40; results are pretty good... Thanks for the advice my friend.

 

[goingballistic]

If you can purchase a can of "never dull"..........great for chrome also works well on aluminum stuff. It's a cotton impregnated material that comes in a can, you just rip off what you need use it and throw it away. Works well on my alloy non chromed wheels. Takes some effort but worth it.