Polishing Aluminum To a Satin Finish
Polishing a snowmobile tunnel here
I won't say that this is the only way to polish aluminum, nor did I take it to the mirror state. But I did clean these shocks up rather nicely with minimal work. Enjoy!
What I started with. These were some HPG rebuildable shocks. They come painted, but the paint is really poor on them, most the paint is missing in action after a rebuild or two.
I did develop a color to match the HPG paint if anyone wants it. I just decided to be a bit different here. I'll polish them!
| The Famous before shot compared to after! | ||
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| Products that I used along with a 3 inch DA Sander. |
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| Sanded with 240 grit to get most of the scratches etc out. | Sanded with 320 to refine the 240 grit scratches. Note, the 240 grit scratches must be eliminated. | Sanded with 400 to refine the 320 grit scratches. Note, the 320 grit scratches must be eliminated. | Sanded with 600 grit to refine the 400 grit scratches. Note the 400 grit scratches must be eliminated. |
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| I then just used some Waterborne wax and grease remover with the gray scuff pad and quickly hand sanded the shock to give it a fresh look. Some use WD40, I don't like using it in my shop. WD40 can cause fisheyes. |
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Tips
The most important tip, is not to try to "jump" to far with each grit. The next step needs to be able to remove the coarser grit scratch.
A direct drive sander without any orbital action will remove imperfections better, but this is what I had, and it did what I wanted.
Sanding from opposite directions can help you see when you have removed the previous grit better.
Enjoy!