Polishing undercarriage parts?

[ch35iM]

I always make an effort to clean the underside of my car with every wash. This either involves me getting underneath and scrubbing with a daytona wheel brush or just spraying it down with simple green or flash brown royal, letting it sit and pressure washing it off. I've been doing this for the life of the car (2 years) and this method does keep it as clean as the rest of the car... but recently I've noticed that while it's clean its not as shiny as it once was.
It's a BMW X3 (F25) so not much undercarriage is visible other than the rear struts when behind the car, but I'm a perfectionist like many on here and want it to be as shiny as new. I've tried hand polishing some of the bits and waxing them, which works, but after 2 washes or so everything gets dull again, looking like its dirty when its actually not.. The parts I waxed actually looked MORE dull than the unwaxed parts. Anyone have any suggestions as to why this is happening? Is it the chemicals? Is it something to do with wax hazing up on satin paint?

I've also tried CG barebones but that doesn't stick to metal as well as it does plastic and just drips off.

Thanks for any opinions, I hate being so nuts with this stuff sometimes.

[allenk4]

Pictures Please

[expdetailing]

I would recommend protecting it rather than trying to keep-up with it, uless it's a show car and you show it off in a lot with a mirror next to the side panel. Honestly I use 3 cans of amsoil hd metal protector spray (approx $10 per can). It's a lot like Fluid Film, but is better, IMO. It's labeled as a metal protector and a motorcycle chain lubricant. It atomizes very nicley, and can be sprayed in nooks and crannies w/ the supplied red spray tube. After spraying it, I could tell it will last at least one season here in NE ohio. It sprays wet, but dries like a tacky' wax-like substance. Best of all, you can spray it on your car's bolt's threads and not aggrivate your mechanic like you would if you used something like rubberized -undercoating.

[brondondolon]

When ever i detail a car i do my best to clean the rear axle and any front suspension components that are visible. I dont go all out on it because lets face it only a rare breed of people care about that part being clean. But ill spray it with apc rinse off then spray with megs hyper dressing. I only do this on some cars not all. On my own truck ive been known to get under there with brushes and APC but id say i do it 2-3 times a year TOPS. What i do and some might shun me for this is I came up on a couple cases of black semi gloss paint about 2 years ago and twice a year ill spray all the black parts down again. I dont invest to much time painting it i just put a thin enough coat to make a difference on some of the parts.

[expdetailing]

I can tell you that I had wished I found earlier the spray I mentioned above to keep my rotor-hub, brake calapers and mounting brackets protected because they would be silver right now instead of rust brown, and showing through the spokes. I'm teeling you guys, this stuffs worth its weight in nickel. They ship at light speed too.

[Roger T]

On my Corvette aluminum undercarriage pieces, I sanded smoother with a rubber sanding block and polished with steel wool and sprayed with clear coat paint. Maybe you can apply this method.

Roger T

[expdetailing]

What about all those expossed threads on the tie-rods' the many nuts ang bolts with threads showing up every where. And, those awful hard-to-reach lower radiator hose clamps, and the brake lines that snake their way to the rear of the car?

[ch35iM]

Pictures Please

I'll try to take some soon, I'm a college student with my car parked outside so it would certainly stir up some confusion with people wondering what the hell I'm doing. Also, I have some BareBones on it now so it's pretty shiny. I'll take some after i wash it next time and remove all the dressing.


I would recommend protecting it rather than trying to keep-up with it, uless it's a show car and you show it off in a lot with a mirror next to the side panel. Honestly I use 3 cans of amsoil hd metal protector spray (approx $10 per can). It's a lot like Fluid Film, but is better, IMO. It's labeled as a metal protector and a motorcycle chain lubricant. It atomizes very nicley, and can be sprayed in nooks and crannies w/ the supplied red spray tube. After spraying it, I could tell it will last at least one season here in NE ohio. It sprays wet, but dries like a tacky' wax-like substance. Best of all, you can spray it on your car's bolt's threads and not aggrivate your mechanic like you would if you used something like rubberized -undercoating.

I may be interested in this. Does it attract dirt? I know it won't make the underside look beautiful, but will it make it look like a greasy/waxy mess? Also is it safe on the painted parts (not just bare metal), 99% of my car is black paint under there, hence why I want it shiny.:D

EDIT: Car is parked outside now, which it never was before, and will be for a majority of the next 3 years, so definitely interested in some protection.

[oldmodman]

I did pull the stainless Borla exhaust off my Mustang and take it to a friend's shop and use his belt sander and his commercial polisher on it. The belt sander had a free length of 18 inches on the belt so I could get the belt to wrap almost halfway around the pipe. Took me around five hours to polish all the tubing and the mufflers. The tips were already mirror polished and only needed a gentle cleaning.