Removing very fine scratches in un-coated polished aluminum

[Riviera Joe]

Removing very fine scratches in un-coated polished aluminum





Advise on Polishing Uncoated Bon-Speed Aluminum Wheels




Hi There,

I have a set of Bon-Speed Wheels on my car. They were polished to a very high mirror like finish. I have always tried to keep them in good shape. I have been using Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish. The white cream.

I seem to be far beyond machine polishing. It seems when I use the Ball or Cone I put more hairline scratches in then I take out.

No matter how I try I can’t seem to get rid of the hairline scratches. Now just so you understand you can’t feel these scratches with your fingernails. You can only see them in direct sunlight but when you do, they look horrible.

I was going to try Meg #7 on them I figured if it would take swirls out of paint maybe it could take the swirls out of the aluminum.

After reading on your site I saw somewhere glaze is for paint not metal.

Could you please explain the proper way to handle this? I’ve tried both the Mothers Ball and the Cone on my drill and it seems to get worse each time I try.

Seems to be the best when I do it by hand with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish.

Honestly it still isn’t good. I can be reached at 917.582.1471.

What could I be doing wrong???








Thank You,
Joe

[Mike Phillips]

First - because this is your first post to our forum,

Welcome to AutogeekOnline!


And also thank you for bringing this to the forum. I love to get e-mails from people but prefer to type out answers on the forum.

Hi There,

I have a set of Bon-Speed Wheels on my car. They were polished to a very high mirror like finish. I have always tried to keep them in good shape. I have been using Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish. The white cream.

I seem to be far beyond machine polishing. It seems when I use the Ball or Cone I put more hairline scratches in then I take out.

No matter how I try I can’t seem to get rid of the hairline scratches. Now just so you understand you can’t feel these scratches with your fingernails. You can only see them in direct sunlight but when you do, they look horrible.

First - from the pictures and your description - the finish is as close to chrome as possible. That's good. The problem is because you have the aluminum polished to such a high degree, any little defects/scratches is driving you up the wall. If you get your face close to the wheels you see them. If you stand back 5 feet you don't see them. So we're talking about very fine scratches.

Here's your pictures in full size,

I was going to try Meg #7 on them I figured if it would take swirls out of paint maybe it could take the swirls out of the aluminum.

After reading on your site I saw somewhere glaze is for paint not metal.

Yep - wouldn't do any good to use Meguiar's #7 or any paint glaze.

Could you please explain the proper way to handle this? I’ve tried both the Mothers Ball and the Cone on my drill and it seems to get worse each time I try.

You've reached the limit as to what you can do by machine with this foam type. You've as the saying goes,


Hit the the wall

Or

You've hit the ceiling

Seems to be the best when I do it by hand with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish.

Figured this. And what are you using to apply the polish?

A clean soft foam applicator pad?

Honestly it still isn’t good.

What could I be doing wrong???


Thank You,
Joe

You're not doing anything wrong, you've merely reached the limit as to what can be done using the tools and products you're using.

Your next option is to try something else.

Hang tight...

[Mike Phillips]

Three things,

I spoke with my friend Rob the Harley Detailer, just now on the phone. If anyone can achieve perfection on aluminum it's this guy.

Here's what Rob said,



First - Aluminum is all different. Some aluminum can be polished easily to perfection, some cannot. You may have hit the wall.


Second - For your best chance, Rob uses little cotton make-up applicators. And you can only use them for a little while and then toss it and get a new one.


Third - If you can see a grain pattern to the aluminum - rub in the direction of the grain.




If you don't have cotton make-up applicators, then Rob says you can use cut-up pieces of soft cotton t-shirt material. You can find round, cotton make-up applicators at drug stores like Walgreens and CVS.

[Mike Phillips]

One more thing to try to help, this forum is like Autogeek's Customer Service only unlike a phone call to a rep, the info I type out endures forever - or at least as long as this forum is around.


Here's a real example of an car one of my students polished it, it was an ALUMINUM bodied A.C. Cobra.

He calls me up and says he's tried all kinds of polishes to create a perfect mirror finish on the Cobra. Whatever he tired there were always fine tiny scratches or marring left behind.

I recommended 3-4 different high quality aluminum polishes and a soft Lake Country foam WAXING pad, (softer than a foam finishing pad), on a Porter Cable and try that on the aluminum body.

He took my advice and later sent me a picture of the Cobra and said it had a flawless mirror finish. He ended up using the Wolfgang Concours Finishing Polish. Now you can't get a foam pad that large on a Porter Cable onto your wheels, I'm just sharing how this one guy had the same problem you had and how he skinned his cat.


If I put some effort into it I could probably contact him and hopefully get a picture but I'm working on scheduling ROADSHOW classes so others in America can attend one of my detailing classes and I also have about 40 product to use and then review.


Always behind....


I hope the above two posts I made at least gives you some direction to try.

It could be you've hit the wall and now it's time to simply live with what you got and enjoy that incredibly cool Riviera!

[Riviera Joe]

Three things,

I spoke with my friend Rob the Harley Detailer, just now on the phone. If anyone can achieve perfection on aluminum it's this guy.

Here's what Rob said,

First - Aluminum is all different. Some aluminum can be polished easily to perfection, some cannot. You may have hit the wall.

Second - For your best chance, Rob uses little cotton make-up applicators. And you can only use them for a little while and then toss it and get a new one.

Third - If you can see a grain pattern to the aluminum - rub in the direction of the grain.


If you don't have cotton make up applicators, then Rob says you can use cut-up pieces of soft cotton t-shirt material.

Thanks so much for your time. I'll give the cotton a try with the Mothers. Wish me LUCK!

[Mike Phillips]

And on a related note....


I wrote this yesterday - NEW CONTENT.


It has to do with keeping the paint on a car in great shape but the part about what you TOUCH a surface with is related to what you're trying to do.


When it comes down to maintaining a scratch and swirl free finish - it all comes down to how you touch the paint - Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

[Riviera Joe]

Hey Mike,

A gentleman from Mothers contacted me in regards to my post. He suggested I try Mothers Billet Metal Polish. So I did. I used large cotton balls to apply it. I wiped it back and forth a few times never letting it dry. As soon as the cotton begins to turn black I wiped the excess off with a micro fiber towel then polish with another clean micro fiber towel. Ok so I ended up with the best finish I ever produced. However there are still minor swirls. Someone suggested trying to cut the swirls with a slightly courses polish but I’m worried that will only produce more swirls or scratches that I also won’t be able to get out. I’ll tell you an uncoated Billet wheel may be gorgeous when new, but it’s absolutely hell to live with if you intend to keep it flawless and you are going to drive the car.

[Mike Phillips]

Hey Mike,

A gentleman from Mothers contacted me in regards to my post. He suggested I try Mothers Billet Metal Polish. So I did. I used large cotton balls to apply it. I wiped it back and forth a few times never letting it dry. As soon as the cotton begins to turn black I wiped the excess off with a micro fiber towel then polish with another clean micro fiber towel.

Ok so I ended up with the best finish I ever produced.

Thanks for updating us Joe.

Love seeing that someone from Mothers reached out to you, my guess is Forrest? If not, that's okay, all the folks at Mothers are high caliber.

As for the final results, sometimes we

Hit the wall

That is we take the results to the best we can achieve and then time to move on until maybe something better is introduced to give a try.

I'm sure 99.9% of the people that see you car do nothing but drool and dream.

[Mike Phillips]

Shared here,

Suggested polish for diamond cut wheels