polishing alloy plenum
Discussion
Any ideas about polishing aluminium. It has a texture like an aero chocolate bar so I assume something is needed first to fill the "holes" before the polishing and buffing starts. Reason I ask is that I have just had rocker covers chromed and they look brilliant but they show up my upgraded alloy plenum (yes I know have the plenum chromed but the rockers set me back £200 and there is a limit). I suppose I could just spray it black with heat resistant paint:confused
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Hi.
I had an intake manifold to polish on my old Audi.
There are polishing kits available to help ease the amount of effort it takes to do this job.
I started by removing all the bits of casting flash (with a smooth file) in the first instance.
Then by the use of sheer determination and hard work, i used a flapwheel or two mounted to a drill to remove the worst of the roughness.
I followed that up with different grades of aluminium oxide wet/dry papers going from about 180grit to 1200 grit(finest).
Final polishing took the form of autosol metal polish to remove the last of the marks from the 1200 paper (use wd40 as a lubricant) and then it was clearcoated with acrylic laquer to keep its lustre.
Took bloody days, but was very nice to look at when mounted up on the engine.
Worth it if you have nothing else to do for a coupla days, but its possible to have it done professionally too.
I had an intake manifold to polish on my old Audi.
There are polishing kits available to help ease the amount of effort it takes to do this job.
I started by removing all the bits of casting flash (with a smooth file) in the first instance.
Then by the use of sheer determination and hard work, i used a flapwheel or two mounted to a drill to remove the worst of the roughness.
I followed that up with different grades of aluminium oxide wet/dry papers going from about 180grit to 1200 grit(finest).
Final polishing took the form of autosol metal polish to remove the last of the marks from the 1200 paper (use wd40 as a lubricant) and then it was clearcoated with acrylic laquer to keep its lustre.
Took bloody days, but was very nice to look at when mounted up on the engine.
Worth it if you have nothing else to do for a coupla days, but its possible to have it done professionally too.
deltaf said: Hi.
I had an intake manifold to polish on my old Audi.
There are polishing kits available to help ease the amount of effort it takes to do this job.
I started by removing all the bits of casting flash (with a smooth file) in the first instance.
Then by the use of sheer determination and hard work, i used a flapwheel or two mounted to a drill to remove the worst of the roughness.
I followed that up with different grades of aluminium oxide wet/dry papers going from about 180grit to 1200 grit(finest).
Final polishing took the form of autosol metal polish to remove the last of the marks from the 1200 paper (use wd40 as a lubricant) and then it was clearcoated with acrylic laquer to keep its lustre.
Took bloody days, but was very nice to look at when mounted up on the engine.
Worth it if you have nothing else to do for a coupla days, but its possible to have it done professionally too.
sounds like hard work but i'll give it a whirl. Cheers
clint
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