[KernCountyKid]

I just got these off of ebay. You can't tell in the pics, but when they arrived they were covered in scratches, many that my fingernail will catch.

I searched the bulletin board but all I could find was info on polishing, not sanding or deep scratch removal. I've never messed with aluminum so if someone would get me started with the sanding proccess I'd appreciate it!

[Bad Rat]

If the scraches are pretty deep[ finger nail catch] I would start with 300 or maybe 400 wet & dry,[ but dry sand] to remove the deepest scraches, [use a sanding block so you don't leave finger dips, then graduate down to 500- 600 800and finally 1500 to 2000, the finer the better,, then buff with green rouge, and white rouge as a final buff.. depends on how shiney you want them,, I usually stop with the green, if it isn't a really highly detailed piece,,but white looks great too,, just more work,,, Good luck,, post some pictures so we can see how they look,when finished,,, your arms will look like popeye's Bill

[37ford4dr]

Originally Posted by Bad Rat

If the scraches are pretty deep[ finger nail catch] I would start with 300 or maybe 400 wet & dry,[ but dry sand] to remove the deepest scraches, [use a sanding block so you don't leave finger dips, then graduate down to 500- 600 800and finally 1500 to 2000, the finer the better,, then buff with green rouge, and white rouge as a final buff.. depends on how shiney you want them,, I usually stop with the green, if it isn't a really highly detailed piece,,but white looks great too,, just more work,,, Good luck,, post some pictures so we can see how they look,when finished,,, your arms will look like popeye's Bill

i agree....aluminium i sreally easy to polish it just takes elbow grease and lots of it.....do you have a buffing wheel? if not now is the time to buy one.

[abuseddog]

You can go to eastwood.com and into there tech library, under "instructions" there is some info, and also under "buffing". Take some of what they are saying with a grain of salt - there the one's selling it, but it does have some good info.


cheers

[Bad Rat]

speaking of buffers,, harbour freight has some decent prices on buffers,, or you could just use a bench grinder with a sewn spiral pad, ,, if you intend to use 2 different compounds,, you need 2 different pads,, don't use 2 different grits of compound on the same pad,, its really easy once you get into it,, the more scraches you sand out and the finer grit sand paper you use,, the faster it starts to shine... I did all the polishing on the coupe in my avator,, my arms still hurt,,

[hotrodf1]

you could always do something different and powder coat them. then you wouldn't have to worry about the scratches. powder tends to smooth things pretty good, although it's not perfect.

I like the look of a little color with all that other polished stuff. but that's me.

[curtis73]

You could media blast them. I'm not an expert on which media. I've used sand at low pressure before on cast valve covers with great success. Nice uniform finish.