Hey everyone, I just found some new valve covers that i like, and i wanted to make them shiny and sparkle, theyre made of aluminum , anyone have any advice on how to polish them or at least clean them, any tool or anything. any advice is welcomed, thanks

 

I polished a set of aluminum Iroc-z wheels and TPI plenum to a mirror finish....</P>


Start with 200 wet sand paper</P>


Progress to 400 wet sand paper</P>


Then using your dremel (everybody should own one!!) and buy the buffing &amp; polishing bits at a local hardware store. Take a trip out to Sears and buy the metal polishing kit they have, contains Tripoli &amp; White Rouge polish (technically it's jewelers polish/rouge).</P>


If they don't have that, then go to a local jeweler and they can supply you with some. Use small amounts of the Tripoli (preps the surface for the White Rouge fine polish) and still use sparing amounts of White Rouge, but you can go over the surface as much as you want...</P>

 

oh hey thanks for the help just have some questions

what is a dremel? I dont know if i got one or i dont, and what do these buffing and polishing bits look like becuaes i dont know how they look like. thanks for the help im a go try it. thanks for the advice

 

dremel (like a drill kindaexcept straight)is about the most versatile tool ever. has like a billion kinds of tips to put in </P>


and...if you can afford it...use some zoop seal on it so you wont have to polish it for a while...like a year they claim</P><edited><editID>Jugador</editID><editDate>37931.7801157407</editDate></edited>

 

Zoop seal is a crapload of money also...</P>


The rouge will run you about 7 dollars. And you have enough to last 25 years..</P>


The buffing pads are about the size of a quarter, and they are soft and have a thread going around the edge. </P>


You can get a dremel for about 30-45 bucks from Sears. You can do what I said by hand...but you must have RUNNING water on the work piece while your wet sanding otherwise youll just continue to put fine scratches in it.</P>

 

</P>


Did you not notice the "if you can afford it"? </P>


(i assumed one could understand that it was expensive from that statement)</P>

 

Mother's Mag&Aluminum Polish.

 

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I see it, now that you EDITED it! CHEATER! <IMG src=smileys/smiley2.gif border="0"></P>

 

Not to bust anyone's bubble but if you're gonna polish valve covers I wouldn't suggest using a dremel. You'll be working on it forever. For the nooks and crannies a dremel is fine but you'll need some serious juice for the flat portions, sides, tops. 400 grit is a decent stopping point for the sanding, you could go to 800. After that I recommend using the Tripoli as suggested above for any visible scratches. I've done this on cast aluminum motorcycle wheels, not fun at all. But my best purchase for this job was an angle grinder. You can use4 or 5 inch buffing wheels combined with the Tripoli and White rouge and it will poilish at about 10-12K rpm. Saves a crap load of time and will polish large surfaces better than a dremel. Your other option since valve covers are easily handled is to utilize a buffing wheel on a bench grinder which might work better than a corded angle grinder for you. </P>


Make sure you post some pics when complete.</P>


PS. The better job you do on the poilishing, especially the fine polishing (white rouge) the less maintenance they will require. Have fun.</P><edited><editID>ninjzx998</editID><editDate>37932.6543981481</editDate></edited>

 

Aluminum oxidizes, doesn'tmatter how well you polish it.</P>


The angle grider with a buffing pad is a good idea. If you don't have an angle grinder, I'm sure you have an electric drill...you can go to Home Chepot errrrrr Depot and pick up a bit and buffing wheel this way.</P>


If you go with 800 grit you risk giving the surface a cloudy look. I've seen some people go to 2000 wet and have a mirror finish, I've gone to 800 and made everything cloudy with no luster what so ever. My best experience was with 400 wet. </P>