turnipfarmer
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 07:16 PM |
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Aluminium Woes
Hi folks…
The first time I tried to polish a new aluminium body panel on my car, black material I assume to be oxidation, came off in sheets. I rinsed this off
and kept going, but the end result was poor. The panel was visibly patchy, and also had overlap marks and streaks all over the place.
After doing a search, I tried a number of suggested remedies…
Brake cleaner
Cutting compounds
Duraglit
Autosol
Meths
T cut
Absolutely nothing has worked, and after cleaning the panel at least a dozen times, it’s still as bad as ever. The oxidation continues to pour off
with the same sorry end results.
I’ve even tried wet & dry… all grades from P600 to P2500, but still no better.
The only thing I haven’t tried is Farecia G3, (a) because there are so many versions of coarseness that I wouldn’t know which one to go for, and (b)
the expense of going for a product that may turn out to be no better than anything else I’ve tried so far.
Is there any way of getting rid of the oxidation totally, so I can get a finish that looks even all over?
Any help appreciated!
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 07:20 PM |
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I used Meguires metal polish to do the polishing bit, then finished off with flour - yes, ordinary plain white kitchen flour.
Just put a couple of spoons-full of flour into a dry bowl, then dip a dry cloth in and rub the ali. You'll find you cloth gets very black and
the ali gets very shiny. I use those cotton polishing cloths you get from places that sell auto paint - the ones that leave little bits
everywhere.
I claim no credit for this idea - I got this from several contributors to this forum!
You may find that using flour after application of one of the polishes you've already got will do the trick.
[Edited on 24/8/13 by David Jenkins]
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turnipfarmer
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 07:30 PM |
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Interesting... if strange!
I'll give it a go. Thanks
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 07:34 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by turnipfarmer
Interesting... if strange!
I'll give it a go. Thanks
Just wait until until you have the conversation with your missus - assuming you have one of those...  - "Can I have some flour please? In
this little bowl... no, I'm not going to cook anything, I want to use it in the garage..."
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turnipfarmer
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 07:38 PM |
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She won't find it all strange.
Fairly normal sort of request in this part of the world!
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AndyW
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 08:21 PM |
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Let me know the best polish and flour combo as I'm about to take off the rest of the protection from my ali panels and could do with a solution
to the already exposed area's......
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 09:07 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by turnipfarmer
She won't find it all strange.
Fairly normal sort of request in this part of the world!
Is that specifically a Norwich thing? 
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turnipfarmer
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 09:29 PM |
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OK. Will do, Andy.
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T66
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 09:59 PM |
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Thats a classic Locost tip David - now in my favourites 
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Canada EH!
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| posted on 24/8/13 at 10:41 PM |
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Flour used to remove polish from WW 11 Mustangs and other ali aircraft, including my Cessna 140. Yes it works
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number-1
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| posted on 25/8/13 at 12:49 AM |
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If you look at my car in my pics its all ali.......what i do.....
1) With a cloth rub the Autoglym polish on real well and leave it! Dont rub it off just yet. The cloth will "bleed" black as before so
make sure you have plenty of cloth. Do the entire panel/car. Have a well deserved cuppa.
2) With new cloth, (again you need a fair bit), dipped in paraffin and wipe the polish away.
3) When the polish is wiped away, let it dry then go over it with more cloth and paraffin.
It sounds like loads of work but its pretty quick and the results are awesome
Heres a pic after the polish has been put on..
And this is after its been wiped with paraffin
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snapper
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| posted on 25/8/13 at 05:39 AM |
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Plain or self raising?
I eat to survive
I drink to forget
I breath to pi55 my ex wife off (and now my ex partner)
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 25/8/13 at 07:29 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by number-1
Loving that car. Some awesome metalwork there as well.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 25/8/13 at 09:09 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by snapper
Plain or self raising?
Either! But I don't think wholemeal flour will work...
[Edited on 25/8/13 by David Jenkins]
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Volvorsport
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| posted on 25/8/13 at 09:15 AM |
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johnsons baby oil works too....
www.dbsmotorsport.co.uk
getting dirty under a bus
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turnipfarmer
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| posted on 27/8/13 at 07:48 PM |
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Thanks for all the tips so far.
Had a go at the flour method this evening.
Didn't do a lot, to be honest, but that could well be me. The panel had previously been T-cut, & the T-cut polished off, so the flour was
going onto what was an already dry, clean & polished surface.
I re-read David Jenkins' post & I think I'm meant to use the flour to remove the T-cut or whatever once it's dried.
I'll give this a try tomorrow.
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steve m
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| posted on 27/8/13 at 08:08 PM |
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I could help with your request for a nice alloy shiney finish, but why would I ??
I don't need any competition !!!
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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turnipfarmer
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| posted on 28/8/13 at 08:25 PM |
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OK... another update for all you good folks, so desperate (?) to know how things are progressing.
Tried some Autosol & left it to dry. Without rubbing it off, put on a second layer for good measure.
When that had dried, rubbed the whole lot off using the plain flour method. Well, it came up nice & shiny, but didn't really do anything
about getting the black marks off.
So... repeated the experiment but using T-cut instead of Autosol. Same result, so decided to ditch the flour idea.
Applied another 2 coats of T-cut again allowing each one to dry, but this time removed it with copious amounts of meths.
(in the absence of paraffin!)
Much better - only just a tiny bit of shadowing remains. Assuming that paraffin will be stronger and therefore better than meths, it looks like
that's going to be the solution to my particular problem.
Off to the shops tomorrow to get some!
Will post the results either way, but thanks for all your help thus far.
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