Hey up chasps,dont know if this is just me when I bought my ali it seemed a bit grainy (for want of a better expression)anyroad the guy in the ali stockholders assured me it would polish up OK.
Any road decided I'd polish it before fitting the interior so after 2 evenings with a polishing machine and yellow then blue G mop and a big tub of G3 then duraglit its still grainy although it is a lot shinier.
Exposed rivet heads are like chrome but the panels themselves apart from bends in the ally and corners arent 100%.
Is it just me expecting too much, the shine on the corners are telling me the compound hasnt cut into the ally enough so Im wondering about 1200's with soap then compound, anyone any ideas or am I being too piccy.
Cheers,
Bob

I dont know if this is worth a try, but in the past I used Solvol Autosol, its a paste, worked well on my motorbikes 30 years ago... dont know if you can still get it. Or Goddards Chrome Cleaner paste.

Solvol used to be the dogs dangly bits for bikers then!.

Geoffw

As i didnt make my F27 i dont know what grade of ally was used but its smooth now not a grain in sight, but its still a labour of love to make it shiny.

Anyhow the good news is that its 9 years old and the grain has been polished out

Tried solvol geoff,no joy might try 2000's paper on a small piece and see how I get on.
Dont fancy waiting 9 years Col.
Cheers,
Bob

I use peek from halfords, works well, either with a polishing wheel on a mop or by hand
Rescued attachment P6090001small.JPG

I had the same problem on my back panel, where it had got rained on.

Last night I experimented with some Carplan Greenline rubbing compound. It cut right through the graininess, but I could only do a small patch at a time 'cos the cloth clogged up and the paste lost its cutting power.

Certainly worked, though! Bought it at one of my local motor factors, so it's nothing specialist.

David

You can still get Solvol Autosol...

On Stainless - it slow's down the exhaust manifold from bluing up too!

Not sure what it's like on Aluminium, it is pretty aggresive so I'd do a test patch first.

HTH