Which metal polish........

C

chaotik

New member
Just found this site and had to be a member!!! Its like a dream come true. I was wondering what method/ products are the best way to polish aluminum. I have a semi with aluminum tanks, wheels, steps, etc. All of the aluminum is the smooth (except a few little knicks from rocks, etc) unfinished type (just looks dullish grey) . And I want to make them shine like a mirror!!!



I know it will be alot of work, but alot of us truck drivers take as much pride in our big trucks as we do our cars.



Any help/advice/techniques you could give would be great...
 
Welcome to Autopia. I know of some polishes that are designed for big rigs. Do a search using Google or another search engine and they'll turn up.



Brands like Mothers, Eagle One, Wenol, P21S, Flitz and Happich have been proven in the field but usually their container size makes for inefficient work.



Look for Tank Doctors, PPC, and Speedy.



Best of luck.:up
 
Those tanks, and Alcoa rims can be brutal to get clean...it doesn't help if you have a truck that you take to a Ryder type of place and they spray that acid all over them, white streaks and what not.



I used to work at a company a while ago washing semi's and for some reason all the drivers asked me to spray their rims and tanks with the acid...I told them every time it's going to streak them and make them look horrible.



I will have to get ahold of my old shop foreman and find out what product he got me to use on the tanks. I had to do a complete detail to a Dana truck when they switched to Fords, for a truck show. Can't remember what product it was but it gave it that mirror like shine, and was very easy to apply and remove.
 
I'd suggest using a paste type metal polish (Mothers. Eagle-1, something like that) with a random orbital and a terry cloth bonnet.



It makes it fast and easy. Smear the polish in a clean surface by hand, then place the bonnet against the surface and turn it on. Keep it moving, don't allow it to dry (cool surface out of sunlight) and use long back and forth motions.



Wipe with a clean dry terry cloth towel after a period of time.



You can purchase larger sizes of the paste type products - gallons up to 55 gallon drums. It takes 2 gallons to do a 40' liquid carrier trailer.
 
Thanks for all the help...keep it coming!!!



Aurorav8......yeah, my truck is a construction truck...mostly asphalt work, but sometimes it gets in the dirt and when you have to go into the quarry to pick up rock, the lime content in the mud that gets on my aluminum stains it...only thing that I have found to get it out is wheel acid.....or as some truck wash places (blue beacon) call it "brightener". I know the good polishes will leave a protective coating on the aluminum making cleanup easier after the initial polishing.



If you find out what you used on that truck you did...let me know!!
 
I'll find out as soon as I can get ahold of him. The Blue Beacon around here uses the "brightener"...good for getting dirt and grime off but streaks the wheels all to hell. I think its just acitone.
 
Thanks for the help bretfraz. I looked up those sites (tank doctors, speedy) and they look pretty good. I especially like tankdoctors...they show a very neglected tank half done with their product to show you what it can do. Think I might try them first.....



Has anyone tried the Rolin brand polish that topoftheline.com offers???
 
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