Keeping bare aluminium sparkling

[gnewman79]

I’m interested in polishing the bare aluminium body work. Someone has suggested if I put detergent on it, the aluminium will go dull. Do you know if this is correct and how you keep it gleaming please?

[elie boone]

Degrease with cellulose thinner and then use a polish like Belgom apply with a rag and use paper to get the shine.

[rj]

Don't bother :-p

[Duckpit]

Agreed, dont bother, otherwise you will spend the life of the car doing it

[Phil G]

Depends on your interpretation of gleaming. If you want to maintain the brushed finish that CC provide from new then I recommend Vistal; however, if you want to a highly polished effect then first you have to get there which involves buffing and then maintenance as per Elie's comments.

[7 wonders of the world]

A member Ollie on here kindly shared his preparation steps with me and they did indeed yield amazing results....   

[auyt]

I have had some good success with product. The Key is do small areas with the Deoxidizer first and before it dries use the polish, then use a microfiber cloth to clean of the surface. even the Anodised screen comes up nicely

Then finish it with a Carnauba wax to seal it.

 

 

[7 wonders of the world]

2 x  BM's heading your way   

[Phil G]

Hijacking this thread for a mo.....

I would be keen to know what wax would work on the brushed aluminium finish. I've tried the Auto Glym product and paid the price - it smeared and tainted the finish to the extent that I had to rewash with Vistal.

[Nick Bassett]

My first love (yes even before 7s) is aviation and listening and reading about the mighty fighter jet, the EE Lightning that was unpainted in the 60s/70s, the ground crew used lots of Wadpol:

https://www.lasaero.com/products/article/H02A2A5ED

Expensive, but seemed to do the job!

 

[elie boone]

Or a DC6 

[gnewman79]

Thanks. Interestingly enough someone recommend Frasers Aviation who have a great range of similar products.

[Molecular--Bob]

I have bought Nuvite from Frasers and have the dual head polisher that they sell. Great to deal with and good advice available as well. 

If you search for Nuvite on here it will point you to a few threads that cover the process of Nuvite polishing.

Ian

[anthonym]

Wadcom duly ordered. My goodness it's very comfortingly expensive. Hazardous product charge doubles the price and Overseas shipping adds £100, so doubling it again.

[Temple Cloud]

I first tried Autosol which is really good but then found Mothers Mag and Aluminium Polish which I think is much better. It's also in a tub and much easier to use. The results are great and worth the effort. I think well polished ali gives a Caterham a real classic look and I love mine.

 

[Ed White]

I'm autosoling an ex academy car atm. I don't reallywant a pristine shiny car, as its go too many blemishes, but it literally hadn't been cleaned in 20 years, so it was due a fettle. Thanks Temple, i'll try the Mothers. 

[7 wonders of the world]

If the ally has never been prepped you need to flat out the grain..... BM me and I had details shared by another member which work very well   

[Beagler]

Unless you have them anodised or clear coated you will need to repeat the polishing.

Ideally change em to stainless, fit and forget. 

[OldAndrewE]

I think this thread is about the full aluminium body panels, stainless would be a bit heavy and anodising would be tricky   

[Beagler]

Apologies thought it was the wing protectors. Got mixed up with this thread.

 

https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/forum/techtalk/bare-ally-what-product-make-it-easy-clean

[heptagon]

I was vaguely thinking about this recently but as someone who barely finds time to even wash the car I decided it probably wasn't another hobby I had time for 

[anthonym]

Ok so my Wadpol has arrived £200 worth plus duty here overseas. Huge can,

 

 

[SLR No.77]

I have no experience polishing the bare aluminium panels but I know a DA polisher with Mother's Mag polish works really well on both my SLR polished alloy wheels and bare alloy motorbike panniers.

Stu.