Letter 10917 How to polish aluminum for motorcycles to chrome like finish  + Could you please advise me on how to polish aluminum motorcycle frames n rims n tools needed n what type of sandpaper 2 use to get chrome like finish n stripper to strip lacquer coating. Thanks greatly, William N [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting] - Bronx, NY + THIS IS NOT AN EASY JOB< BE WARNED> 1. Remove lacquer with furniture paint stripper. 2. Start with relatively rough sand paper. Use something rough enough to take out all existing scratches. Move to the next finer grade. Sand in a different direction from the first grade. Sand until all scratches from first grade are gone. Move to the next finer grade. Sand in a different direction from the first grade. Sand until all scratches from second grade are gone. Repeat this process using finer and finer grades until you get the finish you want. Most jewelers do this for six or seven times before buffing. For a motorcycle frame, each sanding will probably take an entire day. You may also need to buff with a buffer and jeweler's rouge to get a true mirror finish. Immediately coat your part with spray clear lacquer, use several coats. I would suggest practicing on flat parts before attempting something as difficult as wheels or frames. Ultra-fine sandpaper is available in most auto parts stores. Use wet-dry sandpaper so you can wash the aluminum dust off the sandpaper. WEAR! A DUST MASK! Aluminum dust is not a good thing to breathe. Personally, I'd suggest looking at powder-coating your parts at a shop, instead. Very cool look, reasonable price, much less work. Good luck, Bob Z [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting] - Bohemia, NY Sourcing: Buff Compound Jewelers Rouge 18 oz Tube from Eastwood.

Use a wet dry sand paper and a mild solvent together if you keep the sand paper good and wet the process will go a lot easier, you might want to wear gloves and goggles.

S Taylor
- Thunder Bay, Ont., Canada

Start off with a DA use 180 grit paper till you get all the anodizing off the frame. Then move to 220 grit, then to 400, 600, 800 and finally 1000 with the air powered DA. When you get this far your frame is pretty close to polishing. Next pull out the 1000 grit wet and dry paper, sand by hand and sand in one direction only, cross sanding will cause scratches. Then move on to 1500 then to 2000 all with wet or dry paper, now your frame is ready to polish.

Get out a handy car buffer with polishing wheel and use a rubbing compound ruff cut for automotive buffing, this will take a bit of time for the first time polisher. I use a car buffer for my frame jobs, rims are too small to use it on, keep pad damp so that compound doesn't ball up or gum the pad. Once you are done with this stage clean pad and use an automotive polish such as Perfect It III POLISH! Re buff the frame one more time with this and your ready to use MOTHERS aluminum polish on a baby diaper or polishing rag, remember with the final polish to keep your rubbing motion in one direction. For rims I use a automotive paint stripper. Remove all paint and start sanding same as above , but instead of using a car buffer I use a high grade DIE GRINDER with polishing wheel and same as above.

I hope that this helped you out, its really not that hard but it takes a while to get the results you want. The first frame I polished and I did it the exact same way I told you took me 1 hour on each side to fully polish my frame to chrome like finish.

Mike L [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- San Leandro, California

Sourcing:

Eastwood Buffing and Metal Finishing - Unique and hard-to-find items!

 

I have recently purchased an old Honda motorcycle and the aluminum components are in a sad way. This bike has been parked out in the weather regularly for about 25 years, and hasn't been cared for in the looks department..... Now I've got it and I'm starting to restore it to its former glory and shine but I'm really having troubles with polishing the aluminum parts. Can anyone offer some helpful advice to get me on my way?

Thanks in advance!:)

Andrew N [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- South Burnett, Queensland, Australia

Start with the brown Tripoli, turn the grinder on, with the buffing pad on it, and run it across the bar. go WITH the grain of the aluminum and polish until it shines. When you have a pretty good shine, thoroughly clean the aluminum with a cleaner made for it. Switch pads and repeat using the red rouge. Recently I have started using a white jewelers rouge, it colors a little better.

Don't cheat on the sanding, be thorough. Or else the result will be what looks like a shiny and dull finish...you will see spots not sanded well enough when you start polishing.

Also, ONLY remove the anodizing and polish the aluminum you can see, this way you can keep wax on it. Unprotected aluminum will oxidize.

Hope this helps.

Steve C [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Walton, KY, USA

Sourcing:

Tripoli -

Rouge -

White rouge -

Thanks for the great response, Steve. Two minor notes: Anodizing is an extremely hard surface but I don't think it's really the 2nd hardest substance known; and oven cleaner is not actually acid, it's alkali, the opposite of acid.

 
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com Inc. - Brick, NJ

The one thing I disagree with you on is the sanding direction. You HAVE to go AT A RIGHT ANGLE to the last direction you sanded, rather than WITH the direction in order to get a true mirror polish. Also, keep your buffing wheels separate from one another (change wheels each time you change compounds and keep them clean, PLUS water-rinse your part well between compounds). I just polished my rims and I used 220, 320, 400, 800, 1000 grit and then Tripoli rouge on a spiral sewn wheel, then white rouge on a loose buffing wheel... They GLEAM like CHROME with no pitting at all. But the key is go up-down with the 220 grit, then left-right with the 320, then up-down with the 400, etc. each time going until the previous grits' scratches are gone. It takes a ton of patience, but it is worth the effort.

Martin C [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

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Ed. note: Additional interesting letters on polishing of aluminum frames and rims include letter no. 800 and 1831.

Yes I am also wondering what is the best protection for a newly polished frame (Yamaha R6 1999) as well as what maintenance practices should b taken to ensure the best shine and protection of my newly polished frame?

Michael G [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
bike owner - Kansas City, MO, US

I.have restored two bikes,a 1957 BSA Gold Star and a 1972 CB750 Honda,on both engines I have polished the aluminium parts to MIRROR like finish using the 360/600/1200/1500 wetodry sand paper and then buffing with various size/shape rag wheels using MET-ALL aluminium polish.The first can I bought about 30 years ago,used it all (2 lbs),just last week I bought another can (1 lb) as I don't think I'll live long enough to use another 2 pounds,cost me 9.00 U.S., most pilot shops stock it at local airdromes..........and its made in the USA.,good luck

Ed.C.Weyn
- Waterford, Mich., U.S.A.

I have a pair of rocker panel moldings that I have to restore because the reproductions are just plain junk as far as quality goes and the NOS replacements are very expensive!
I have begun the process by using oven cleaner to remove the Anodizing and now I am ready to begin the sanding process to remove scratches. They need to be sanded and polished to a chrome shine finish and I need some input on this. I will protect the shine by using POR 15 shimmer as a sealer. Thanks, Sal.

Sal Rubino
Hobbyist - Fraser, Michigan, USA

I did my bike frame. I used a 3M Green Non abrasive stripping wheel. It will not gouge into the metal. Once the paint was gone. I broke out the sander to knock off the cast look. I went through this process:
80 Grit
120 Grit
220 Grit
240 Grit
320 Grit
400 Grit
600 Grit
1000 Grit
1500 Grit
2000 Grit
Finish sanding with 3000 grit trizak pads
Broke out my baldor bench mount buffer and muscled it around the bike holding it in my hands
I finished buffing it using white compound
I roughed it in useing brown.
I worked it like a prom date using green
As I said above, finished it with white.
After I was done, I was asked who chromed my frame, Job well done..

Justin "T-Bone" Horodeck
- Hanover Park, IL

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