Nasty Chrome/aluminum...

[twidget]

I have an 06 Sporty and I am wondering what you all use to clean the pitting on your chrome... I have some chrome that has those little bumps of corrosion on it and the meguiars polist is just not doing anything to it. It works fantastic to make it shine on the rest of my chrome... just have a few areas that i would like to clean up.

I also tried the meguiars on my aluminum parts, and it really did not do much to get rid of what looks like little water spots all over it, (tranny case, forks, etc...)

Just bought the bike, and trying to clean it up, was not really loved like it deserved...

WHat do you all use to clean the aluminum???

[Rockerbox1]

I use Mcguires on my aluminum....the past stuff, rub it on, work it thoroughly, till it turns black on the rag, then get a clean rag and buff it off. repeat if needed.

I had a sissy bar with a little rust starting to form on it, I coated it with chrome polish, then used a razor blade to scrape the rust off, then polished it....looks good to this day

[coop1824]

Eagle One Never Dull. Comes in a silver can. Stuff works great on chrome and aluminum. I use it on both of my bikes, my cars, etc. You can also use a fine grade steel wool on the chrome.

[Dave63]

Chrome is a plating. If "little bumps" are appearing, then the plating has corrosion underneieth and is failing. I've used #0000 sttel wool with MOther's Mag Polish with good results, but you need to keep it dry and waxed to stay nice.

Engine "water spots": The engine is powdercoated silver, and polished parts like the rockerboxes and side covers are polished alumunum, powdercoated as well. The "water spots" you see are blemeshes in the clear coating. You can use a fine polish to get most of those off. In extreme cases, you have to remove the clearcoating. Probably not the case with a 2006.

Polsihes that I've used with good results:

*Neverdull
*Semichrome
*Mother's Mag Polish

I also found this new stuff on the internet called "Long Haul" that's sold at truck stops. It's a liquid and works well too.


The only true way to get rid of bad corrosion is to sand/strip off the powdercoating, then polish the aluminum. It's a long painful process, but the results are worth it.

My front forks were all skanky. Bike's previous owner let it sit outside, for lack of a garage.

Forks were stripped with a 3M grinding pad (red), then gray, then 400 wet paper all the way to 2000 wet, using WD40 as a cutting oil. Then polished. You don't have to take the forks off to do this, (although I did, since I was rebuilding them enyway) but taking the front wheel/fender off makes it a lot easier.

"Aircraft" stripper works well too and saves a lot of elbow grease, but you have to be really careful that it doesn't get on anything else.

Original forks (and bike for that matter) You can see how bad the forks are, and the cam cone is almost a white, corroded hunk of aluminum. It had to be replaced.:




And now:

[Nathang]

All cast aluminum is porous and grainy at a microscopic level, that's why even the very best polished finish on uncoated cast aluminum, if not wiped and polished religiously, is doomed to develop little white spots quickly. That's evidence of a microscopic pit or void in the surface of the aluminum.

I can't say that I have done it myself, but it seems to me like I remember reading many years ago that guys who were going to do show quality polishing on cast aluminum were starting off with a very careful fine shot-peening job, like hitting the surface a million times with a small ball peen hammer, and thoroughly hammering the surface imperfections closed. Then doing the progressive surface smoothing like Dave has described. You'd have to be careful not to beat the tar out of the soft aluminum, but I believe if you could find the happy medium of air pressure and shot size, you would wind up polishing a surface as closed and dense as billet or forged parts.

[Badassbrutus]

I 320grit sand em then 2000 grit wet sand em then polish em with Zoops.
All non chromed aluminum can be polished by this method.
I also use the same method on old school auto trim.and also boat bright works to.