polishing

[rebelman1505]

whats the best thing to use when your polishing up your aluminum on your 4 wheeler bumpers. nerfs........ect

[Moto92]

eagle one wadding polish is good

[ny300exrider]

well first sand it with all the differnt grit sand paper up till at least 600 grit, get a nice buffing wheel and go buy some mothers aluminum polish and start buffing....it is awsome. you can buy a kit from eastwood that i heard is really really good and the stuff comes out amazing...i might have to invest in one after i get a 400ex

[stupid driver]

i bought this stuff in a green bottle yesterday at menards. i think its called nossiz or sumthing like that. i was using it today and dam* it works good. im happy w/ the results

[hawiianpwr]

get WENOL its one of the best polishes out there

mothers.......if the stuff isnt painted over..dont bother using all the grits of sand paper...jus use a steel wool..like #0...or #00 to get all the scratches out..then use the same steel wool..and spray a little bit of wd40 on it..and run over it again with the steel wool.....then clean off with a rag...apply mothers....let it dry up...then rub in with a clean rag and then with anpther clean rag...go over it and rub it in even more...comes out lokin great...notice the end cap for my exhaust and my fender mounts in the back ground....all done with this method:D

[DantheEXman]

EASTWOOD is the only way to go if you want yer stuff comming out like a mirror... Just go to www.eastwoodcompany.com and order a buffing kit, comes with everything you need.

(Sorry about the link) it works now;)

[DantheEXman]

sorry, here is the pic... (notice the reflection of the screen in the window)

[DantheEXman]

another...

[Ralph]

first use some aircraft paint remover to get all the paint off, then use a little sandpaper out to get it all smooth, try to go in the same direction so all the light reflects in the smae direction making the finish better, then take a little mothers and put it on some steel wooland polish for a little, after a lil while switch to paper towels or some rags and use mothers and polish some more, the u send all ur nicely polished parts to pappy and have him clearcoat ur parts to make em last. done!

[OutlawEX]

i use a white rouge compound with a buffing wheel...Im gonna invest in teh eastwood

[Ralph]

i havent found that white rouge yet in any stores and i didnt feel like ordering anything

[racin 400]

jewlers rough is the same thing as whit.

[Str8Wicked]

One the engine mounts you need to sand or you'll never get the edges smooth. Since the aluminum engone mounts do not come perfectly flat and smooth you need to sand them to get the true look and shine you want.

[Rebelrider10177]

Ok..let me get this straight. You sand it or use steel wool on it then you just polish it and it comes out chrome looking. It kinda sounds too good to be true bc some of these guys on here have got there engines shining pretty good. I dont get it???

[MX26]

DantheEXman.. Uhh. Check your link buddy.

[DantheEXman]

Sorry guys.. here is the link

www.eastwoodcompany.com

[franciscoluis]

a question... is this made of aluminum???
And if i have to take the side covers of the engine off to polish them...
Thanks

[DantheEXman]

That is the heat shield... Yes its aluminum, and no all you do to take it off is inscrew the 2 bolts that are holding it to the pipe... Hope i healped

[racerx573]

bling bling

[racerx573]

dif angle.

[racerx573]

:D

[racerx573]

:eek:

[Ralph]

bling?

[Ralph]

:blah

[franciscoluis]

ok... but if i want to polish the side cases of the engine, do i have to take them off, and if so, it if difficult.
Thankyou.

[Ralph]

Originally posted by Lrd Mx400ex
:blah btw thats with no sandpaper

[Stevie-D]

ok... but if i want to polish the side cases of the engine, do i have to take them off, and if so, it if difficult.
you will need to take your cases off. drain all of the oil, then just remove the bolts holding the cases in place. if you dont have a manual, i can scan the section out of mine and send it to ya if you want, send me a PM.

[luvmyex]

Originally posted by Lrd Mx400ex
btw thats with no sandpaper
Th!ats obvious

[Str8Wicked]

btw thats with no sandpaper

No wonder all the pits are still there... I'll have pics of my smooth ones I sanded. I will polish today...

[Ralph]

Originally posted by Str8Wicked
No wonder all the pits are still there... I'll have pics of my smooth ones I sanded. I will polish today...

well i didnt care for it enough, when your more than 2 feet away u cant eaven see them,

[Str8Wicked]

Didn't have a chance to polish them yesterday but here are pics of the mount as they are now before being polished. I used 80 sandpaper than went down to 220 and finished it off with 400.
They are so smoooth already

[Str8Wicked]

one more side angle pic....


See I use a lot of sanding first so when it comes to polishing it's no big deal. You take all the big stuff out with sanding and the tiny scratches get taken care of by the polishing.

[CBW]

Originally posted by Str8Wicked
one more side angle pic....


See I use a lot of sanding first so when it comes to polishing it's no big deal. You take all the big stuff out with sanding and the tiny scratches get taken care of by the polishing.


yep...........;) :D

[Str8Wicked]

Here I just finished polishing it and will polish one more time by hand after installed.

BLING BLING

[Str8Wicked]

BLINGIN BLING

[muff]

str8wicked do you polish in circles or straight up and down?

cause on the mounts i've done i went up to 600 and you can see lines in the mount from the sandpaper

[Str8Wicked]

I sand usually in one direction first and than the opposite direction after. If I have a very hard dent of nick I want to get out I go over it in a diagnal direction of the scratch. The key to getting the stuff out is the polishing which you should do in every direction possible to get rid of everything than finish it off in one direction. usually you can see which direction is going to look best when polishing. If your going down to 800 and nothing is happening than you are sanding to hard with your starting paper or do not have enough papers from start to end.

I found that to use the 80 but softly unless on big scuffs scratches etc. Than if you go over with the 220 and get it all smooth with that and all the major scratches out than when you hit it with the 400 it should come out almost polished already.

Look back at the first pics I listed yesterday. The pics were taken after the sanding of the 400

[ny300exrider]

heres my uglyness...1st try polishing and i used a dremel....better than black**shruggs**

[racerx573]

If you use the reg. mothers, then the billet, it works a lot better, IMO. I used the fine wire wheel dremel bit, then I use some of the "rougher" polishing bits, then move on to the hand polishing, then buff it.

[tants]

would just sand paper and polish still make things look good? or do i gotta go out and buy all fancy tools? in tech class they have a wire brush connected to one of the bench grinders. this would work right?

[Ralph]

Originally posted by tants
would just sand paper and polish still make things look good? or do i gotta go out and buy all fancy tools? in tech class they have a wire brush connected to one of the bench grinders. this would work right?

he wants to do his sidecases and i recomended getting the real tools...

[racerx573]

Sandpaper will get off the paint, but make sure you buy every different grit of sand paper, well a medium, then middle, and then the verry fine stuff, also some steel well. Bt sand paper might leave some scratches, if you dont know what your doing.

[ny300exrider]

mine above was sandpaper and polish and came out ok
the pics shows everuy little tiny thing and dust and crap...it worked good for the amount of money

[Str8Wicked]

The bad thing I notice when using my dremel is if you skip the bit on the metal it leaves deep marks depending which bits your using. I do fine with sand paper and of coarse my tabel mounted wheel polisher works wonders....

[Jimmy Lee]

The best way to go about this is to practice practice practice!!!
if the alum. had no deep scratches start with a 200grit then go to a 400 then a 600!! make sure its smooth as a babys butt!! then get some blue magic......make sure it has ammonia in it!! thse are the best type polishes....make sure to use a wool or terry cloth to polish!!!
JJ

[ny300exrider]

Originally posted by Str8Wicked
The bad thing I notice when using my dremel is if you skip the bit on the metal it leaves deep marks depending which bits your using. I do fine with sand paper and of coarse my tabel mounted wheel polisher works wonders....
yup that is what is bad....happened to mine once but ive learned now....its alittle hard to notice but there is a little ding on the throttle cover,....no big deal for me though , its so small

[Str8Wicked]

Whenever I get a ding I just have to sand that area like a mother to get it smooth again and start the process over in that part of the aluminum...

[luvmyex]

Finish with 400 grit???I usually start at 200 and finish with 1500.I have even used 2000 grit and that will almost polish it by itself.Then i dont need the buffer as much.

[Str8Wicked]

I finsh at 400 grit and have no problems...

[Rebelrider10177]

Want sanding it down that much kinda take away a lot of it. I mean want it get a lot thinner and not as durable. If u sand it a lot it seems that you would eventually wear it out?!

[muff]

Originally posted by Rebelrider10177
Want sanding it down that much kinda take away a lot of it. I mean want it get a lot thinner and not as durable. If u sand it a lot it seems that you would eventually wear it out?!

I see what your saying but your not takin THAT much off of it to make a difference, motor mounts are pretty thick, we're taking off fractions of an mm

[yamaha225DX]

would i be able to use steel whool to get my black paint off my pull rope cover on my 225DX 3 wheeler
i want it crome too
i know its not a 4 wheeler but its what i want to chrome
thanks
Ben

[Pappy]

smooth and no scratches is what ya'll should be after. if you are going to do it...do it right. nothin worse then seeing a half polished part.
http://exriders.com/vbb/attachment.php?s=&postid=421564

[yamaha225DX]

thats what i want my cover to look like pappy
should i use steel whool to get paint off or just start sanding it
Ben

[Pappy]

i would use paint stripper and fine steel wool...not sandpaper. then the fun begins. using polishing compounds the part will need to be smoothed and polished. with good equipment its a 4 hour job easily on each side case. ofcourse size and shape will really determine the time and quality of the finish. atv side covers are not virgin aluminum stock and have metal fillers in them. they will appear as dark spots on the parts. these can be polished out in most cases. good luck:p

[yamaha225DX]

thanks
paint strip
what about paint thinner or is that the same thing

[Pappy]

paint thinner is used to thin the paint...stripper strips it. try zipstrip or aircraft remover. they are readily available at most auto parts and hardware stores.

[muff]

Originally posted by Pappy
nothin worse then seeing a half polished part.

lol u didnt do the sides there pappy

rest of it is good tho, did u do the back?

[Pappy]

actually i didnt do the sides because im debating wether i am going to pc the sides and then clear the whole thing. yep the back is done also:)

[muff]

yeah powdercoat the sides, that sounds sweet

[Jimmy Lee]

Heres some before and after shots of about a 15 minute job on some pipes!!

notice the polish next to the chrome


http://www.f150online.com/galleries/images/74-1165-49706.jpg


http://www.f150online.com/galleries/images/74-1165-49705.jpg

[Str8Wicked]

wgeres the pics...

thats how mine come out pappy

[muff]

for those pics he showed go here
http://www.f150online.com/galleries/images/74-1165-49706.jpg
and here
http://www.f150online.com/galleries/images/74-1165-49705.jpg

once you click on those links and come back the pictures will work