Well, due to unpopular demand here is a small Vfaq on polishing metal.

I am, in no way an expert or certified metal polisher. These are just a few tricks tips and techniques.

Polishing something yourself will save you a ton of money, adds a nice clean look to certain parts and also protects from rust to a certain degree.

EG: some shops charge up to 300.00US to polish a couple of feet of intercooler piping and side tanks.... No Thanks!

Before you start, safety first. Eye protection is a must and gloves are optional since you will be working with rotary tools.

The part I am polishing today is a GReddy UICP elbow. Metal: Cast aluminum.

Step 1: The tools, you will need the following.

1. Various grits of sand paper. I use anything from 100 to 800.
2. Metal polish; there are many types of metal polish. I use Autosol; can be found almost everywhere.
3. A cotton buffing pad.
4. Drill or Buffing wheel.

Sand paper

Autosol

Drill

Buffing/Grinding wheel


Step 2. Cleaning

You will want to clean the part you are about to polish, sandblast, hot tank, solvent cleaners and so on.


Step 3.

Sanding is strait forward, start with large grit and work you way up to fine grit. The quality of the polished surface greatly depends on the sanding done. You want to get as smooth of a surface as possible.

Should look something like this:


Step 4. The polish

Polishing is also pretty much strait forward. Either apply polishing paste to the part or wheel and buff away. I usually keeps strait lines at a slow pace. Staying in one place too long will overheat and cloud up.

After polish:



Fell free to add comments and additional information.

I'll add that the finish depends largely on:

- how many steps of grit you use
- how long you spend on each grit, to ensure a uniform surface
- how fine your final grit is (I go all the way up to 1600 grit paper, which feels a lot like vynil)

There is still pitting on the finished product (above), probably because not enough time was spent with the coarse grits.
It certainly is shiny and reflective, but in the end you get out only what you put in.

As for equipment, there really is no rule.
I used a 1/4 sheet orbital sander with good results, and I even clipped a soft cotton cloth to it for the final polishing step.

Autosol is great stuff

True, i did not spend much time on this elbow, maybe 25mins total.

Since it was a cast metal the pitting is deep, I would of had to use a rougher grit like 60 or lower and spent allot more time leveling out the pitting.

Borring and time consuming but it would of yielded a "cleaner result".

Don't forget to keep a buffing cloth handy in the glove compartment! You never know when someone will say "Pop your hood man, let's see how it looks!"