I used this stuff yesterday on my polished aluminum trailer and polished aluminum wheels to knock last winters corrision off of it. I don't know if it's the same as CLR, I have never tried that, and this stuff is only a buck a bottle

I cut this stuff 1:1 with water, then filled a weed sprayer with it. Altogheter I used 10 bottles of it, it's still a pretty cheap way to clean a 9500 gallon trailer. I did get some strange looks from the clerk at ALCO (the store where I bought it), probably thinks I was going to use it to manufacture drugs or something.

First I washed the trailer off, then went to work on it one section at a time. The key to using this type of chemical is to have the aluminum wet before you start, then spray it on from the bottom up. If you start at the top and work down, you can get some streaking as it runs down. Let it set for about 30 seconds, then wash it back off with a steam cleaner. Do not let it dry, otherwise you'll have to reapply the chemicals. A few places I couldn't reach with the pressure wand, I brushed it on, then rinsed it back off with a garden hose. A garden hose will not have the pressure to wash the corrosion back off without brushing it first.

If you use this as I directed, it will not "acidize" your polished aluminum by leaving a milky white surface, the shine will still be there. I should have gotten a picture of one of my rims, but I forgot about it, I'll post one later.

 

it will not "acidize" your polished aluminum by leaving a milky white surface, the shine will still be there

Alan, this "milky white" staining is exactly what I'm trying to remove from the aluminum top piece of my tailgate liner. Do you (or does anyone) know what will remove this stain?

 

any metal polish and LOTS of elbow grease. there are felt buffing wheels for drills and grinders that work great with polish.

 

I would bet that your tailgate liner is of a harder aluminum than rims etc.

The steps on my KW are like that, I use the Turtle Wax rubbing compound (it's cheap) in the red container first, then follow up with Mothers Metal Polish. Be sure to remove all traces from the surface before switching to the polish.

If you have a buffer setup like millertime300 was talking about, it'll save you a lot of time I use a buffing wheel on a little angle grinder for stuff like that, and change wheels between the rubbing compound and the polish.

 

I work in retail in a paint dept. next to automotive and we see all kinds of cleaning products come and go, but one that I saw in use and had to buy was Castrol Super Clean. It's $5 a gallon but the stuff is STRONG. It's not a concentrate but 4 parts water and one part Super clean makes a fantastic wheel cleaner, it eats through brake dust faster than any wheel cleaner I've ever used. Doesn't leave a residue either.

The first time I saw Super clean in use was when a lady dropped a the whole gallon right in front of me and it leaked just a little bit onto the floor, I started wiping with a paper towel and I KID YOU NOT it liquified the paper towel.

For deep polishing I've always used that wadded polish that comes in the silver can, Mother's I beleive. There's also some blue liquid junk in a bottle labeled "Metal polish" - don't use it. I still have scratches on my center caps I'm trying to get out, I think the polish has pumice in it.

 

The easiest way to get the white milky look off aluminum is jeweler's rouge and a high speed buffing wheel. You can find the rouge and buffing wheel at most major truckstops. Follow up with hand polishing using mothers or equivilant. Thats how I used to polish my tanks and wheel on my rig.

 

I just clean my stock rims once a week, I will use actuall polish, the stuff that is almost like cotton ***** when I wash it, sometimes I will just take a soft dry cloth and qipe it down. After a year and 30,000 miles, they still look (almost) as good as new. They do have scratches drom pulling off the hubs or from hitting the rim with the tire iron when pulling off the rims to rotate tires. I only spend about five minutes total doing that every week.

 

I used to use Flitz metal polish. It will make aluminum surfaces shine like mirrored chrome! Many body shop suppliers sell it.

Another one I used to polish my aluminum side covers on my Kawasaki Z-1 was Happich Semi-chrome. Both are made in Germany. I don't even know if the later is still produced today