Just pulled a non-scraped/dinged grille from the Pull-A-Part in Lynnwood last Monday. It is not perfect, the annodizing is foggy and there are tiny marks from years of useage. Anybody ever polish out the aluminium and seal it? Since I have about 1 1/4 hours into pulling it and $16.50 plus tax into getting the grille, I thought maybe it could be polished and made into a great "Driver"-grade piece.

 

I hear you can remove the anodizing with acetone, polish it, and clear it kinda like they do with polished aluminum wheels.

 

Mr.GT; love the photo-can't stand Neil Young or his ilk (the SOB can't sing either)! I didn't know acetone would remove it, thought I'd have to use course paste/compound to cut through and work my way to finer and finer grit/compound. That is easier...I also thought about just sealing it w/Zoop Seal (works well on my buddy's F350). Definitely will give the clear route a try first.

 

Thanks! I feel the same. Love classic rock; hate Neil Young.

Zoop is the stuff I was thinking of. I know a couple people on my forum (We work on Crown Vics/Grand Marquis) did the Acetone/Polish/Clear route on their aluminum window trims and such and they looked like brand new when they were finished. Chrome powdercoating is another option.

 

7d2 Custom

I have read many times that members here have had good luck//results removing the factory

clear coating using (" Oven Cleaner ") and steal wool , and then polish !




Wally Womack

 

you can get aluminum as shiny as chrome.
remove the coating thats on there. then start out with 400 grit, 600 grit, 1000 grit, 2000 grit, 3000 grit, then a buffing pad with polishing compound. wetsand during that whole process, i like to use wd40, but you can use whatever.
then use mothers ultimate billet polish. it costs 13 bucks a can. the smoother the surface the better the shine. when parts are chromed they are polished first using this process.

 

You can also remove the old coating with methylene chloride. It is usually available in the form of "aircraft stripper" at the auto parts store. Methyl ethyl ketone will also do it and is available at home improvement stores. It is usually labeled as "MEK". These two chemicals are a sure fire way to remove pretty much any coating; however they will also melt your flesh down to the bone (seriously, they can and have). So use lab gloves, goggles, etc. The benefit is that they are so strong, they require little to no work on your part. If your not comfortable with the danger of these chemicals, then use something a little more run of the mill (personally, I would only use them in very small quantities around the house with kids/pets/dumb adults, in a shop is another story).

As for polishing, get your self a bunch of wet/dry sand paper in varying grits and a bowl or water. Don't be afraid to throw away the sand paper and get a new piece when it starts clogging up. Using fresh paper will greatly speed up the process. Oh, and if you think you may ever paint or clear coat the grille in the future, don't use WD-40 or any other oil based product. You'll embed the oil in the metal and make it very hard to remove. The oil will react with the paint and cause it to "fish eye".

 

not trying to be an argumentative dick but i must say i've polished frames, swingarms, wheels, and many other motorcycle parts for myself and other peoples show bikes where it absolutely looks like chrome. i use wd40 because its readily available, very easy to wetsand with, and it doesnt clog up. i dont get why you would want to polish aluminum to a mirror shine with an unbelievable smooth texture with thousands of grits of barely abrasive material and then paint over it. because no matter what you use to polish it, even if its kyjelly, the paint will not stick and neither will the primer. maybe ANODIZING, or CHROMING, but definitely not painting, because this is not what body shops do when they go to paint something. this is something they do to the absolute final finish to achieve a shine so bright it looks like the paintjob is still soaking wet. so sure nobody uses wd40 when painting a car but for polishing your grill i would highly recommend it. and if you get fish eyes or orange peel with whatever it is your doing then your doing it wrong.

 

Yeah, nothing wrong with WD-40. I'm just saying if you think you may ever change your mind and paint the grille (black headlight buckets, '68 style black slats, red ranger stripe, etc) WD-40 may not be the best thing to use. The problem with sanding oil into metal is that you are impregnating the metal and it will be difficult to get that oil out once it's sanded in. If you go to scuff it up later, you're just going to release more oil (especially in aluminum). Things like WD-40, silicon tire shine, armor all, etc, are notoriously difficult to get rid of and even at a particulate level can mess up a paint job. Orange peal is actually from spraying too much paint at once and/or not wet sanding. Anyway, it may turn out fine, but it's not the recommended practice, at least not in the autobody classes I've taken.

Next time I polish something that I know I won't paint, I'll have to try out the WD-40 trick. I usually just use water or polishing compound.

 

Now I know why the black painted pin stripes on the polished trims on my 72 sports custom did not stick in some spots. So does the WD-40 evaporate after 4 years? I did not seal mine, so more likely I will have to redo those pieces. I keep learning new things on this site every time I visit, Thanks. I sanded my front grill by hand with no chemical help, Took me a "century" to sand the anodized finish, wish I would of known 4 years ago

 

Also I second the Niel Young pic. HaHa