polishing

[myyamaha]

I tried something new for polishing your tunnel that works good I have tried many things and I think this is the best stuff here is there web site http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle- ... polish.htm

I am about to paint strip my attak gt LOL

 

[xcsp]

Polishing the tunnel

How long will it stay looking that nice? Will it go the season w/o touching it?

 

[myyamaha]

it will last sometime but it is easy to go over it again to make it look like it was!

 

[xcsp]

Polishing Process

Myyamaha, can you tell how you did the polishing? Did you just use the product you mentioned and polish by hand?

 

[myyamaha]

ok this is what I think is the best way to do this I like to use wet sand paper on the tunnel first 1000 grid then 1500! then I use a drill with a 3 inch polishing pad I bought at walmart but U can do it by hand just take longer I put it on with buffer and then take it off with buffer!

 

[2BLUE4U]

There's been numerous posts about polishing and what product is the best. I have used many of them and my tunnel has a mirror finish on it. People (mainly salesman that sell the polish) will tell you that it's a "wax on, wax off" product and it probably is if you want a half-assed job. The only way you are going to get mirror like results is starting with a polish with more grit and working your way to a polish with smaller grit and cleaning the aluminum in-between. If you're not sure what polish is grittier, take a little bit and rub between your fingers and you will have a pretty good idea. I found that after you are happy with your finish use Wizards "Power Seal". It is more of a micro-polish and will take out MOST of the small scratches you have left. If your fingers are not completely black and cramping you're not polishing hard enough. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A "MIRACLE POLISH". I probably have over 30 hours into my tunnel and it shows...

 

[BlgsRX-1mtn]

I use a combination of both mthods listed above me with a couple differences. I started with using a phosphate based alluminum cleaner (Castrol wheel cleaner to be exact). This will remove any discoloration from the alluminum. Then I started with 1500 grit sand paper, 2000 grit and finished the scratch removal with 0000 steel wool (used for buffing hard wood furniture prior to staining).

One that was done I applied Mother's Alluminum/Mag polish with a Mother's Powerball in my 18V cordless drill after going over it with that three times I come back behind that with another Mothers Powerball and Mother's Billet Polish. The Billet is a finer polish than the Alluminum/Mag. I then clean the whole tunnel with windex and go back with the Billet polish by hand to remove swirls using Viking brand terry polishing cloths from Wal-Mart.

Surgical gloves are a nice thing to have also to keep from having black fingers. All total I have about 16 hrs into my polishing project.

Here's the finished product.

Now the better question is; who makes an anti static spray to keep the dust at bay yet won't screw up the shine? I hate the fact that my tunnel is mirror shiny but with in minutes there's dust all over it.

Jim