Looking for a good how to on polishing?

What grits, compound, etc? I just get things scratched up and can't get a good shine to them. Thanks!

 

wash car
clay car
polish car
wax car

you should check out the detailing forums.

 

I should have been more specific. I mean polishing metal, thanks!

 

wrong forum.

go to the detailing forum.
or, dont be lazy and just google it.

 

You can save time and money by buying this one from me. $135 shipped + your old valve cover. I'll ship first upon payment.

 

I'll buy it if you buy my CF lip.

 

Ok polishing info:
1st
Make sure to always wet sand, wet sanding produces a better finished product.
2nd
Use proper grits, depending on corseness of the metal you are trying to polish. If the metal is pretty smooth already then start with a finer grit, if it's really porus then your gonna have to go with something alittle rougher. Otherwise it would take you forever to get the metal flat & flat metal is what produces a nice shine.
3rd
Sand the metal in cross patterns (\ / = X)
4th
Periodically check your progress by using a fine grit compound like (Mothers Aluminum polish). Checking your progress will let you see where you need to sand more to get the metal flatter to increase the shine factor.
5th
Once the metal has been sanded flat, it is a good idea before you apply the Mothers or other compund to lightly sand the metal so the sad scratches are going the same direction (=====).
You do not need to use alot of hand pressure, just sand lightly.
6th
Apply Mothers with a soft cloth, with mothers you do not need to rub hard at all. Just rub until the rag your using turns black. The blacker the rag, the better the shine.
7th
Remove excess polish & enjoy.

When I did my valve cover I started with 600grit, then 800grit, then 1000grit, then 1500grit & finally 2000grit. The mothers is a super fine polish I think it's somewhere near 10,000 grit. The mothers goes along way, you do not need to use alot to get a super duper high gloss shine.

 

 

Do you have any pics to show your end result?

 

You can't get show quality shine without a floor standing buffer. You can try to polish all you want with your hands, but it's just not going to happen. To get a smooth finish you need to remove alot of material.

 

Wouldn't something like that be a little beyond an average DIY'er? I would imagine for a finish like that it's probably be better to have a shop do it. That looks awesome nevertheless!

S

S

 

I'll try to get some pictures of my valvecover for you to check out. It looks just like well 1max2nv's vavlecover. I didn't have to use a buffer to get the same kind of shine, however a buffer will bring the additional heat to the party & make things happen alittle faster. If you haven't used the mothers product, then you should try it. It is a really fine cream polish that makes it into everylittle nook & cranny. Below is a picture of some nitrous solenoids I polished around 1995 & I haven't even touched them with any polish since. The photo below was taken around March. Don't laugh because I have a fuel solenoid mixed in with a dry set up. I only have it set up like that to show my friend who lives in NY how he needs to hook up his dry kit. The picture isn't that great, my intention wasn't to take the pictures for looks, but mechanical setup. I assure you they look like mirror. And keep in mind they haven't seen a drop of Mothers polish in almost 10 years.
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictur...ption=nos_dry2

 

I have a feeling that the paint you added to the solenoids gave it the "polished" look. Do you have any examples of straight metal without any paint?

 

Come on man, lets be serious here. I already posted a write up on how to polish. How in the world is the sh_tty rattle can paint job got anything to do with polishing metal. If you want to see what polished metal looks like check out 1MAX2NV's vavlecover picture. It is a prime example of what clean work turns out like. If your doubting my polishing write up then let us all know how it's done? If you think polishing by hand can't turn out a clean finished product then you are absolutely wrong. You do not need fancy tools to accomplish show quality work. All you need is alittle patience & some know how to get the job done & done well.

 

Do not get me wrong, I am not trying to bash/doubt your work. I am simply saying that with paint, I believe your pictorial example is sort of flawed. I was hoping to see a piece with no paint. I would actually try your method if I can see the outcome on unpainted piece.

 

Yes, polishing by hand is no doubt possible. It's just very time consuming and you need alot of patience. There are alot of imperfection on a valve cover compare to a nitrous solenoids. Yes, the final polishing part (Mother's polishing cream) of the job can be done by hand. The most time consuming part is the sanding part. It would take a very long for anyone to sand the imperfection out of the valve cover by hand. I would say atleast 8 hours of work. I know because I have tried before. With a floor standing buffing wheel and compounds like black emery or brown tripoli. The action of buffing wheel is like you sanding by hand but with 5000 times of speed. Another great thing about buffing wheel is that it's more flexible and it can get into tight spots that your fingers can't to remove material. Anyway..the bottom line is if you have a lot of time to waste...polish it by hand. Here's a picture of my intake manifold and I would never waste my time sanding/polishing it by hand.

 

I appologise if I came off as an **** to yall, please forgive me. I totally understand what 1MAX2NV is saying about hand polishing being time consumming. Yes, if I had a buffer I would more then likely polish everything I could with that, to save time & energy. Like he said the valvecover has lots of imperfections in it. They actually start to become more aware once you start to sand on them. Obviously the entire goal here is to remove as many blemishes in the metal as possible, that's why it is important to use the proper grit sand paper when you take on certain projects. If the metal you want to polish has deep blemishes then you need to start with a corser grit sand paper as I noted in my write up. Starting corser will remove more material & when working the metal by gradually stepping up the fineness in grit you will save alot of time. For example if you wanted to sand a piece of concrete smooth with 2000 grit it would take you a lifetime, but if you started with 36, 60, 120, 220, 320, 400 and so on you would get the job done in alot quicker time. Thats why I try to tell people not to be intimidated by trying to polish, because you can only end up with something better looking then you started with. So yes, using a buffer is deffinitly the best & quickest way to get to the end result, but needing a buffer to get the same result is not necessary if you take the proper steps.
As for the solenoids, don't think for a minute that they weren't nicked & marked to heck, those things looked like doo doo when I got them. I actually considered tossing them in the garbage before I gave them a facelift. My friend actually offered me $150 dollars for those solenoids because of how they look. I told him I would sell them to him becasue I don't want him to destroy his motor when the solenoids lock wide open on him? LOL

P.S. 1MAX2NV,
When are you gonna finish off that super clean intake manifold with a polish TB?
Also are those just bolt covers on the intake manifold bolt's or are they 12 point chrome ARP's

 

I'm cutting back on polished parts since people at shows just don't appreciate polished parts. I'm trying to work on my interior and exterior of the max now. They are just bolt covers on the intake manifold.

 

I understand, some people just don't appriciate it anymore. I stopped caring what other people thought about my car a long time ago, now I just do things to make ME happy?