Polishing advice on my professional products intake

[cobrarwanab]

My polished professional products 4.6l intake manifold is lookin a little foggy. I tried to clear it up with some chrome polish but I feel it made the situation worse. I picked up a cheap aluminum polishing kit from harbor freight and was going to try the white rouge stick on a cloth polishing ball. I have never used such a kit to polish with, any advice on the subject before I begin?

 

[my89notchback]

I have a commercial buffer that I use to do all my polish work. Where is the area you need cleaned up? This is an old kart starter I just did for my son. Started out rough looking.

 

[cobrarwanab]

I have a commercial buffer that I use to do all my polish work. Where is the area you need cleaned up? This is an old kart starter I just did for my son. Started out rough looking.

View attachment 83313

View attachment 83314

Basically the entire top of the intake. I will post pics when I get home from work today.

 

[Ozz]

Get a spiral sewn wheel, it'll provide the aggressive strength for the compound to really make it shine. Re-buffing a polished item is simple, almost fool-proof with the proper materials.

FWIW chrome polish isn't going to do anything for raw, polished aluminum as you found out.

 

[cobrarwanab]

Heres what im working on. I used white rouge on 2 small sections and it seems to remove the foggy haze but it doesnt polish to a smooth finish. it is quite shiny but has scratch lines left in the finish. Am i using the polishing wheel/ rouge incorrectly?





My tooling




Here is after the white rouge. you can see the slight lines or grooves that showed up after the polishing.

 

[my89notchback]

It’s surface preparation. I would 1500 wet sand and then polish it. Those scratches will not go away unless you do.

 

[cobrarwanab]

It’s surface preparation. I would 1500 wet sand and then polish it. Those scratches will not go away unless you do.

Is the buffing ball creating these scratches? it was a smooth surface before a ran the ball. it was just foggy. i did apply some pressure but i don't think it was enough to damage the surface of the aluminium with the cloth ball. i'm worried about hitting other spots in fear that it will groove and scratch that surface as well. do i just place the ball on the surface and let the rouge do the work of should i be applying pressure?

 

[my89notchback]

The mandrel could be doing the damage.

 

[my89notchback]

Not sure if you are doing this, but you need to polish it with this after the rouge. I use an old sock to rub this stuff in and then an old t-shirt to buff it off.

 

[cobrarwanab]

Not sure if you are doing this, but you need to polish it with this after the rouge. I use an old sock to rub this stuff in and then an old t-shirt to buff it off.

View attachment 83352

The mandrel could be doing the damage.

I'm going to try another spot taking care not to be to aggressive. Im going to pick up the rouge cleanup tommoro