Member Since: 27 Apr 2009
Location: at sea
Posts: 1209
If you have a plastic basin big enough you could anodise it yourself, just buy some caustic soda throw it in the water slightly warm is better, I forget the best solution but it does a top job, beware if you have any threaded sections be sure to insert a waxed up bolt to protect the threads, oh and watch you body parts it gets rather hot, rubber gloves are a must as are goggles
18th Jan 2011 2:30 pm
hughes_jh
Member Since: 09 Jan 2011
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 294
Aluminium is notoriously difficult to polish. I reckon that when you say you "polished" the centre grill, what you really did was buff the layer of aluminium oxide on the top. This is a bit like polishing car body work where all you are really achieving is buffing the layer of laquer.
To properly polish aluminium, you need to DA (Sand Disk Abrasion) with a medium grit paper, and then work through the grades until you get to about 1000 grit. Then you can polish, but its difficult because aluminium is really soft and the heat generated by polishing doesn't help matters!
I would strongly recommend heading to a small polishing shop. They will do these things in about an hour and charge you about £50. Honestly, you can't compete with that on your own.
With regards to finishing, I agree anodising is the norm but please don't try it yourself! It'll only cost £20-£30 at an anodisers who'll do a much better job.
For the absolute untimate finish, they need to be fully DA & polished, then go through a special plating process (top secret!) and then rpolished. This will give a mirrow finish thats better than stainless steel and will last a lifetime!
For your grill piece, it was probably chrome plated aluminium so it would give that chrome look. As everybody has mentioned, the Mantec plate you've got there is probably not chrome plated so trying to get that reflective look will be in vain.
You might want to clean the plate up first then sand the surface down with a DA to get rid of any possible ingrained dirt. I would actually stop at that but if you want to continue I think your tube of Autosol would do just fine there, unless you've already finished the tube up polishing your first piece! Visit my car detailing blog at http://maksimumdetail.wordpress.com
18th Jan 2011 3:02 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
Polisher was forum member Rabbit Leader, don't know where he is at the moment, now a Dad so maybe busy but I am sure you will find details in one of his posts.
18th Jan 2011 3:06 pm
devonchilliman
Member Since: 03 Nov 2008
Location: Devon
Posts: 5224
See .....I'm not the only one,so ner,ner,ner,ner,ner
Thanks nickmak & hughes_jh
Discotres,that looks the dogs ,just need a polisher then,been to Halfrauds this aft for a drill attachment but they were carp
18th Jan 2011 5:29 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
I wouldn't bother painting on the brick pattern though
18th Jan 2011 6:43 pm
devonchilliman
Member Since: 03 Nov 2008
Location: Devon
Posts: 5224
,so was that finish achieved with a polisher & Autosil ?
Halfords' polishers are crap to say the least. They would be too underpowered with too little torque so the polisher would get bogged down. You need something like a 500-750W DA polisher if you want to get anything done with that. If you don't want to spend extra money on that you could always do it with some elbow grease! Visit my car detailing blog at http://maksimumdetail.wordpress.com
18th Jan 2011 8:29 pm
devonchilliman
Member Since: 03 Nov 2008
Location: Devon
Posts: 5224
Tried the elbow grease route today ,would you recommend any particular 500-750w DA ?,thanks
The difference is the power, with the first one being a 500W polisher IIRC and the PRO one being a 850W one. Both will do the job equally well and can also be used to spruce up your D3's paintwork. These are a bit dearer than your Halfords ones but it's well worth the money. Visit my car detailing blog at http://maksimumdetail.wordpress.com
18th Jan 2011 8:38 pm
devonchilliman
Member Since: 03 Nov 2008
Location: Devon
Posts: 5224
Thanks for your help ,but both links are the DAS 6
Member Since: 03 Nov 2008
Location: Devon
Posts: 5224
Thanks nickmak
18th Jan 2011 8:59 pm
hughes_jh
Member Since: 09 Jan 2011
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 294
Haha, just seen the critical review of the halfords polisher, a couple of years ago I made a massive set of aluminium tables worth more than 10 brand new D4 HSEs, and guess what our polishers used for the final buff.... You guessed it!
To be honest though, by the time you need a lambs wool polishing mop, all the hard work has been done, it's only putting the final sheen on
Last edited by hughes_jh on 18th Jan 2011 9:24 pm. Edited 1 time in total
18th Jan 2011 9:07 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72801
You should ask whoever did this, saw one on Regents Steet this avo and it looked rather 8)
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
but I am sure you will find details in one of his posts.
Here's what I meant:
