The other day I did a search for "metal polish" to see what is most recommended. When the results came back, I found that mothers mag polish was the most common answer. I also found a few threads where people posted questions regarding how to go about polishing metal and they had little or no feedback. I then decided that I would do a write-up on it. I did not use anything that is not easily accessible for those of us with a limited income. This was done fairly cheap. I used a valve cover that I bought off of mike93eh. Great Seller. So here is my how-to.

Here is a list of the items you will need (I will explain each when I use them):
Sandpaper (240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 grits)
Mothers Aluminum and Mag Polish
A 20oz. Pepsi Bottle
6 inch Lag bolts
Aircraft remover
2 Flapper wheels (1 coarse and 1 fine)
2 old white t-shirts
Elbow Grease

You can get all of this stuff from Wal-Mart, except for the sandpaper, you have to get it at a paint supply store.

First, If whatever you are polishing has any paint or clearcoat on it, I highly recommend this stuff. for mike93eh on recommending this to me.

You get it at Wal-Mart in the same section as the automotive touch up paint. Follow the instructions on the can, and your good to go.

Once I removed all of the paint I went over the area to be polished with 2 flapper wheels, 1 coarse and 1 fine. These go in a drill and can smooth out any gouges in the metal.


Next, you are going to start to wet-sand the area to be polished with the 240 grit sand paper. Alot of people say to use a spray bottle for wet sanding, but since we are doing this on the cheap, grab an empty pepsi bottle, poke a hole in the lid and use it for your sprayer.


The sanding will be much easier if you have the valve cover fastened down to keep it from moving. I used lag bolts and fastened it to the table.


The wet-sanding procedure is the same for all grit levels. Begin with 240 grit, and work your way up to 2500 grit. Use plenty of water, and move your hand in a circular motion. If you see an area that looks rougher than the rest, sand it down. Once you are finished using a particular grit, rinse the area and wipe it to remove the leftover dust from the metal. Here is a good example of what each grit level should look like once done.

240 grit

320 grit

400 grit

600 grit

800 grit

1000 grit

1200 grit

1500 grit

2000 grit


2000 grit is where the valve cover really is beginning to become smooth. Here is a pic at a different angle with the mothers polish on top of the valve cover. Notice the reflection.


2500 grit


Now that is basically what the valve cover should look like after each step. Now, on to the polishing.

This pic is to show you how smooth the valve cover is before polishing.


Now, to polish the valve cover I used Mothers Aluminum and Mag Polish (the stuff on top of the valve cover in the pic above) and a couple of old hanes t-shirts cut into small rags. T-shirts work well due to how soft they are.


Take a cloth and put a little bit of polish on it and apply it in a circular motion using slight pressure.

Do NOT use too much polish. If you use too much it will dry and be harder to buff off.

Continue with the circular motion until the polish turns black. Do not use the dirty cloth to apply polish to any other surface.


Then take a clean cloth and buff the spot until it shines. Continue this step until you reach a desired luster.


And here are a few pics of the finished area at different angles.



Notice the reflection of the stuff that is hanging on the wall in this pic.


In all actuality, this is a really easy thing to do, just time consuming. I hope that you guys can understand this write-up. If there is anything that I may have missed or that isn't clear enough, tell me. This is my first write-up, and I look forward to your comments.

-Red




Modified by nitrared at 1:06 AM 12/19/2005

 

dam man...much props

good thread

 

nice, but IMO crome dip the bitch

 

nice write up. i've only used 1000 grit sandpaper, i can only imagine what 2500 is like. must be like rubbing with notebook paper

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dFreezy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice write up. i've only used 1000 grit sandpaper, i can only imagine what 2500 is like. must be like rubbing with notebook paper </TD></TR></TABLE>Nah. Notebook paper would be the next step. Thanks for the compliments.

-Red

 

will this work for polished lips too?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMpnOi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">will this work for polished lips too?</TD></TR></TABLE>I would imagine it would. We'll find out once spring gets here. My lips need refinishing.

-Red

 

alotta hard work eh? prolyl alot easier cuz you were using a dremel or soemthign.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johnxboi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">alotta hard work eh? prolyl alot easier cuz you were using a dremel or soemthign.</TD></TR></TABLE>No dremel here. I have one, but I did this from start to finish by hand to show everyone that they don't need expensive tools to do this stuff.

-Red

 

how much did the paint stripper run ya? Its like 68 bucks for a gallon here in this shithole.

 

nice write up

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deadend9009 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how much did the paint stripper run ya? Its like 68 bucks for a gallon here in this shithole. </TD></TR></TABLE>Dude that was like $4 at the Wal-Mart.

-Red

 

lookin good

 

nice write up man.

honestly, how long did that take to do though?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mike93eh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">lookin good </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deadend9009 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how much did the paint stripper run ya? Its like 68 bucks for a gallon here in this shithole. </TD></TR></TABLE>

4-6 dollar at checker or pep boys

 

nice write up red, especially for the price, that valve cover is nice

 

Love it!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM-EJ1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Love it!</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by McTree &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice write up man.

honestly, how long did that take to do though? </TD></TR></TABLE>Understand this. I only polished the top of the valve cover for this write up. The section I polished took me about 30-45 min. It's real easy once you gather up all of the materials. And the Pepsi bottle sprayer beats the hell out of a spray bottle IMO. Thanks for the responses.

-Red

 

No all thanks go to you....good and useful write up

 

nice work but you couldve made it easier on yourself if you had an aircompressor,you might want to check out this company,www.eastwoodco.com,look under metal finishing buffing ,nice work i bet your tired.

 

to speed things up even more, you can buy one of those polishing wheels and put em on a buffer / bench grinder.

then just run the motheres mag through that.

nitrared did a killer job on the prep work... which is the key. skimp out on the prep and the polishing part will not turn out as well.

now i want pics of the valve cover in the car

-edit- is it possible to get the areas near the honda logo as shiney as the rest of the vc? the area is kinda beveled ?

was your v/c painted before? i thought it was just bare metal?

sorry for the questions.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ekcivic9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

now i want pics of the valve cover in the car
</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes please..

 

you're pretty cool for doing this write up..

**bookmarked**