Bilyk

In the next month or so i plan to overhaul the rear suspension and drivetrain
while i am at it, i wanted to try polishing some componenets

does anyone have any info on how to do this? i went to a Cmax store and the guys weren't too helpful

Mikez40

Get yourself some "00" steel wool and some metal polish like Mothers or eagle one, etcl, and a lot of elbow grease and they should shine right up.

vinnies87

:iagree: ,,, clean them good first.... start with 00 then go to 000, when you use the 000 use some mothers alum polish with it.... after you clean them up, use straight mothers polish and they will shine...

Gar

Finish it off with wadding polish :yesnod: Such as Eagle One Never Dull. It makes Aluminum look like chrome. :jester :steering:


[Modified by Gar, 6:43 PM 11/10/2003]

Bilyk

the guys at Cmax told me to use sandpaper... but steel wool is a much better idea!

should i shoot any clearcoat on the parts after to protect them?

JimmyS5600

Bilyk,, I did all my suspension componets last winter useing the steel wool and
Mothers deal others mentioned. It took a lot of time but it was well worth the
effort. This summer I took the Vette to a muffler shop for muffler eliminators
and they all thought it was chromed under there. I considered clearcoating everything I polished but didn't. Now that my Vette is off road for the winter,
I real lite wipe off cleans everything up real well after all the inital polishing.
Hell i am from the Buffalo area so polishing all the stuff gave me something to
do last winter. Good luck! :cheers:

Bilyk

^do you have any pictures? :cheers:

CentralCoaster

You can't see the driveshaft or torque tube.. but I polished mine anyways. It looks good when I remove the exhaust though! :cool:

Midnite 88

I used a cotton buffing wheel, an electric drill and jewlers rouge. Be aware that if they are untouched you can have some pitting. The pitting can only be removed by sanding.

If you do have to sand them, you will want to start with about a 400 grit and work your way to 2000 grit. After you finish sanding you can hit them with the buffing wheel and they will shine like a new penny.

I don't have any pics but I do get comments on the lower control arms from people behind me. They think they are chromed. :thumbs:

BTW, I did mine while I had it apart to install PST Urethane bushings.

Mike.

Skippy Stone

As soon as I find my other DV tape, I'll post pics.

I recently did the complete drivetrain and suspension. It depends on the kind of stuff stuck to the parts on what works best. However, the most common and fastest was using a slow drill with soft or medium wire brush. I used Standard Abrasive 3m scotch pad kit on the drive shafts. Then buffed with alum paste on wheel buffer. The freakin bottom is cleaner than my kitchen.

AGENT 86

Cleaned them with castrol super clean and fine steel wool. Then i used some autosol metal polish, fine steel wool and some elbow grease. It's pretty easy to make them look good. :cheers:

264FPS

very nice :rofl:

oldace84

If you do it,will look great.
good luck.
tony :flag

jimmyd

someone had painted the bottom of my car black, everything !
it took a week or so with 3m scrub pads, sandpaper, simple green, and a wire brush mounted on a drill to clean it all off, now it least the aluminum can be seen. I thought about polishing it better when I replace the bushings.
harbor freight has wire wheels that help a BUNCH.

MyBlueC5

Am I the only one that uses my car as a daily driver whose has modified everything to run better but doesn't care about how the bottom of the car looks?

OMG, please tell me you guys only drive your car on nice days or every 4th Sunday. I couldn't deal with going through the effort to make the underside look all pretty only to have it wasted when I drive in the rain.

Guess I'm not as **** as I thought... :lol:

Mark

LowFlight

:cool:

R23HTC

I started detailing mine this year. I haven't got to the rear, but the fronts look pretty good. Mines a daily driver. If you pop the hood after you've washed it and dried it down, use one of the damp towels you have left, you can wipe everything down and keeping it looking good isn't that much work. It's the initial getting it there that takes most of the time. If you use a vinyl protectant (I use Meguiar's) on the wheel wells, they stay fairly clean in the first place, and clean up quickly.

jsquared94

Anyone polish their stock LT1 exhaust? I'd love to do mine, but I'm worried about removing any coating. Is it stainless steel from the factory, or aluminized? For some reason I'm under the impression that 92-96 had a stainless exhaust, but it sure doesn't look that way.

Jared :flag

edsalinas

Get a buffer set up................... It's not that big a job if you use an electric buffer.

R23HTC

I tried doing the tips. While it is stainless, it's not the quality that can be polished.