WantABanshee Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I'm gettin ready to polish my side engine cover and practicing on my exhaust silencers... I washed them with dawn soap and then wet sanded them starting at 400 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit and 2000 grit... Now I know it will still be dull after sanding but mine were duller then I think they should be... After that I took some generic metal polisher and used a drill fastened to a vice with a car buffer on it... Where am I going wrong? I am not achieving the mirror finish like others... Is it the car buffer wheel is too soft of a polisher?? Here are some after pics... as you can see not nearly the mirror finish I was looking for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theshee Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Its what you are polishing them with. Most guys that polish, myself included use benchtop 1 all the way to 4 HP buffing machines. When I do silencers, I clean them up, then start with a Spiral sewn 10" wheel on a 2 HP buffer and cut it with Emery compound. This gets most all of the imperfections out and cleans then to a close mirror finish. Then I go to a spiral sewn 10" wheel on the same machine but use a tripoli compound. They are damn near mirror at this stage. Then the last step I do is with a canton flannel 8" wheel with white rouge compound. This gives that mirror finish you are looking for. Its just the fact you dont have the compounds and machines to get the mirror look. Hit me up, im cheap if you want em done. Here are some I did for Jbooker Before After Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNTBANSHEE Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Very nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WantABanshee Posted October 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I have a bench grinder that I could put a wheel on... I'm not wanting to spend a fortune but do want to get into it alittle... what kit would I be best at purchasing? So my sanding process was correct just not the polishing process? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okbeast Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 You can get them alot better than that just by hand. Get you some Mother's Billet polish from Autozone/Oreilly's, any kind of rag and use alot of elbow grease on 'em rubbin it in. The key here is the buffing process though. Make sure your rag is clean and remove all the black crud, then get a clean portion of the rag and go over them with medium pressure but alot of strokes. Heat is the key to polishing I've found, so if you can set 'em out in the sun to warm up it helps alot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theshee Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Just sewn wheels and the compound i mentioned would be the best way for you to go if you wanted to get into polishing a little. You really dont need to sand at all, I never do, let the wheels and compound do the work for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwistedSheeRida Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 a rag and some mothers aluminum polish and a lot of elbow grease. waah lah done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quaddad817 Posted October 28, 2009 Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 i also do alott of pollishing. i do quite a bit of sanding to reshape surfaces and contour edges, but unless your willing to drop coin on the right wheels and rough's your not going to get the chrome look. mothers doesent remove enough material its just for cleaning up! all i can say is practice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quaddad817 Posted October 28, 2009 Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 btw! who makes those pennis shaped silencers? lol... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKheathen Posted October 28, 2009 Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 mothers is for cleaning and will give you that nice new billet look with lots of hard, time consuming work, which will be destroyed with a finger print or drop of water. i found this high silicate compund called metal clean...i think it'd douglass, not sure. with whatever polis, you grind it in with your finger/rag and buff off. repeat a couple more times, wipe the last time and lightly buff with a real soft cloth, like tee shirt or softer. buffed on the wheel with the compund is the most durable longes lasting polish job, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87sheerips Posted October 28, 2009 Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 btw! who makes those pennis shaped silencers? lol... Im pretty sure those are Trinity sparkies... They do make the silencers look like a big ole penis tho LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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