Recommendations on polishing an aluminum I Beam trailer
 

Hey guys, I have been wanting to polish my aluminum I beam trailer for a while now and getting ready to start. Not looking forward to this project at all, but I think it would be worth it for a fresh water trailer. Can anyone recommend some aluminum compound/ polish to use? I would be using my variable speed buffer and a new wool pad to do the work. I have tried the Flitz Polish and some of the Mothers polish on some other stuff recently and wasn't impressed. Any advise on product or technique would be much appreciated. Thanks

I would spray it down with muratic acid, let it sit for a minute then hose off, that alone will get a good shine.Then you will need a 6" buffing wheel, a 7" angle grinder, and then some jewlers rouge and a whole lotta elbow grease.

Alum.? Muthers... You really are a gluton for punishment arent you??


http://toolguyd.com/blog/wp-content/...num-Polish.jpg

Even fresh water will stain and spot the trailer. You are looking at a lot of up keep. I love the look of polished aluminum, but I hated having to polish the wheels on my pro street truck and then my custom motorcycle. I couldn't imaging having to do it all the time to a trailer............. Remember even though you will be dunking it in fresh water, it's still unsoftened water......

Muriatic Acid will not make aluminum shine. It will lightly etch it and make it look more "silvery." Worse yet, it will attack the plating on all of the fasteners on the trailer leading to them corroding not too far down the road. As ugly as lightly oxidized / unfinished aluminum looks, it's a hell of a lot easier to take care of than it will be after you polish it. As another poster already stated, every drop of water will stain it.

Don't do it! You will be a slave to it trying to keep it looking good.

+1 just leave it alone..if anything the dull shine look fronm fine steel wool makes the trailer look gr8..

This is what I use:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Eastwood-Buf..._Tools&vxp=mtr

Works well.

if you are determined to have a polished trailer the best recommendation I can make is have someone else polish it for you.

I used a fine sanding sponge and wet sanded it the first time just to cut through all the crud. Then polish with the white or blue compounds. Takes some work , but just take your time and do a section at at time. Once you get it polished put a coat of Sharkhide on it. It seals and protects it. I just wipe down after every use and polish it up about once a year. Not that bad to maintain the shine.