Hey Guys,
Just this past season I bought an Aluminum I-beam trailer for the scout... While it was new, it looked like it sat in the yard for a month or two before I bought it... Since then I peeled off the stupid "Yacht Club" decals and dunked it a few times in fresh water. It is still noticeable where the decals were. Is there anything I can use go get the aluminum back to somewhat original state? I thought about using a product called "Toon Bright" thats used to clean aluminum boats. I am trying to stay away from pulling out the buffing compounds........... Any suggestions..?

Truck shops have an acid wash for alloy rims and aluminum fuel tanks. Spray on and hose off. Ill see if I can get a name brand.

any kind of acid will turn it a frost color. It wont be shiny

Look into this product Shark Hide

It's going to be hard to get it back to the new alum. look, trailer wash at the truck stops are going to turn it white, most of that stuff is acid, the closest thing I found to get back to natural finish is SOS pads, but you got to rub in one direction, gets back to "almost" new looking alum, then I took it a step further and polished mine out.. Here's my trailer before[ATTACH=CONFIG]511045[/ATTACH] and after[ATTACH=CONFIG]511044[/ATTACH] its the same trailer.. and boat..

J-Bonz,

Most of the liquid cleaners / washes are acidic in nature and will only oxidize (generally dull) the finish of your trailer. At best, they will uniformly dull the finish. That doesn't sound like what you're looking for.

Shark Hide is a protective coating for aluminum pontoons that is designed to protect new aluminum finishes and it does a pretty good job of that. Again, it sounds like you're a bit past that point.

Believe it or not, fine Scotch Bright pads will do a pretty decent job of restoring the original looking finish on your trailer. They will also erase the shadow from the previous decals. As the poster that recommended SOS pads stated though, you will have to watch the direction you move the pad in though since what you'll be doing is actually very finely graining the surface. And, you'll find that the oxidation that you've already experienced will come to visit you once again unless you immediately protect the surface. Which of course brings us back to Shark Hide.

Hope that helps.

Tom

Fine steel wool...shines it up too!

Jumbo size SOS/Brillo pad and 20 minutes later it is damn shiny. Wet it down first, keep the surface you are working on moist and it will surprise you how well it came out.

I use the fine sanding sponges and wet sand it. Also have wet sanded using fine sandpaper. Then follow up with a buffer and some polishing compound. After all is clean and shiny I coat it with Sharkhide. The first time is the hardest. After that very little polishing is needed. People always ask how I get my trailer so shiny.

sos pad and water it will shine