How do you detail an all Aluminum body ?

Y

YeboGoGo

New member
Firstly Im new! Thanks for the very warm :welcome



I have someone asking if I could detail a 1964 Lotus 7. Its unpainted aluminum and I told him I would have to get back to him



This is what the car looks like



lotus_seven_1959.jpg
Which i stole from a google search.



Any ideas?



I thought about an aluminum polish but its mill finished and I didnt want to start polishing it. I have the PC but dont know if its going to get any use on this one.



Anyone got an idea? The helps MUCH appreciated!
 
I've done aluminum boats with the Cyclo and it's turned out great. I was using the Cyclo brand polishes when I did them.
 
If it's a textured finish, I wouldn't use a machine. You can use a nonabrasive cleaner like KAIO and by hand apply in the direction of the grain. That's what I'd try.
 
Here's a website that details how to polish aluminum with a cyclo (I've found cyclo + fleecewraps to be the best tool for it)



Home





If you want my opinion though, don't do it. It's a very dirty, labor intensive job and polishing aluminum/metal to a mirror shine is NOT fun.



I did all the aluminum in my 65cobra as polished, then regretted it - the look is very hard (impossible) to keep to autopean standards, and isn't worth it.



edit: re-read your post and you talk about not polishing it, so I'm not certain what you're going to do with it then? Usual methods of cleaning aluminum (e.g., 3m scotch-brite pad) will leave "marks" in the grain of the aluminum (i.e., if you have raw aluminum, then rub your scotchbrite pad horizotnally you'll get horizontal grain marks), so I'm not certain if that's what you want to do (I hate that look myself, which is why I always powdercoat all my aluminum onw)
 
Now that I think about it some more, why not just wash it and apply some Collinite 845? Is it stained or anything?
 
I have done before an i can say it will be long very long hours an alot of work but when done it is like nothing you have ever done before simply perfect. i seal it with a seal like opti seal but since the new coatings like opti coat an pompanazzi that i use works great to keep it clean an shiny. but again you will do alot of work alot of towels an alot of product make sure you think it thru for your labor good luck.
 
YeboGoGo said:
I thought about an aluminum polish but its mill finished and I didnt want to start polishing it.
Click to expand...



Just wanted to make sure everyone who is making recommendations for polishing this car read this part...
 
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