Good ideas, I've used flitz in the past, but gets kinda spendy. Liked the grocery bag idea. Only problem I find with polishing, once you start, you pretty much have to do all. But the results really look nice.

 

I use SIMICHROME for polishing just about everything. When I polish aluminum and because aluminum is porous, it's a good idea to wash the aluminum with warm soapy water after polishing to get the residue off and buff it again.

 

Great post!! Thanks for taking the time.

 

Great how-to. The only thing I would say is that for the cost of the switch plate, when you're at the auto parts store, you can pick up a plastic scraper made of softer plastic. Being softer, it bends a bit to work on contoured surfaces better.

 

You're right, and I'm not removing the plating; just polishing it. It looks just about like chrome and hasn't rusted on any of them yet, despite a lot of washing.

 

???? Some people say the HD wheels/ forks etc do not have a protective coating on the aluminum .... some say they do...which one is correct?

 

Very nice write up with pics, now my question would be on something like the fork lowers why couldn't a guy get them polished to look like chrome and then coat them with something like a clear spray bomb clear coat like you use on wood and other items? Iam just asking i machined a trailer hitch cover once out of aluminum and buffed the **** out of it polished it up then did this i gave it to a buddy and hot sure how it held up but was curious.

 

They have a coating on the fork tubes i know that if they are aluminum they have a coating if they are chrome then no coating that is what i believe and i can verify that at the shop but iam pretty sure iam right on this.

 

I was going to strip, polish and re-coat the aluminum wheels on my towing van until I found a set of 4 on Craigslist for $50. Here's a link to the page I found to recoat aluminum. I've never tried it but probably will some day.

http://www.por15.com/Data%20Sheets/g...directions.pdf

 

bikes reminded me of something we used to do with aluminum polishing: we'd rub it down with a rag powdered with baking soda (I think that was it) and it would instantly take off all the residue so you could do your next rub.
It was so long ago I can't remember. It may have been baking powder, a different product. Heck, any type of flour might work.
I coated some cases with furniture lacquer once and it yellowed later on, so ended up glass beading them instead. That was popular at the time on the limey bikes.
Remember the day.