I had been wanting chrome lowers but decided to hand polish them and save some $$$. They actually came out pretty good,... looks alot better than before and shines like the chrome on the uppers. It was a little time consuming and started wetsanding with 320 grit wet/dry sand paper and then went to 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, and finished with 2000. I then took some mothers aluminum polish and it brought out a good shine.

John

 

It does look good. Did you take the forks off to do that? The forks on my Suzuki were pitted so I started to polish them, but decided it was too much work so I fixed the problem by buying a new FLHTC. I have a nice Intruder with half polished forks for sale if anyone is interested.

 

The problem with polished aluminum is that it oxidizes and you'll be polishing every so often 'til doomsday. The clearcoat on the stock shocks protects them from the elements, although the brushed look isn't the best cosmetic solution for most bikes.

 

nice job. They turned out lookin good! How much time did that take you for both forks??? Did you remove the forks and/or wheel or just 'buff'/polish around it all?

 

Sweet!

 

Well,... I agree its not for someone who dont want to clean their bike very often as the aluminum will need basic polishing every so often. I did it on my Dyna Superglide and I used some mothers aluminum polish about once a month or so to keep them looking nice. Its not too difficult at all, but then again I'm a neat freak as well.It took me about 2 hours to do them both and I just masked off the fender and started sanding. Also,... be careful around the top chrome fork uppers they are really sharp. I have several cuts now to prove it. Just a lil basic maintaince will keep em looking nice and shiney.


John

 

Nice job! I think they look pretty sweet! I wounder if a nice coat of a high quality wax or something of that sort will protect them a bit longer like the clearcoat does on the chrome lowers...

 

Actually after you polish and buff them out a good wax might prolong the polishing a bit but in the end,... once or twice a month isnt that bad. Will take only appx 10 minutes to shine them back up, and you can use the money you save to buy other goodies,....LOL

John

 

When I did that on my Fatboy my final process was buffing them with either a dremel or my air sander with a buffer wheel and some jewellers rouge and various other compounds . It brings the shine up ten fold. I use an 8 inch bench grinder with a buffing wheel on it to polish up the numerous bolts on the engine.( primary cover bolts, cam chest bolts etc.) I have yet to do the front forks on my EG Classic but eventually I will get there.

Kent

 

you could get some stuff called zoops and once you get them polished like you want them coat them with that and they'd stay shiny a long time. It's made to coat aluminum wheels. What you've done looks sharp by the way, if you could hit them with a buffing wheels and some compund they'd shine like chrome, then put the sealer on em