Polished aluminum looks like chrome with a brilliant shine. Whether it’s on a boat, trailer or wheels, polished aluminum positively glows.
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The only downside of polished aluminum is over time, the surface will oxidize and turn dull. Like any metal surface, it will lose shine with time as it accumulates oxidation, contamination and scratches.
The good news is? With a few products, the right tools and bit of perspiration you can restore oxidized aluminum to its original beauty and luster.
Years ago, when prepping to machine sand and then machine polish an aluminum pontoon boat, I contacted my long-time friend Joe Fernandez. Joe is the definition of a professional or master detailer. He’s famous for polishing out aluminum warbirds from World War II.
I’ve polished out a LOT of aluminum in my life, but I had never machine sanded and then buffed out a large aluminum pontoon boat, so I went to the expert for advice.
Joe told me this:
“Aluminum isn’t forgiving like car paint. With car paint, if you don’t get out all of the defects during the compounding step, you can usually improve upon the results during the polishing step. Car paint is forgiving.
With aluminum, there is no forgiveness. If you don’t remove the defects in the first step, you’re not going to remove them in the next step. So when polishing aluminum, you need to nail each step to perfection before moving onto the next step.”
And as I progressed through the sanding, compounding and polishing process to the aluminum pontoon boat, I found Joe’s insights to be dead-on accurate. When polishing aluminum using a multiple-step process, you need to nail each step, that is get each step right or perfect to the best of your abilities or the final results are NOT going to look good.
I followed Joe’s advice. The pontoon boat came out PERFECT.
Earlier in this article I mentioned that aluminum oxidizes over time. This means it develops a white-ish haze as a result of chemical reactions with oxygen in the air.
Aluminum readily oxidizes when exposed to air and moisture. This includes the moisture in both the surrounding air in the form of humidity as well as rain, snow, washing and rinsing water.
Knowing bare aluminum will always be in a state of oxidation, the best way to keep polished aluminum looking its best is to regularly polish aluminum surfaces before heavy oxidation builds-up.
It’s fast and easy to polish aluminum in good condition on a regular basis as a part of preventative maintenance. It’s only when you neglect aluminum surfaces over time and the oxidation goes deep into the porous aluminum surface, that it will require hours of work to remove the oxidation to restore a brilliant diamond-like shine.
The best defense against future oxidation, especially after you’ve invested hours into removing existing oxidation to restore a shiny aluminum surface, is to seal the aluminum surface with a dedicated metal ceramic coating.
I like to use Dr. Beasley’s Metal Coat because it’s specifically formulated to bond and crosslink onto metal surfaces like aluminum, so it has better durability than a coating for paint or another surface.
Metal Coat will seal the pores of the aluminum structure making it more difficult for deep oxidation to take place. This coating will also create a stain-resistant surface, which will help prevent future surface oxidation as well as topical staining on the surface from minerals in the water, alkaline soap residues, and acidic road grime.
This guide will show you how to effectively polish aluminum to remove oxidation using a machine polisher. You can read my guide on polishing aluminum by hand here.
Aluminum Polish: There are a LOT of great choices when it comes to finding and using a quality metal polish. My advice is to always stick with an established brand with a great reputation.
For this how-to article, I’ll be using a metal polish my friend and professional Harley-Davidson Motorcycle detailer uses, and he polishes a LOT of metal. This product is called White Diamond Metal Polish and can be purchased at most auto parts stores, Walmart and via online sources.
Terry Cloth Towels: When using a multiple step process, I like to start out using simple, cotton terry cloth hand towels to remove the oily black residue. I like to get the simple Mainstays 18-pack of 100% cotton terry cloth Washcloths. These are inexpensive and I know they’re going to get destroyed as I work through a project.
The benefit to terry cloth is the tiny loop of fiber called the nap. This loop of fiber helps to slice into the film or black polish residue to break it up making removal easier. Of course, this is in conjunction with using Corn Starch (more on that later).
Keep in mind, ANY towel you use is going to become stained with a black, oxidized, aluminum pigment or residue. So don’t use your best towels for this type of work.
As I progress through the process to the final polishing steps, I like to bring-up the quality of the towels I’m using to remove any risk of towel marring or scratching that is common when using the coarser cotton terry cloth towels.
When starting out with terry cloth, for example removing severe or heavy oxidation, where you have already factored in doing a second or third polishing step to refine the results from the first step, for this initial wipe-off you can use a more coarser wiping cloth like terrycloth. In the same way that terrycloth can provide some extra oomph for removing oxidation, the same stoutness plus the tiny cotton loops called the nap will work faster than a softer towel like a microfiber towel to remove the residue.
Flat Weave Microfiber Towels: When following the more aggressive step with a less aggressive material like cotton t-shirts, or cotton rounds, at this stage of the game it’s important to use a softer wiping towel to make sure your wiping cloth doesn’t inflict marring during the wipe-off.
For this type of aluminum polish removal, I recommend switching over to a premium quality flat weave microfiber towel. The reason why is because as the name implies, microfiber material is made-up of microscopic fibers, which dramatically decrease any risk of accidentally marring a previously polished aluminum surface.
The microfiber towels in the pictures below have served me well through hundreds of detailing projects. As I add new microfiber towels to my detailing supply inventory, I save my older, but still usable microfiber towels for dirty projects like aluminum polishing. These microfiber towels have a short, tight weave and this makes them perfect for the final wipe with or without Corn Starch.
A flat weave style microfiber towel is preferred over a fluffy, long fiber microfiber towel simply because they tend to be a tick more stout and thus it’s easier to hold on to the towel and wipe-off residue without the towel fighting you. Fluffy microfiber towels may feel great, but they tend to rollover when you’re trying to wipe with them because they don’t have any real substance or stoutness.
Corn Starch (Optional): A long time ago, craftsmen knew a secret that has kind of been lost to modern times and that secret is Corn Starch. While it can seem messy or counterproductive to use a secondary product to remove aluminum polish residue, it’s one of those things that after you do it your first time you become a believer.
What I do is pour some corn starch into a bowel on one of my rolling detailing carts with a pile of cotton and microfiber towels. To use the corn starch, all you have to do is grab some of the light powder and place it onto the side of the towel you’re going to use to wipe the aluminum.
As you work your way around the project, whether it’s a wheel, an intake manifold, or an aluminum trailer, simply continue to repeat this process. Be sure to fold to a new section of towel periodically to work clean.
Rotary & Free-Spinning Random Orbital Polishers: The fastest way to polish aluminum is by machine, and that’s what I’ll be covering in this article. I recommend starting with a wool pad on a rotary polisher then finishing with a foam pad on a free-spinning random orbital polisher. Here’s why.
Like with cloth and foam metal polishing balls, wool buffing pads will cut or remove oxidation faster but can and will leave their own marring or light scratches in the metal surface. For this reason, it’s a good idea to follow any steps using a wool cutting pad with a foam polishing pad.
Because the foam buffing pad has a smooth, uniform texture, (as compared to the millions of individual strands or fibers that make-up a wool pad), a foam buffing pad together with the abrasives in the polish will remove any marring left by the wool pad buffing step to leave a nicer, more uniform shiny appearance.
Anytime you use a single direction rotating polisher, like a rotary polisher, this single rotational action will tend to impart holograms or buffer trails into the aluminum. Re-polishing with a foam pad, because of its uniform surface texture, together with a quality polish, the oscillation action of the free spinning random orbital polisher will work-out the hologram scratches or marring and leave behind a uniform appearance.
Wool & Foam Pads: Wool, microfiber, microwool, and foam buffing pads can usually be had from most large pad manufacturers. In the picture below is the new Marine Wool Buffing Pad from Lake Country in 3.5”.
The best wool buffing pad options have a built-in, plastic cupping that acts as a protective barrier between the hook and loop material on the back of the pad and the hook and loop material on the face of the backing plate. What this does for you is it enables you to put a rotary polisher on edge and hammer on something without the risk or fear that you could accidentally cause the edge between the face of the backing material and the actual fibers of the pad to grind into the surface. This is much easier to demonstrate than to share via a keyboard and some pictures.
These are the 3” Buff and Shine EdgeGuard foam buffing pads in blueberry, yellow, white, and black. I really like these pads due to the design of the outer edge where there’s a cut-out, or contour cut into the foam that allows the foam to get into tighter places and just as important, the when buffing on edge, the foam compresses BACKWARDS instead of INWARDS, thus removing any risk of grinding the edge of the backing plate into the surface you’re buffing.
While it may seem like a simple feature, the way the foam is cut back behind the face makes this a superior buffing pad compared to cylindrical foam buffing pads.
Rotary Extension Shaft Set: These are really cool and come in handy for so many detailing projects. A rotary extension shaft enables your buffing pads to polish hard to reach areas. These can be sourced on Amazon.
If the results do not meet your expectations — for example this process is not removing heavy oxidation fast enough or effectively enough — you can try working a new section with a more aggressive buffing pad or polish or both.
If the results look good but you see pad marring, then switch over to a foam buffing pad and re-polish to remove any marring.
At some point, you should be able to dial-in a process that removes the oxidation to your expectations while creating a brilliant, chrome-like shine.
If you used a fiber wool pad, there will be cuts or scratches in the aluminum and this scratch pattern is called holograms. To remove any holograms left by a rotary polisher, you’ll need to re-polish using a foam polishing or foam finishing pad, a quality metal polish and a random orbital polisher.
Which foam pad will work best and whether a third polishing step is needed depends upon how deep the holograms are from the first step. You’ll need to do some testing to dial-in a process that meets your expectations.
Because I only used the wool pads on the coarse metal tubing, you probably cannot see the holograms. As an option, you can re-polish using a foam cutting pad on a rotary, followed by a foam polishing pad on an orbital. How perfect you want to get the aluminum is up to you, but simply put, more steps tends to mean better results.
The results you see from this 3-step process is as good as I can get it without first sanding the aluminum flat and in my thought process, this portion of the trailer is simply not worth sanding, it’s a car hauling trailer, not the show car that goes inside the trailer.
Here’s the deal:
YES you can use a wool pad with a rotary polisher to buff out large, flat panels of aluminum, but there is a downside. Don’t get me wrong — a rotary polisher with a wool pad and a great compound makes for a super-fast way to remove oxidation.
The downside is that when you combine the cutting ability of wool pad fibers, metal polishing abrasives and a powerful rotary tool, you can and will leave holograms in the aluminum. To get a good finish, they must be removed at minimum using a 2-step polishing process with foam pads.
Example – Holograms in Aluminum After Using ONLY a Rotary Polisher
This is a Grumman Aluminum Step Van that I used for a class on how to remove oxidation when I worked at Autogeek.
NOTE: The holograms you see in the pictures below were already in the aluminum BEFORE we worked on the van.
Here’s the van before we started. Someone else tried to polish the aluminum using ONLY a rotary polisher and the results are HOLOGRAMS IN ALUMINUM! Which require a lot more work and time to remove fully.
The side-to-side pattern you see in the below pictures follow the side-to-side motion the rotary polisher was moved over the surface.
In the below shot, I’ve moved around to the side of the van to get the sun shining onto the large, flat aluminum panels and now you can easily see all the holograms or patterns of scratches caused by the fibers and the abrasives.
And of course, in my class we undid all the damage and restored a mirror finish.
While gear-driven orbital polishers do not have as much abrading or polishing power as a rotary, they do offer a lot of usable power and will work faster than a free spinning random orbital polishers.
Here’s the primary tool I used for all the major flat panels that make up the outer skin of the AeroVault car hauling trailer. This is an 8mm gear-driven orbital polisher and it’s got the power of a rotary polisher but won’t put in the holograms like a rotary polisher.
While the BEAST will not put hologram scratches into the aluminum, the pad itself and the abrasive technology will impart a scratch pattern into the aluminum, but it will not be as deep of a scratch pattern and therefore will be easier to remove with a follow-up polishing step.
Here’s the process I used in the below pictures:
If you’re not familiar with a lot of the different brands of foam pads common to the do-it-yourselfer car detailing world, the pad I chose to use is referred to as a heavy foam polishing pad. It’s made by Lake Country and is a part of an exhaustive line of buffing pads.
I chose this pad because it’s LESS aggressive than a true foam cutting pad but offers more oxidation removal than a conventional foam polishing pad. The key word being HEAVY as it is named by Lake Country Pad Manufacturing.
Look at this mess!
Tip for Residue Removal: Sprinkle Cornstarch on Your Towel
For something this large, you’re going to love how corn starch makes removing the residue faster and easier and also with less chance for accidentally marring or scratching the polished results from having to rub hard using ONLY a cotton or microfiber towel.
Final Results – First Step
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Here’s the passenger side of this AeroVault aluminum trailer after the FIRST polishing step. It looks pretty good using only overhead lights. In fact, some people would think I’m done, and some people would even say, “this is good enough”
Pad Marring from a Gear-Driven Orbital
The downside to using a gear-driven orbital polisher like the FLEX BEAST, the RUPES Mille, the Makita POC or the Harbor Freight Forced Rotation Dual Action Polisher, is like a rotary polisher, these types of tools will tend to leave buffer trails behind in the aluminum. Below are pictures showing pad marring.
Lake Country Hand Held Light – Closer Inspection
Let’s take another look only for these pictures, I’m shining a powerful Lake Country Hand Held Light onto the aluminum to reveal the pad marring and buffer trails.
See the buffer trails showing the pad marring from only doing a SINGLE machine polishing step?
And the pad marring is everywhere in the aluminum. And keep in mind, this was caused by a foam cutting pad, it would be worse, and the marring or scratches DEEPER had I used a wool pad on a rotary polisher or any type of fiber pad, like a microwool or microfiber pad. Fibers are a form of abrasive.
How Can I Remove Pad Marring?
The fix is simple, but it involves a final machine polishing step, (or hand polishing with cotton rounds). To remove any holograms, buffer trails or pad marring, simply re-polish only for this last step, choose and use a free spinning, random orbital polisher.
Because a free spinning random orbital polisher is dramatically less powerful than a gear-driver orbital or rotary polisher, they tend to work out the finer defects to leave a more perfect finish. The reason why is due to the slippage that is normal to any free spinning design. This slippage, also known as pad stalling, is simply much less aggressive and gives you the best chance of leaving a perfect, mirror finish.
When using a free spinning, random orbital polisher for the finishing step, you want to use a soft, foam finishing pad with a quality metal polish. It might be hard to believe, but even a foam polishing pad can leave pad marring.
The Most Difficult Panel – the Large Flat Rear Trailer Door/Ramp
The rest of the aluminum skin on this trailer has either a gentle curve or is broken-up by inset body seams for both strength and appearance value. The back door, which is actually the ramp that you would use to drive a car into the trailer, however, is large and flat. It will be the most difficult part of this trailer to get right and without any tell-tale signs of pad marring, especially in bright sunlight like when the trailer is being used outdoors.
And just to document, the oxidation has been removed and the aluminum is now shiny, but you can also see the pad marring. The most difficult part of this job is finishing out the large flat panel so there’s no visible pad marring.
For this I used a Porter Cable in the front of the trailer, mostly to show you that this secondary polishing step can be performed using what is in my opinion, the most entry level tool in the car detailing world. This would hold true for similar tools like, the Griot’s Garage G9, which is a 9mm short stroke free spinning random orbital polisher and the Harbor Freight 6” DA Polisher, which is an 8mm short stroke free spinning random orbital polisher, basically a copy of the Porter Cable XP.
As you will see, there’s a HUGE and dramatic difference in the before and after and the AFTER side is free from any pad marring or buffer trails.
As mentioned above, a free spinning random orbital polisher is less powerful or less aggressive than a gear-driven orbital and a direct-drive rotary polisher. For this reason, this type of tool is not the best choice for heavy oxidation.
These types of tools work great for,
In this example, I’m using the Porter Cable XP with a foam finishing pad and White Diamond Metal Polish to remove the light oxidation and restore a bright shine to these Mooneyes Moon Hubcaps on the AeroVault car hauling trailer. The goal is to remove the oxidation and restore a bright shine without overdoing it.
Here’s the final results from a simple machine oxidation removal process using a simple polisher.
A few years ago, FLEX introduced a micro polisher called the FLEX PXE-80. Most of us run the letters together for the part number and simply call it the Pixie. A few years later FLEX introduced a flexible shaft that will attach to the Pixie with multiple pads that will fit on the working end of the shaft.
With the tapered cone polishing pad you can simply pour a little metal polish into the cap and then insert the tip of the foam cone into the lid, and you are ready to polish tight and intricate areas.
Another company introduced an extension shaft for increasing your reach when using the tool in rotary mode. The part number is APS 50mm Extension Adapter FV50 – and is available from my good friends at Detail-Division.com. The factory PXE-80 1” backing plate will fit onto this adapter as you see in the pictures below. This enables you to reach a 1” foam or microfiber pad into tight areas. And of course, you can use the FLEX Pixie with any of the drive units and different size backing plates without the extension.
Final Results for Aluminum Metal Polishing
Here’s the final results after I machine polished all of the exterior aluminum. I still have to buff out the oxidized white gelcoat cap and after that, because I may get some polish splatter onto adjacent aluminum surfaces, after I’m finished with the gelcoat, I’ll give the aluminum a final wipe to remove any polish splatter or residues.
Apply some of the Dr. Beasley’s Metal Coat or your choice of metal sealant onto a clean, foam or microfiber applicator pad.
Apply over a small section of metal surface at a time. Spread and massage the product over the surface working the product into the pores and grain of the aluminum to leave a thin, uniform layer of product.
Remove using a clean, dry microfiber towel.
Move onto the next section and repeat.
To be completely honest, it is incredibly hard to get the black residue from polishing aluminum out of a pad. Without more time, labor, and a lot of pad cleaner, it’s a tick on the difficult side to fully clean all the black out of a wool fiber buffing pad and same goes for foam pads.
Instead, after using any buffing pad for metal polishing, either discard after use or clean to the best of your ability and then store away until the next aluminum polishing project.
In the process of polishing this trailer I also wrote guides for polishing aluminum by hand, polishing with polishing ball attachments and polishing diamond plate aluminum. (Coming soon)
My Personal Offer to Help
I’ve been answering car detailing questions professionally since and moving forward, if after reading this article you have any questions about polishing and waxing, or how to use an AIO, my contact information is below, reach out to me, I’m always happy to help.
Would You Like to Learn How to Machine Polish Like a Pro?
Would you like to take your detailing skills to a higher level?
Do you find you learn better by doing versus sitting in a chair looking at a PowerPoint presentation about car detailing?
Here at Dr. Beasley’s O.R., (Operating Room), in sunny Stuart, Florida, we teach the most hands-on car and boat detailing classes on planet Earth. And we prove it too. You can find write-ups on the Dr. Beasley’s Blog that photo-documents just how hands-on our classes are plus you’ll see the kinds of cars and boats you’ll be training on.
Click the link below to find the dates, locations, topics, and prices for all upcoming detailing classes.
Upcoming Detailing Classes – Prices – Info – Topics – Locations
And if you ever have any questions, always feel free to reach out to me personally via text, call or .
I hope to see you in a future detailing class!
Sincerely,
Mike Phillips
Chief Education Officer for Dr. Beasley’s
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We get a lot of questions about selecting the “right” machine, polishing pad, and polishing compound. People always ask what works best for black paint, for red paint; for hard paint, for soft paint; for domestic cars, for import cars, etc. You can make just about any paint finish shine on any vehicle if you select the best combination of polishing machine, buffing pad, and polishing compound for that particular car. Every car and every paint job is different, though: How much paint did the manufacturer spray on? What paint brand and formula did they use? What type of paint is it: petroleum-based or water-based? Was it waxed and cared for, or was it neglected for years and destroyed by the elements? How humid was it the day they painted that run of cars? Was the car in an accident and was it repainted with completely different paint? These are the questions you need to consider as you start polishing a car.
Chemical Guys V32 Optical Grade Extreme Compound is the first extreme compound designed to eliminate heavy paint defects and imperfections from super-hard paint finishes.
V32 is formulated for fast cutting with optical grade micro abrasives that restore both old paint finishes, and freshly-painted panels.
The advanced compound cuts through heavy paint defects, swirls, scratches, and oxidation, and sets up paint for superior final polishing results.
Chemical Guys V34 Optical Grade Hybrid Compound is the mid-grade compound that eliminates light to moderate paint defects and imperfections from super hard paints, then finishes like a fine polish.
V34 is formulated for fast cutting with optical grade diminishing abrasives that restore old paint finishes and freshly-painted panels.
Chemical Guys V36 Optical Grade Cutting Polish is formulated for fast cutting with optical grade diminishing abrasives that restore both old paint finishes and freshly-painted panels. The advanced polish cuts through light to moderate paint defects, swirls, scratches, and oxidation, then finishes with superior luster fit for final polish results on most paints.
When only perfection will do at the end of a polishing detail, detailers reach for Chemical Guys V38 Optical Grade Final Polish to refine depth, luster, and gloss. V38 refines compound and polishing marks from prior steps, and enhances reflection, shine, and gloss on any paint finish. V38 works on conventional clear coat, ceramic clear coat, and single stage paint finishes.
So there is no cookie-cutter answer that will work for every car out there. What there is, though, is a method. We have a method for selecting the best combination of machine, pad, and polishing compound for any car we may detail.
The method we use in the Chemical Guys Detail Garage is as follows:
We start by polishing one small spot on the car. We use this spot to find out what combination works best for removing scratches and restoring glossy shine on the paintwork. Once we determine what combination works best for this paint job, we repeat this process over the rest of the car
Start with the least-aggressive combination of Machine, Pad, and Polish that gets us the results we want. We can always remove more paint if the prior step did not remove all the scratches, but we can never undo the paint that we removed. Paint doesn’t grow back, so always start on the gentle side and get more aggressive as need be.
After finishing your first pass with V36 on an Orange Hex Logic Pad with a Dual Action Polisher, check your results for satisfactory scratch removal. Shine a halogen light on the paint and look at all angles to see if the scratches and swirls are gone or reduced. For the most scrutiny, pull the car outside and look at the test spot in direct sunlight. Compare it with the untouched paint and see if your results are satisfactory.
If you are satisfied with the amount of swirls and scratches removed, go on to the next refinement step: White Soft Polishing Hex Logic Pad with V38 Final Polish. Check for enhanced gloss and depth with this step. If there’s no discernable difference between the finish of V36 and V38, skip it.
If you are not satisfied with the amount of swirls and scratches removed, start changing variables and get slightly more aggressive until the scratches and swirls are gone:
Just remember one truth as you polish: You will not remove 100% of defects. It’s just not possible.
Some scratches are just too deep for machine polishing to fix. You would have to wet-sand and polish all the paint off the car to get the scratches out. There comes a point where if you want perfect paint again, you simply have to repaint the car. And even then, it’ll be full of defects, runs, and holograms from the body shop polishing the car with a wool pad on a rotary polisher.
Embrace the limitations of paint technology and polishing methods: accept that you can get paintwork to look as good as it possibly can without simply starting over with a new paint job.
Remember, this was a guide for the methodology of choosing the best combination of machine, pad, and compound for any particular polishing job. It is not a writeup on proper machine polisher technique, the prep work you have to complete before you start polishing, or the protection steps you need to take after you finishing polishing. You can cause permanent damage to your painted finish if you do not use proper polishing technique, if you do not choose a good combination to work with, or if you do not do thorough prep work before you start polishing.
For more information on polishing prep work, using a machine polisher with good polishing technique and combination of machine/pad/chemical, watch the Polishing How-To videos on the Chemical Guys YouTube channel. Or better yet, sign up for a Polishing DIY Class with Chemical Guys Smart Detail University for hands-on training.
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