Sorry this is coming along in parts
for some reason I couldn't post it all in one go
kept running out of space!
Added to all the various brushes you will need different grades of wet and dry, fine wire wool I use 000 mutton cloth and metal polish. Good old Solvol and Brasso. By the way, Brasso is basically brick dust and ammonia, its abrasive qualities are good but its not so hot on making alloy shiny!
the other stuff I use is car cutting compound (T cut) and ,,,,,,,,wait for it ,,,,,,,,bath cleaner
Its called CIF here in France, probably the same in England, I would use vim if it was still available!
I don't know what you are all looking to polish but the first thing you really need to do is to clean as best you can the parts so that you can assess what needs to be done! you don't really want to take some coarse abrasive to something that just needs a quick buff up. You almost want to start with the finest grade of wet and dry or wire wool just to see how things are. coarse abrasive will get some quick results but instead of a few surface scratches you will end up with about a million!
One thing you have to be carefull of when polishing alloy using any kind of fast moving brush or mop is drag! this is when the surface heats up and ,,,well drags, so too much pressure and to fast a speed with your wheel or in my case pillar drill will cause this.
So I start like this. Its not rocket science and it can be a bit laborious but at the end very rewarding
so fine wet and dry in warm water with a dash of washing up liquid. if you have any deep scratches you can concentrate on the areas with something a little coarser and then go back to the fine.
Hard to get to areas are where the odd brushes and fibre mops come in to play along with wire wool and bath cleaner.
the whole principal is to work your way down the grades until you are at the final buffing stage. If you don't go through all the stages and just start buffing chances are it won't look that good!
Another tip is to use wet and dry with thin oil or even WD 40 you will be amazed at the shine you can get.
So elbow grease is the order of the day and it is probably a good idea to find a bit of sacrificial alloy and try all the tools out just to get a feel of how much pressure you can use without doing any damage.
If you can get hold of one of the fat brown buffing wheels they work a treat. not too aggressive and they can get into awkward places.
The rope wheel is the one I load up with the soap bar, just hold it against the wheel when its running .
