I have some new vintage (approx. 1972) aluminum valve covers I plan to use on my BBC build. They have never been used but have a few light scrapes and a touch of oxidation on a few spots, nothing serious. I'd like to polish them up to look like new again.

What's a good aluminum polish that will remove the oxidation? I've always heard great things about Mother's Mag Wheel/Aluminum Polish but as I've never had any polished aluminum on anything I own, I've never had a reason to buy or use any.

TIA.

my first choice would be this stuff called Flitz a german made polish we use here at work to polish aluminuim injection molds .my second choice would be the mothers

i have used both mothers and never dull. both work pretty good as long as you are only talking about light surface corrosion. for the scratches, start with sand paper of adequate grit to remove the scratches and then just keep stepping to finer grit and eventually polishing compound and then whichever choice of polish you go with.

You probably need to do what troposcuba said, but it depends on if you have scratches or only light scuff marks. IMO, wet sanding followed by polishing compound/elbow grease is the best and quickest way to do it. You might not need to sand everything, but if you start out with polishing compound, there will probably be a lot of scratches left. Even if the oxidation seems light, it might leave small pits that you won't be able to polish off. Wet sanding with a fine grit leaves the surface nice and smooth, and makes the polishing easier too.

Heavy Metal Polish- Ulta Fine

Its like a polishing rouge, but in liquid form that you can rub on. Has a mild abrasive in- so definitely not for use on plated materials, but for polished aluminum I've never seen anything better.

One of the local tire chain's sells it around here- you can order it from their website as well...

The best aluminum polish I have found is called Wizards metal polish. The only place I have seen it for sale is at truck stops and some catalogs. It comes in a container that looks like a band aid tin. Mothers cant hold a candle to this stuff. I tried a bunch of brands before my buddy gave me wizards polish. It's about $13.00 for a 3.3oz can

I've always used Mothers for aluminum.

I would recommend Wenol or Zoops. The latter is more expensive, both last a good while. I would also recommend looking at eastwood.com look up polishing supplies. A buff and some white rouge will take a lot of the hand rub work out of it! I make some of the parts that are on my Chevelle and a buffer to polish the aluminum was the best investment I made. Oh my poor arms!

The best I've found is Simichrome, followed by Mothers.

Tom

ZoopSeal from Eastwood is the best...www.eastwood.com

http://ultracarcare.com/ultracarcare3008.htm

That ^^^^ is what I got from a trucker buddy. It takes less elbow effort than Mothers mag polish. Another option might be the Mother's power ball and polish. It is even less effort as you can used a drill :cool:

I use the above products but I also squirt rubbing compound on there and hit it with a buffer with an old pad on it that turns black immediately. Same results quicker with more mess.

Just a few weeks ago I picked up a vintage '60's-'70's set of sand cast aluminium Edelbrock valve covers at a swap meet. they were used and no longer shiny. I went to work almost immediately after I got home wet sanding them. 10hrs later, I have two very nice valve covers. I started with 800 grit, then 1000 grit, then 1200, 1500 and finally 2000 grit. After that I then polished them with several different polishes followed by a sealer. They look great, but I'm thinking I'll pull them back off this winter and polish them starting with 600 and working my way up.

Mother's Power Ball with Mother's Power Aluminium Polish, served up in a cordless drill.


John W.

Last night I tried Mother's straight out of the can and it polished up the smooth areas nicely, but did little to remove oxidation from rough cast areas or even the smooth areas. I had samples of Flitz and Similchrome and Flitz seemed to work better but the sample I had was very small. I also tried some plain old chrome polish (said it was okay for aluminum too). All of the above turned black and seemed to do something, but not all I'd hoped. I even tried Mother's with a small buffing wheel on my Dremel tool to get between the ribs on the valve covers.

I later remembered I have a really old can of Nevr-Dull so I tried that since nothing I did before completely satisfied me. I just can't see how I could sand between the ribs on a rough cast area without really making a mess so I need a polish solution. Anyway, Nevr-Dull followed up with Mother's seemed to do okay and is probably how I'll finish them up. I may try one of the above mentioned products such as Wizard's as I have also heard great things about some of them.

You don't always have to use elbow grease to remove oxidation! Go to your local marine dealer and ask for alluminox or the equivalent .spray it on wash it off and its like new.

Rich , here is what worked for me ..mothers and Flitz on shiny areas but that oxidized rough cast area is tough so I glass blasted them at very low pressure 35lbs .taped off the shiny areas with duct tape .just did a supercharger housing withn polished ribs .taped off the ribs .looks great and at that pressure did not destroy the surace just cleaned it up .... did a set of old M/T sb valve covers did the shiny area too and then polished with Mothers .....worked for me

personally, I'd use steel wool. Starting with a mid grade and going with finer grades. I've used this on my Weiand alum. valve covers and it looks great. You can then followup with a mild abrasive polishing compound.

i didn't catch the part about rough material between the spokes the first time i read this post. I have heard (i believe here at TC) that oven cleaner works well for that type finish if you are talking about the rough cast looking aluminum. also i have a glass bead blaster at work that works wonders on rough aluminum like that. just be real sure not to hit anything that should be smooth/polished. I also seem to remember a product by Eagle that worked well on rough aluminum wheels.