Polishing Grille
 

I have a 70 grill that is pitted and was wondering what is the best way to clean it up and polish it?It has some sand blast pits in it other than that it is a pretty nice grille.THANKS FOR THE INFO

I used buffin' compound and a pad on a drill on mine. Works but takes some time. Gave up and sold it and got a repop.

I used to polish aluminum for a living.. what you need is a grinder-type buffer (3-5000 rpm) a stiff starched polishing wheel (usually yellow or red), a brick of brown jewlers rouge (all this is usually available at a truckstop)... machine the grille first with these to get the smaller pits & roughness out, then go over it with a soft cotton (white) wheel with green jewlers rouge. if you want that "mirro-chrome" finish, use a fresh white wheel with white rouge, then go over it by hand with blue magic hand polish for the silicone sealant. easy, eh?

Befor you pollish it you will have to sand off the anodizing first. Then you can pollish it to a brilliant shine just as 3rdGenrationChevyman has described. You can pollish it untill the cows come home on the anodizing and it will do nothing but clean it and not take care of the oxidized aluminum under it. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com

oops, left that part out... yes, the anodizing will ned to be gone first, the machine & rouge only works on raw aluminum...some fine wet/dry should do the trick :burnout:

OK Thanks for the input I'll see what I can get done

Easy off oven cleaner works good to strip the anodized coating.....dont leave it on too long tho! after about 15 minutes, you can put on the rubber gloves, & start rubbing with scotchbrite. This may take 2 or 3 apps, & a good rinse between. I hand sanded & polished mine(twas a long winter!) crazyL

I gotta keep that in mind! I spent a week sanding the anodizing off`n the sides of a converted city bus rv to polish it... very cool!