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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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The Polishing of Anodized Aluminum
Q. I'm attempting to polish the grill of a 1965 Ford Falcon Ranchero. The grill made of aluminum that has been anodized, and I'm not familiar with that aspect of polishing (The anodized part that is). What different methods need to be used and from start to finish, how hard is the process? (And can anyone detail this for me). Thanks in advance for any time spent on this topic.
Don MacMillanpolishing - Milford, Delaware
2003
A. I know of only one way to polish anodized aluminum without stripping it, on my 62 Impala SS I tried using small buffing wheel on a 90 degree dye grinder with a kit I bought at Sears that has different compounds in, I started with what's called brown tripoli buffing compound ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and finished with red jeweler's rouge ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , just follow the instructions on the back and you won't go wrong, the parts I polished started out almost white and now they are close to chrome, still a little dull but thats what it was supposed to look like, hope this helps.
Rusty Mason- Baytown, Texas
2004
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