red topless gator

Does anyone have a secret on how to clean and polish polished aluminum valve covers and keeping them looking good? Like to hear some opinions. Thanks.

leadfoot4

Either Simichrome or Blue Magic polish, and a Mothers power ball.

Mick71

Flitz is the best aluminum polish that I've used, it keeps this 34 y.o. engine looking pretty good.


http://www.flitz.com/flitz-polish-paste/

Sunstroked

Nice looking engine Mick 71. I've used a variety of polishes, semi chrome works good, never dull works, Meguiars chrome polish works. But a good coat of paste wax after polishing does help to keep it looking good after the hard work. Another trick is to use flour when wiping off the polish. It aids in getting the residue off. Just dip your cleaning rag into a dish of pillsbury, and wipe away. U get a deeper shine, very quickly.

SB64

Can we see what they look like now? There are a couple of thing you can do based on their condition.
r

red topless gator

Here ya go. Thanks

MrJlr

Never Dull

SB64

There are many you can use. My favorite since 69 is Semichrome.

vettebuyer6369

Ive used Mothers aluminum polish forever.

gungatim

me too. prefer mother's for aluminum rims and my bikes, used to use nevr dull too, but really like Mothers.

keeping them shiny is really easy, after you polish them to a mirror shine, wait til they become dull, then polish them to a mirror shine again. repeat as needed...

Aluminum doesn't stay shiny, it begins getting a layer of natural oxidation immediately. only solution is clear coating them, but then it's a PITA when it starts flaking and needs to be striped and re-done. My '95 has factory rims, and I have had them out to a wheel shop to be stripped and recoated once, they do a nice job for a reasonable price, and i'm sure you could have the valve covers done at amost any wheel conditioning shop (check body shops, they send rims out all the time from accident work) for a reasonable fee if you really wanted to.

KYC4

I too prefer Mothers Polish. Amazingly I've used Turtle Wax Polish for cleaning up yellowed plastic side moldings (!) very successfully. And it does alright in a pinch on aluminum. But Gungatim is right...it will start to dull quickly.

later,

Lee

leadfoot4

I don't know how it reacts to heat, such as on valve covers, but I've used a product called "Everclear" on aluminum wheels, and it's kept them shiny through 3 winters of road salt....

habib

I have a 78 Pace car and the wheels are really clean, Is there any way to get them to be more Shiny and not damage their coating? This is not a close up of the wheels. I will take some this week and post, Thank you

htown81vette

Mothers is good, but I just recently tried that white diamond polish and like it even better.

Jermo

Semichrome

FLA-C3

After cleaning and buffing my old wheels, I just use Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish to keep them looking good. Also use Mother's on the valve covers and coated headers.

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