I have the wheels and brakes off to upgrade to C5 stuff and I want to clean and polish all the suspension. I know a bunch of people have done this I am interested as to what the best products and method to clean and polish properly is. Thanks for any info.

 

:lurk: me too

 

Clean the grease and grime off with something like a 50-50 mix of Simple Green and a Scocth-Brite scrubbing pad and then rinse everything off. Don't use full strength Simple Green and let it sit; it will corrode aluminum.

I use 000 steel wool and more cleaner to smooth out the casting marks. Then go to 0000 steel wool followed by some good metal polish. I use Wenol and it seems to work great. You could even use a Dremel tool to do the inside corners and even remove the mold lines if you want.

If you want a chrome-type finish, you will need some felt pads and a drill or buffer. Tripoli compound and Jewelers Rouge will get you there. The Eastwood Company has some neat polishing tools http://www.eastwoodco.com




[Modified by c4cruiser, 5:54 PM 1/30/2004]

 

the "proper" technique is to use a buffer and compound... it gives best results

more can be found here
http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox/tips/tips.htm

 

If you guys want to see some polished suspension, page Eddie Salinas. His stuff is truly amazing :eek:

I think he did a followup post on how he did it, but I couldn't find it on the search.......imagine that :lol:

 

If any of you want to come over and polish my suspension parts for practice, let me know.
:jester

 

I would love to.
You'll cover the air fare................Right :jester
I need to get away from this hell I live in :D

As for polishing suspension:
I used castrol super clean and fine steel wool followed by autosol and fine steel wool.
Then buffed clean

:cheers:

 

To make the job go much faster hand clean with any cleaner that will cut through the grease and grime quickly. I found a product called "Awesome" at the local 99 cent store. This stuff cuts the grease left behind after powerwashing! :eek:

Then hit all the parts with these wheels in your drill motor.


After the parts have a nice sheen, its simple to continue to any level of luster or polish with 000steel wool pads and your favorite aluminum polish.

Most important---coat the the parts with a sealer such as ZoopSeal to keep those shiny parts shiney. Why do all this work and let it tarnish away?


:cheers: -JRC-

 

Thats quite the pile of parts Steve :eek:
Now where do they all go :confused: :jester

 

I got pictures... Lots and lots of pictures to help put 'er back together. :smash:

BTW Watch your mail box, the package was shipped today UPS :thumbs:

:cheers: -JRC-


[Modified by JrRifleCoach, 9:04 PM 1/30/2004]

 

:iagree: I have the same site in my favs. For my A Arms, I just polished them with Flitz polish with a lot of rubbing, then sprayed the tops of the balljoints black and it turned out nice. I picked up about $20 worth of buffing supplies and some emery paper to fully remove the casting marks and polish the throttle body as well as the MAF housing, and it turned out great. I have more time on my hands them money... :rolleyes:

 

I took my suspension off before I polished them. I cleaned them and I was not worried about letting chemicals sitting, because you are about to spend hours and hours polishing. I think for the best results you need a buffer with a stand. I tried the grinder with a buffing wheel, but that was taking a lot longer than I thought and was a pain in the A@#. I also tried the drill method, but I could not get enough heat into the metal to get a mirror like polish. So I bought a buffer and different compounds. Before polishing you can remove the casting marks a grinding disk, but be careful and try not to get the parts too too hot. I just blended these areas so there were not any sharp edges. They make this awesome greaseless compound and it is available in different grits. This speeds up the polishing process. The first part I polished I just used regular buffing compound, but that took a lot of time. By using different grits and working towards the finishing compound the process took less time. I polished my upper and lower A frames, the piece that mounts the upper A frame, the trailing arms, spindles and part of the spindles. It was difficult to do the spindles, because of all the little nooks. I have a high speed flex shaft polisher now so I can finish up those spots. I also have the driveshafts to finish. DO NOT POLISH STEEL PARTS unless they are stainless. I had polished some of the bolts, because I thought they were stainless. They looked like bare bolts (without a coating) so I assumed they were stainless so now I have to buy some stainless bolts. While you have the suspension apart it is good to replace the bushings I used poly bushings.

 

Wow 86, that really looks great.

 

ive got all mine from the tranny support back to the all differ polished i posted the tear down a month ago , i just got it all installed just havent took pics yet , looks sweet !!

 

that they are..... :iagree: :cool:

 

Someone on here has theirs polished so much they look chromed. I thought I had a link, but now I can't find it and the search engine still isn't working right. :sad:

 

:withstupid: I'm curious though, does he have them on the car yet..? and pics on the car?

 

I have got some pictures of polished suspension parts on the car, but how do I post them.

 

Here's a very good web site, check it out

http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox.../info/info.htm

Opps, I see someone already posted this one.

:cool:


[Modified by edsalinas, 8:20 AM 2/2/2004]

 

Hey Tim.......... :cheers: