Best tunnel polish

[Bails]

What is the best way, and polish to use on your tunnel to get that nice mirror like finish. I imagine something with a power buffer, but what types/brands of polish? Any tricks to get into the hard to reach areas around footwells and running boards etc?

 

[Tony 98 800r]

What is the best way, and polish to use on your tunnel to get that nice mirror like finish. I imagine something with a power buffer, but what types/brands of polish? Any tricks to get into the hard to reach areas around footwells and running boards etc?

You need to hit it with 2000 grit first, and then use Mothers billet pollish.

 

[Hitchguy]

GET BOYDO :d:d:d:d:d:d much easier

 

[mod600IQ]

Heavey metal the green stuff. 100 percent cotton rag do it all by hand.

 

[Bails]

Heavey metal the green stuff. 100 percent cotton rag do it all by hand.

No need to sand with high grit first?? I'm looking for something I can probably pick up at canadian tire or home hardware or another common store. Don't wanna have to order an wait.

 

[scotts]

The best polish is the one you get someone selse to do.

 

[boydo]

the stuff you can buy at canadian tire or other similar places is more for light polishing, meaning it doesnt have as much grit (or dig) in it. if you wanted to wait call my distributor and get some F1 ultimate metal polish medium. works great but still alot of work from raw aluminum. if you ever come up this way i could machine polish it for you and then you could take the upkeep from there. if you have any questions shoot me a pm!!

 

[Bails]

the stuff you can buy at canadian tire or other similar places is more for light polishing, meaning it doesnt have as much grit (or dig) in it. if you wanted to wait call my distributor and get some F1 ultimate metal polish medium. works great but still alot of work from raw aluminum. if you ever come up this way i could machine polish it for you and then you could take the upkeep from there. if you have any questions shoot me a pm!!

Thanks for the reply's I will look into the products mentioned. I'm not afraid of the work and time to put in. Sorry boydo, I rarely get up to Edmonton area, and never with the sled. I'm going to check with some of the local body shops around here and get some suggestions and maybe grab some products through them.

 

[snoqueen]

I did my 08' M8 with the old dry sanding with 1000 grit and then followed up with the Mother's polish. I put about 25 hrs into it......AND THEN I found a much easier way when I did my hubbies 2010 M8.....you HAVE to WET SAND first with 1000 grit and keep repeating until all of the black residue comes off the aluminum. Then follow up with hand sanding, then Mother's Polish and buffing with a orbital buffer.I cut this to half the time just by wet sanding. There is no real quick way to polish a tunnel, (takes about 10 hrs min) but found the wet sanding the only way to do it. Just be careful to keep the sandpaper very wet at all times or else you will be left with lots of swirl marks. The pics are of my hubbies new sled polished with wet sanding.

 

[Bails]

Thanks for the pics snoqueen. I was planning on doing the wet sanding, just unsure of what grit to use. Thats what I was going to my bodyshop buddies for. I love the look of a sled with a nice bright polished tunnel. What did you use on the running boards around the snow eliminator holes? Just time and elbow grease, and patience?


Thanks again to all who posted

 

[snoqueen]

There is no easy way to go around those cutouts. It's all done by hand!! I had lots of nasty cuts and scrapes from doing it too. YUCK. I did cheat and use a toothbrush with Mothers paste to get the side rails though. It works really well. Make sure you use nice soft cotton rags to buff once your nearing your mirror finish. You don't want to ruin that finish with rags are that too rough or "nappy". The wet sanding is key, though. You won't get the finish as quickly doing it dry, plus it keeps the dust down too. It will still be messy, but it will be confined to your bucket, and the area around your tunnel. I used disposable gloves too, that black aluminum stuff is really nasty!! I included a picture of the tunnel I did on mine using the polish only with a buffing wheel, it took about 25 hrs and it was sooooo messy. Good luck and if you need more pointers just let me know. I have one more tunnel to do this spring (my sons M6) The aluminum on his is quite oxidized so will be interesting to see how it turns out. Oh!! One more trick. To keep the aluminum shiny throughout the season and oxidize free.....use windex and a soft rag every second trip out. It will keep that aluminum just as shiny as first polished!!

 

[maxindy]

So the higher the paper grid is the more shiny the tunnel will be? And snow queen what grid did you stop at? Also is there a pattern in circular motion or just up and down for wet sanding?

Thanks,

 

[Bernoff]

There is no easy way to go around those cutouts. It's all done by hand!! I had lots of nasty cuts and scrapes from doing it too. YUCK. I did cheat and use a toothbrush with Mothers paste to get the side rails though. It works really well. Make sure you use nice soft cotton rags to buff once your nearing your mirror finish. You don't want to ruin that finish with rags are that too rough or "nappy". The wet sanding is key, though. You won't get the finish as quickly doing it dry, plus it keeps the dust down too. It will still be messy, but it will be confined to your bucket, and the area around your tunnel. I used disposable gloves too, that black aluminum stuff is really nasty!! I included a picture of the tunnel I did on mine using the polish only with a buffing wheel, it took about 25 hrs and it was sooooo messy. Good luck and if you need more pointers just let me know. I have one more tunnel to do this spring (my sons M6) The aluminum on his is quite oxidized so will be interesting to see how it turns out. Oh!! One more trick. To keep the aluminum shiny throughout the season and oxidize free.....use windex and a soft rag every second trip out. It will keep that aluminum just as shiny as first polished!!

You had better not let people know your address. There will be a lot of sleds being dropped at your doorstep in a very short time. Beautiful work!

 

[polarisdragon800]

Here's mine. Not as nice as the ones above but hey it's a polish job. I went into it unsure of what to expect and how to do it correct. Last spring I used this old buffer wheel and some blue magic aluminum polish. It looked alright but lasted maybe one trip then dulled up. I did it a few times over the summer and this fall. I never used sandpaper (going to next time), but this winter I picked up a mothers power ball and some mothers billet polish and that worked really good. I then found some "purple
Metal polish" or something. I used it by hand and then used the mothers power ball in combination later. I smeared the tunnel full of polish and worked at it with a rag an the power ball until it was totally black
And dry, then used a clean rag and whipped all the polish off, I was ten left with these results which are alright, it still looks this shiny and I havn't polished since december..


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[snoqueen]

So the higher the paper grid is the more shiny the tunnel will be? And snow queen what grid did you stop at? Also is there a pattern in circular motion or just up and down for wet sanding?

Thanks,

I only used 1000 grit sandpaper...you don't want to use any rougher as you will just scratch the aluminum. You will know once you start wet sanding how far you need to go. The trick is to keep your sandpaper really wet. I used a back and forth motion instead of a circular one to avoid swirl marks. Haha.....this 2 year old thread brought back bad memories of all that polishing! Thank god I have an all black tunnel on my ProClimb....by the way the 08 M8 has an updated tunnel piece and it's still just as shiny as it was 2 years ago. The 2010 also looks like the day I polished it too....

 

[polarisdragon800]

Ok so 1000 grit sandpaper.
And then polish it up good?


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[snoqueen]

Ok so 1000 grit sandpaper.
And then polish it up good?


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Yup. Use lots of Mothers Aluminum Polish. Wipe on, wipe off. I like using the microfiber towels for this too.

You can also use a buffing wheel to get the "haze" out of the aluminum....you will eventually get a mirror like finish....but patience is required for this job, no real easy way to get er' done! Good luck, and if you have any more questions let me know.

 

[sledneck93]

Also a trick when wiping off the black oxidation when your polishing is to dip a microfiber towel in some household flour and then rub it off. I didn't believe it at first but when tried, it really makes it alot easier to get rid of the black oxidation. Once done just use an air hose and blow the flour off the running boards as it does get a little messy.

 

[snoqueen]

Also a trick when wiping off the black oxidation when your polishing is to dip a microfiber towel in some household flour and then rub it off. I didn't believe it at first but when tried, it really makes it alot easier to get rid of the black oxidation. Once done just use an air hose and blow the flour off the running boards as it does get a little messy.

Yeah....I found out the hard way when I polished my first tunnel. If you dry polish you will get lots n' lots of that black dust. With wet sanding you will get next to nothing because you have already taken the oxidation down. The polishing with the Mother's after that is only getting the aluminum down to a mirror finish and there won't be any mess. I promise.

 

[polarisdragon800]

Yeah....I found out the hard way when I polished my first tunnel. If you dry polish you will get lots n' lots of that black dust. With wet sanding you will get next to nothing because you have already taken the oxidation down. The polishing with the Mother's after that is only getting the aluminum down to a mirror finish and there won't be any mess. I promise.

So would it help to sandpaper my already polished tunnel?


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