Cleaning Aluminium

Whilst my car's off the road I thought I'd clean up my HKS FMIC and alu hard pipes.

They are a few years old now, so are a bit oxidised and dull, any advice on the best way to clean them up? Don't want them polished, just clean so they have a flat brushed alu finish.

Give them a mop with a not so fine brush?

Metal cleaner and LOTS of cloths and rubbing. You get all the horrible black oxidisation muck off, but you have to keep using clean cloths or it just moves the black around.

Sides of the kit are Alu and a right pain to clean.

You can get a mild acid for cleaning aluminium. I have some here but the label fell off years ago, so I can't tell you what acid it is. Do a Google search for cleaning aluminium and acid.

Phosphoric acid will do it Nic but will need polishing after. Don't use Hydroflouric acid unless you are really sure of what you are doing ........

Thanks guys, hadn't thought of that, I wonder if a spray on wheel cleaner would be worth trying to start with?

Alloy wheel cleaner and a pan scourer;)

wadpol is excellent for polishing up ally mate;)

Might want to use some bertex too. I think they also call it scotchbrite. We use it at work for buffing up components.

It's a bit like the abarasive side of a scouring pad. We get it onb like 5 meter rolls at work.

will take ages to polish out the scores it makes though

will take ages to polish out the scores it makes though

Yeah but he wants a brushed ali finish, the stuff we use isn't as hard as scotchbrite. It leaves a finer finish.

Yeah but he wants a brushed ali finish, the stuff we use isn't as hard as scotchbrite. It leaves a finer finish.

You get different grades of Scotchbrite, best to go from medium to a finer grade, gets the crap off then the finer for a brushed finish.

Paul

You get different grades of Scotchbrite, best to go from medium to a finer grade, gets the crap off then the finer for a brushed finish.

 

Paul

Yeah sorry as I say we don't actually use scotchbrite ar work, it's called bertex. We only have one grade at work, and it's pretty fine.

Whenevr I am polishing something up I use wet and dry to get the machining marks out, then bertex then polish it.

Sorry for any confusion.

Don't use Hydroflouric acid unless you are really sure of what you are doing ........

Or unless you want to die!!!

From material safety data sheet:

Extremely toxic. May be fatal if inhaled or ingested. Readily absorbed through the skin - skin contact may be fatal. Acts as a systemic poison. Causes severe burns. Possible mutagen. Reaction may be delayed. Any contact with this material, even minor, requires immediate medical attention

A word of warning.... this acid is produced when flouroelastomer materials are burned such as O rings used in engines etc :blink: Never play with burned cars with bare hands.

Extremely toxic. May be fatal if inhaled or ingested. Readily absorbed through the skin - skin contact may be fatal. Acts as a systemic poison. Causes severe burns. Possible mutagen. Reaction may be delayed. Any contact with this material, even minor, requires immediate medical attention

 

Ooh nasty

Extremely toxic. May be fatal if inhaled or ingested. Readily absorbed through the skin - skin contact may be fatal. Acts as a systemic poison. Causes severe burns. Possible mutagen. Reaction may be delayed. Any contact with this material, even minor, requires immediate medical attention

 

A word of warning.... this acid is produced when flouroelastomer materials are burned such as O rings used in engines etc :blink: Never play with burned cars with bare hands.

Pleasant stuff then!

Gaz.

one word

ARBERSEAL ( I think that is spelt right lol)

anyhow comes in a metal squeezie tube/gold - its like a cream

very good stuff - get it from most spares shops, or ..... if you must......

Halfords eeek!

Nic a Satin mop (kind of like scotch brite) mounted to a drill would do the job well. Alternatively as said a scotch brite pad of medium coarseness up to fine coarseness.(is that a word )