Dirty jobs How to Polish Aluminum by a Master Detailer - Aluminum Polishing Tutorial 

A great demonstration of polishing aluminum, but it also demonstrates not wearing a breathing apparatus or face mask. Both are absolutely necessary. I did a lot of polishing and did not use the breathing apparatus and it affected my breathing later in life, so take precautions now or you'll regret it later.

check out my other vids... i wear a mask! didn't for this video to be able to talk... thanks for caring tho! :)

Great job on the finish,,,,,,,,, you might already have looked into it(2010 video) but Ceramic coatings are very cool on a finish like that and it will shine 10X longer. It's amazing stuff and every time you polish you're taking oxidized metal off. Stay safe out there.

Finally, i've been looking for a decent video on this for a couple of days. Cheers

always good to get tips from a real expert and not a bullshitter that's trying to sell us a bullshit product that doesn't work

Wow I wonder with all of the overly critical comments on here how many of those commenting can actually polish aluminum? Many ways to skin a cat so quit hating. I have learned over the years that this area of business always produces so many haters versus encourages. Nonsense aside, great video and tutorial. What is the average going rate per tank?

This is the best polishing alloy video out there. Straight to the point and in real time. Thanks

That tank was in real good shape BEFORE you started. I could see a slight reflection, nice job. Been polishing aluminum since 1976. I'm just about too dam old, but it's still fun to me. Keep doing what you are doing.👍👍

Man that came up nice! Super job... it takes time... but a job worth doing, is worth doing right. J.

No wonder he wears sunnies, shines so bright.

Great job, Easy to follow. Will work great on my CBR 900RR. And no, that tank has no chance in hell of exploding due to the little bit of heat that he is generating.

The best part is that the only thing people care about is that the guy wasn't wearing a mask. That's his problem. Its probably the only video on here that actually shows an effective way to clean up oxidized aluminum. Great job buddy

Awesome job!

This is what real truck porn looks like. I love it. ❤️

Great job man, Ive done my own tanks and wheels for years by hand but have too much aluminum and stainless to do anymore so have have decided its time to try and do it by machine thanks for the great videos Ive learned alot from watching you

Amazing...True craftsmanship...I know enough to understand the delicate pressure differences in your touch, you make it look simple. Very well done indeed Sir.

LMAO... why would I allow your negative posts... putting down my work and then you have the nerv to leech your email and info on my page... and if you read/listen like a smart person 18,000 opm's is my palm sander not used for polishing... but i'm sure you already knew that! lol still waiting for your awesomeness of a video...

nice looks so clear keep up the good work

Amazing how much of a difference that made to the rest of the tank!!!Great job!!

I watched this video about 4 years ago and remembered thinking how informative it was. And it still is! I came back here today to brush up on a few pointers that became a bit hazy. But after 4 years worth of youtube comments under my belt too the first thing I thought of as soon as I started this video right now was "Oh shit, he's not wearing any dust mask. People are going to be ripping him a new arsehole for that." And yep, sure enough .... and yes, you should be wearing protection. But in the end it is your life to live, so live it the way you like. Besides that, this is a video about how to polish aluminum, not a video about safety measures while polishing. Does every stinking video have to start out with a safety lesson that most of us all should know by now? I have not watched every video on how to polish aluminum, but out of the ones I have watched, I feel that this video by DCSuperShine does the best job. He doesn't waste a bunch of time talking about irrelevant stuff, shows exactly what to use and how to use it, and the end results are amazing! Exactly like a HowTo video should be. You know, a thought occurred to me just now. It seems the easy majority commenting are telling you should wear a dust mask, earplugs, etc. because you will end up harming yourself. Isn't that a bit like big government with what at time seem like ridiculous rules and regulations put in place in its attempt to make sure people don't hurt themselves when they do **stupid things? With that point in mind, I wonder how many of those comments were written by those who always put down big govt when they themselves are acting much like big govt? Eh ... hypocrisy has been on my mind a lot lately I guess. Anyway, like I said, it was just a thought :-) The real message here is HowTo Shine Aluminum. For that you get two thumbs way up from me! Thank you ** No offense was intended with the stupid things thing.

Nice job man, I've been thinking on starting a business polishing rims and tanks etc... on local truck companies around here, I know it takes time and the money is good, but could you give me some advice on what I need to start with

I had to see how many commented on protection. Ears also!

As a operator of a business myself, certified EMT, OSHA 100 Instructor, along with a B.A.S. in Project Management I will say this for anyone watching this video; The lack of respiratory protection is frightening due to the fact that jewelers rouge is made of toxic chemicals along with the metal dust being produced. The other is lack of face protection such as a 6800 series full faced respirator with a impact resistant face/eye shield used with a recommended p100, or n95 filter cartridge. The other disturbing thing in the video is useing a wheel on a grinder at a higher RPM than what is recommended the wheel can fly apart sending the fabric, metal parts flying into the users face and skull causing injury or death. The last is lack of hearing protection and gloves. Aside from that the use of a buffing wheel faster than recommended creates heat that can turn the metal a blue Hugh which is irreversible along with crystallizing the rouge onto the wheel edge causing damage, marring, hashing etc. into the metal surface.

Very nice work, man! I've seen some botched jobs on trucks where that tank was wrinkled and uneven, I thought it looked tacky. That is a great technique for big jobs.

no dust mask .................

Awsome.... for a novice 40 hour job and 6 elbows.3 gallons of Mothers.

great job man!! I own a detailing business here in south florida and maybe getting into truck polishing your videos have really helped out!!Thank you

Trick to keeping your wheels n tanks clean....Limeaway! $4 green bottle at most stores. I bought my truck in 2004, and 11 years later everything is still mirror finish! I have never needed any polishing work done. 6 years OTR thru winter conditions and salt and most recent 5 years rock hauling....everything still mirror finish. Guy introduced me to the supposed to be "household" product at a car show back in 98!

Great video. Thanks Supershine. But I still have a few questions if you don't mind. Specifically I'm trying to polish the motorcycle aluminum covers well. I've done it before, in a 400, 800, 1000, 1500 process, by hand, and then buffing compound and finally polishing compound. Looked great to start with (it better for all that work), but I was disappointed at how quickly the oxidation came back through the finish. (In another comment I saw you say that aluminum doesn't rust; I'm not sure what this is then?). So, how exactly would you recommend my going about this for those awkward motorcycle covers with grooves everywhere? And if you recommend a dremel tool, is it possible to get the grits that you suggest? And the relevant buffing pads? I'm just trying to do it right. And also, lastly (thanks again), how well do you think this seal you mentioned works? Zephyr, I believe. Thanks again in advance.

You should be showing people safety also. You may not wear a mask or safety glasses but should be in the video. I can't imagine the aluminum dust particles are good for the lungs or eyes.

ok, im polishing a 1972 cabover trantar II, is a clasic for me and i love it, thank you again for your help

wow! that buffer did some work on that tank! I was saying to myself when he turned the buffer on "he's gonna melt the pad and gum up the tank" very surprised! nice job!

for god's sake eye and lung protection!

@etihwtaerg Thanks for watching, I appreciate it!!!! as for using an 8000rpm grinder I own one and do use it on occasion for certain applications, mainly checker plate but for someone with little or no experience on tanks it's very easy to burn the aluminum and get brown/blue streaking or buffing marks. on rims you should be safe it's a lot harder to burn rims. If you don't have a choice but to use an 8000rpm and run into problems just re-sand and start over. I hope this helps

Done! thanks for watching! how often depends on how you maintain it... do nothing it'll last 2-4 months... wash your truck every week and do some touch ups by hand every month or so and it'll stay nice for many months to over a year. the natural oxidation sets in no matter what so to have a nice clean crisp shine buffing it at least once a year is best. hope that helps!

It looks awesome. I can't wait to do my 1966 Richline Challenger , it's going to be a 14' silver mirror. Thanks for the info!

Great job!!! Polishing aluminum on rigs boats and planes ia tough work looks great my method is different but we get same results

Nice job bro, you could use a less heavy buffer made by AERO tool. I been buffing professionally for 30 yrs and this is the prefer tool, same rpm and torque that those big bulky grinders. but you did a nice job.

trick i learned from an old school shiner i worked for. after youre done use a spray bottle with gasoline and spray and buff and youll get an even better shine

That was oddly satisfying to watch. especially the pan in at the end

Nice job. I've got a project like that coming up with my Freightliner tanks, and this video is inspiring. I hope mine comes out half as good. I'm a little worried about the hard to reach areas.

@jasonbc69 Hey! Jason, sorry took a few days to reply... All I use is 6000 rpm grinders if you use airway buffing wheels you won't burn the aluminum. I've used and tried 3000 rpm variable speed buffers and it just takes too long to do the job. We sometimes do 3-4 trucks in one day... double the rpm saves a LOT of time. and IMO gives a better shine. Hope this helps! Thanks for watching!

@DCSuperShine I sure do appreciate all the help. Im trying to start my own polishing business and i can use all the pointers to getting started thanks for everything!!!

@TylerParks379 the vibration is because your pad is warped... it happens with any size pads. you can either change pads or work through it... I know it sucks on the arms... but unless you can "unwarp" it there's nothing you can do. Sometimes taking it off and putting it back on again will fix it. hope this helps

Great job man! jus starting my own polishing biz over here in UK..... Real interesting watching your methods and chops. thnx for all the vids.

@theurgy69 I normally do... just didn't for this video... check out my others you'll see :) thanks for watching!

yes the smoother the better... and as for "over sanding" pretty hard to do... I've been doing some trucks for over 10 years sand them every year sometimes twice a year and no problems.

this is awesome, been trying to polish a charge pipe for my s40 and now i know what i need!

nice job..my tanks on my Freightshaker are a constant battle..

Thank you for educating me,on polishing aluminum, great job.

What I meant by the before and after is when I buff them out like you did. I may skip the sanding and see how they come out as my tanks are not that bad

My dad did a lot of metal polishing in his day, He stacked his cotton wheels so that they were at least 3" and he had two seperate machines set up one only for cutting and the other for polishing only. Just thought it would help someone.

It takes practice to make it look this easy. He knows how to make his machine and rouge get the job done!

this is extremely satisfying when you polish it!

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to show what you do! Again, it's awesome!

@cooman77 it depends on a few things, number one where you live has a huge impact on how long a shine will last, up here in Canada with the crap they put on our roads in the winter it chews up aluminum very quickly, if you live down south your shine will last longer. also depends if you take care of your aluminum, washing it weekly makes a huge difference, maintaining it once or twice a month will help a great deal to keep looking good for longer periods of time. hope this helps :)

Wow that is amazing. Beautiful work. I cringed thinking about how close to the road the tank is, first trip out this beautiful polish job is going to be destroyed by road grime.

shine is right man, you need more power! cheapest easiest way is to get an angle grinder from harbor freight. Remove the grinding wheel, install a buff of the appropiate size and get to work. For wheels i would think a 4 1/2" would be about ideal. On the frame of my crotch rocket i used a 7" angle grinder with the guard removed and 8" buffing wheels. Worked a treat!!! Use yellow sewn buffs for cutting and loose flaps for that final luster.

@datzfast depends on how you take care of it... here in Ontario if you do nothing to it it lasts a 2-4 months, in the winter even less. but if you wash your truck once or twice a week it can last 6 months or more, if you actually hand polish it once a month or two it can last all year. So just depends on how bad the person wants the shine to last. Thanks for watching!

I wish I had thought about using a grinder before, but better late than never. Thanks for the tip. P.S. try using corn starch as a final cleanup.

it's aluminum oxide sand paper you use for bodywork before painting... wet or dry doesn't really matter... i do it dry less of a mess... hope thsi helps

good video, all i can suggest would be to add the purpose of each step in your description. example 400 & 800 grit on orbital is to remove the outer oxide of the aluminium and any fine scratches.

If by clad metal you mean something like alclad then yes maybe sanding might be a bit destructive, but to get a good shine you have to get rid of the top layer of metal in order to get rid of the scratches. It doesn't matter if you use sand paper or a polishing mop, you are still destroying the surface of the metal in order to create a new shinier surface out of the metal underneath. If you just want to bring back the shine to something that has already been polished then you can just buff it.

thanks for this video! going to do my intercooler and piping. bro, alot of people love you on RU-vid lol. keep it up!

Dude looks so badass with that jacket and shades. Total badass! 7:27

Thumbs up, good work, clean and precise like a swiss clockwork .

@Kitz40 depends on where you're from... if you're from the south with no winters much longer... lol up here in Ontario Canada it will last 3-4 months with no maintenance... if you're a guy that takes care of your truck and washes it weekly and rubs it every so often it can last 2 years. I've had customers enter truck shows well over after a year of us polishing it, still looking like the day we polished it! but he took care of it every single weekend.

Damn, bro! Awesome job! (Don't worry about the haters here... If they knew what they were doing to begin with they wouldn't be here watching a pro do his work.)

I can't see why not, this is a pretty standard way of polishing stuff, and curved surfaces are always the easiest to do so long as you can get in to everywhere. If you do have any tricky areas you can get tiny little mops that will fit in a die grinder.

@higheddy89 It's called a "rake" sorta like a metal brush screwed to a piece of wood, it's to clean the pad of extra compound residue... it prevents the pad from leaving buffer marks and less compound build up.

Unbelievable--you make it look so easy. Thank you for posting!

@bigrob18772 yes you can use the sos instead of sand paper to a certain extent, if the aluminum if only dirty/oxidized it will work fairly well. but if it's pitted from road grim and dirt sanding is a must to remove the imperfections. hope this helps and good luck! thanks for watching

wow. I wouldn't have expected that shine. Good Job. LOL you said screw this heat and went in a garage.

Wow, I wish I could teleport my Compomotive sectional rims to you. Unfortunately if I ship them, it will cost me more than 2 new sets so.. I am in South Africa, and there is just simply nobody here that do quality work like you. Well done.

WOW!!! great work! probably the most informative videos out there regarding polishing/ buffing aluminum on exposed to real world conditions ie: tanks on big rigs and wheels! your also the first one to show and explain "rake" for your wheels! only question I can come up with after reading past comments is: do I need a different rake for each type of pad or compound used?......

@irecycleable I tried acid on a few times and personally I don't use it. The "RAKE" is a tool that cleans your buffing wheel between compound applications. there's a picture in the link i sent you for the products. as for colors of pads and bars.... theres no one color pad for a particular bar, you can mix and match whatever, it all boils down to personal preference. from my experience the yellow or fastcut pads work best with a brown or green bar and the white pad with a white bar...

as long as you remove all the pits... the only difference in stopping at 800 versus 2500 is it will be a little easier to polish, but if time is an issue stop at 800 and take a bit more time in your polish process... it's still faster then all the sanding steps up through to 2500... hope that made sense... lol

.......part 2 m,it kinda makes sense so you dont cross contaminate the pad. you've inspired me to try and tackle our jet boat! I'd like the transom to shine like a mirror so the tailgaters at night have to back off or burn their retina's! Thanks

This was the first of your videos that I watched. I see you are wearing a mask in subsequent videos. Not a complaint but an observation. Really nice work

WOW!! Just like that! you make it look so easy, great great work!

Man that's just SWEET looking. Thanks for uploading video.

Thanks man appreciate the time you spent to make this video

about 90% of the time I use 320, 400 and 600 then I polish... if it's badly pitted with major scratches I'll go down to 180... as for using 800 and 1500... honestly it's a personal choice I've tried both and with my method of polishing there's hardly any difference on the end result... so in my opinion there's no need, if you're a VERY picky person a way to get a slight increase in shine is to sand 320, 400 and 600 do your cutting step, then re-sand with 1500, re-cut and white pad to finish.

yes the fast cut is what I use for 90% of my work... for the white I personally prefer the non treated.

Man, this is the second time I've watched this and am just flabbergasted at how brilliant you can get the finish. Incredible job :). -I never even knew you could do this with aluminum, but - yeah,.,. wow. Question for you: On the bike I have now, my rims are all black. What I want to do is keep the spokes and center black, and shine up the well of the rims. (I actually tried doing this with some Chrome Vinyl Wrap and, -while it looked amazing for the fist 20 minutes it was on there, the next day it was peeling (and after cleaning it like mad as well prior to application!!..) -so, just decided to do the right way. To that effect, I was wondering if you would be kind enough to put a quick list of what I would need to get that mirror chrome look on these motorcycle rims. I will have to rent the hvy equipment from the local supply store, but finding the right bits of polish - That would be helpful. - Especially as I have such a small surface area to deal with, I'm hoping I can find relatively small quantities of whatever compounds you're using. Thank you very much. Again, great work and thanks for your time ;) Cheers!

Man, that was amazing! What a difference!

ya i need to make a new video showing tanks that are badly pitted and oxidized... these tanks were pretty nice still so I only sanded 400-800 but when they are bad... you need to start with a min of 320 grit, sometimes even 180 depending on how bad it is. hope this helps! I'll send you a PM with the info to get the pads i use if you need them!

Awesome! I want to buff shine my ludwig acrolite snare.

Thanks man appreciate that! thanks for watching

@TheDaredevil1968 No worries, Glad you were well taken care of! if you need more help by all means don't hesitate to ask. thanks for watching!

wow I have to be on the road in 7 hours... umm 10 hours lol. I cant stop watching your videos. I thought Netflix binge was bad wow, this is addicting seeing the results. I do however need to ask you first are you hiring an apprentice who wouldn't mind doing this later in life, and two what is your recommendation for a company driver polishing the chrome without sanding or costly mistakes,,,, like my lively hood if I mess up the equipment. I work for a small farm-trucking company that is very tight with how the equipment looks and is maintained. I would love to shine (pun intended), but not damage anything due to inexperience. You make it look easy; however I know better. Thank you for your videos

@wjj4832 yup np... just keep in mind flat surfaces ar the hardest to do, to get a clean uniform shine so take your time and remember you can always sand it again and start over. thanks for watching!

yup done! thanks for watching...

@vtec92civic depends on the grinder, some don't have a long enough spindle... just remember you need protective flanges when you mound the pad so it doesn't fly off. hope this helps and thanks for watching!

Wonderfully done.

second step gives it more clarity, depends on how bad the tank is... on the truck it takes any where from 1-3 hours

thanks appreciate that! thanks for watching...

Done! thanks for watching!

Thanks bro I'll appreciate your effort on this video, we will try in our trucks and let you know

@Kitz40 as for sealant there's nothing out there worth using. the ones I have tried have not lasted and the look horrible after they start peeling, plus causing a LOT more work for you to remove it. hope this helps and thanks for watching!