Aluminium polishing

[pennypanther]

Hi guys, 

Weve recently purchased a 1968 Hilandale Panther
as our first adventure into vintage caravans. I know I’ve got plenty of hours in polishing her up but I was wondering if anyone could steer me in the right direction as to what are the best products to use in helping with removing the build up. I’m thinking elbow grease might have to do.

cheers

Scott and Amy

[shesgotthelook]

Hello & welcome, have a read of this thread;

vintagecaravans.proboards.com/thread/18040/polishing-stucco-aluminium

& then type 'polishing aluminium' in the search bar, & again in the search all words box & there's 7 pages of info.

[fccool]

I haven't polished caravans before but on large aluminium surfaces you need a rotary buffing machine used on cars, a harder foam pad to start of and then a softer pad, for smaller parts use a polishing wheel that goes in a drill, they are about 4 at sipercheap. Anubsharp edges will chew up a foam pad so you might want to swap over to a wool pad near sharp edges.autosol is fairly abrasive and cuts pretty quick on aluminium, you can buy it ina tub for large areas.
On smooth non textured aluminium keep the pd fairly flat on the surface to reduce swirling, go over any swirls by hand with autosol or purple polish.
You can pretty much buy everything you need including metal polishing compound bars. at supercheap, if your van has alot of polished aluminum it will be something you can use over and over to give it a freshen up down the track. For small metal parts not attached to the van a polishing wheel on a bench grinder works well.

[jeffhead59]

Also pennypanther, Iv'e been advised that a piece of old carpet(rough texture) will do a great job when trying to get into those little cross-cut diamonds in aluminium cladding. Jeffhead59