turn aluminum to crome

[the426master]

Do you want your aluminum to look chrome well hears how

take 400 grit wet dry sand paper and sand until it looks polished then use 600 or 800 grit sand paper and sand It will start to look really shinny. After all the small scratches are out get some silver or aluminum polish and put some on a rag and buff it will look like chrome in no time. Silver polish is the easiest to use and comes out easier, also looks more like chrome ?

[Jetster220]

It does end up looking pretty trick. My friend did this to his GSXR600 which made it look pretty nice.

[MOmilkman]

Do you want your aluminum to look chrome well hears how

take 400 grit wet dry sand paper and sand until it looks polished then use 600 or 800 grit sand paper and sand It will start to look really shinny. After all the small scratches are out get some silver or aluminum polish and put some on a rag and buff it will look like chrome in no time. Silver polish is the easiest to use and comes out easier, also looks more like chrome ?

Thanks dude! I asked this question a while back and never really got a "how to" kind of answer.

IM starting on the Thumper Bar Risers tonight!!!!! :D

[jwriott]

Like this?

This was done by hand and if I ever did it again, I'd use a 7 1/2 grinder with a clothe pad. It's way quicker.

You also need to seal it with a wipe on sealer. Othewise, you'll have to polish it frequently to keep the shine.

[Jetster220]

Looking good vmax. Thats how my friends looked.

[endurodog]

Nice bike Vmax

[John_Lorenz]

Semi Chrome and a hand polisher will do it a lot faster then sand paper.

[MOmilkman]

You also need to seal it with a wipe on sealer. Othewise, you'll have to polish it frequently to keep the shine.

Wipe on sealer? Where do I get it and is that the exact name of the product? Who makes it? ?

[jwriott]

Let me look what kind I have at home. You just put it on a rag and wipe it on after you polish the aluminum. This slows the oxidation down a little and keeps it shiny for a longer time.

You can also use paint stripper or aircraft stripper to remove the paint prior to polishing. Then, all you do is buff. Every scratch shows up when you start to polish so use sand paper as little as possible.

[captain_S]

Ok guys here is the script for super-shiny alloy!.Do start of with a rough grade wet and dry sand paper,but KEEP DIPPING THE PAPER IN WATER!,ONLY SAND IN THE ONE DIRECTION!,and work your way down to the finest grade,you must keep the sand paper clean with water while rubbing in the one direction only,or you will end up with nothing more than scratch marks!,do this all the way down to a fine grade keeping it clean by dipping it in the water(change the water regular to keep it clean),when you come to do the final rub with sand paper clean it every time you give a rub to the alloy(use a cloth now to get rid of the dirty water from the suface of the alloy)when you see the alloy give a lite sparkle as you sand it with wet paper for the final time,you are now ready to polish.THE REAL TRICK IN POLISHING ALLOY IS TO GET THE SURFACE OF THE METAL TO LAY IN THE SAME DIRECTION!,if you just sand it back and forth it does not work any where near as well(thats why you get the scratch marks!).Use a good metal polish,not one the feels rough between your fingers,but smooth like cream,buf it up with a soft cloth and bingo! ?

[the426master]

if you use amway silver polish it does a better job rather than aluminum polish. amway has antitarnish and tarnish remover so you don't half to buff it all the time

[ob1quixote]

When you are done polishing, you can get it plated in a nickle/cobalt alloy bath. It is indistiguishable from chrome, lasts better in the environment {much of chrome you see today is nickel/cobalt} I do small scale plating {pegs, levers, small brackets} and polishing of plastics. Since the part is plated, you wont have to repolish everytime the sealer fails and oxidation starts,

Robert

[yamaha.dude]

Once you have it polished, then you can also clear coat it... POR15 make a great product, called Glisten PC

http://www.por15.com/clearcoat.html

you can also add colours using a product called colorchrome...

http://www.por15.com/Color%20Chrome.html

Excellent products and you can then just do the job once, and it will always look as good...

Also, if you want, they have great stripper products, if you are going to polish your swngarm, you will have to strip it off first, or waste a lot of sandpaper rubbing off the factory finish...

HTH,

David

[jwriott]

I totally agree with the stripper to remove paint, clear coat, powder coating, etc. before you do anything. There were about 10 of us who did this to our street bikes. We all made the mistake and did the sanding in the beginning. It took forever to get all the small scratches out, even when using wet sand paper and sanding in one direction.

One of the guys sold his bike and did another. He used aircraft stripper and a 7 1/2" right angle grinder with the pad wheel and applied the polish. He was done in about 1/5th the time it took us to do it by hand.

I'm not completely sold on one type of polish over the other. Mothers makes a huge mess. For the final buffing, we did use jewelers rouge.

The sealer I have is called Extreeme. I can't seem to find it on the web anywhere but I'm sure there are lots of equivalent products. I wish I could have had the thing clear coated but pulling everything out of the frame was just too much work.

One guy polished his CBR929 wheels, then had them powdercoated with a translucent red. They looked awesome.

[MOmilkman]

When you are done polishing, you can get it plated in a nickle/cobalt alloy bath. It is indistiguishable from chrome, lasts better in the environment {much of chrome you see today is nickel/cobalt} I do small scale plating {pegs, levers, small brackets} and polishing of plastics. Since the part is plated, you wont have to repolish everytime the sealer fails and oxidation starts,

Robert

Robert,

Where can I go to do this? Any idea of what to look under in the Yellow pages?

[MOmilkman]

Once you have it polished, then you can also clear coat it... POR15 make a great product, called Glisten PC

http://www.por15.com/clearcoat.html

you can also add colours using a product called colorchrome...

http://www.por15.com/Color%20Chrome.html

Excellent products and you can then just do the job once, and it will always look as good...

Also, if you want, they have great stripper products, if you are going to polish your swngarm, you will have to strip it off first, or waste a lot of sandpaper rubbing off the factory finish...

HTH,

David

David,

Have you used these products personally? If so, do you have any pictures of how it turned out?

I am working on polishing my Thumper bar mounts thanks to everyones help here and I think they would look very trick in the 14k Gold color.. ?

[yamaha.dude]

I have used the clear coat myself... on mag wheels and rocker covers, and in marine applications above the water line) - it is probably the best and toughest clear coat I have used on top of polished alloy... I have some friends who have used the colorchrome... and got great results as well... it does depend on the underlying surface... if it is highly polished, you will get a smooth colour, if it is not so highly polished, it looks more like anodising, rather than chrome... the product relies on the underlying surface to reflect the light, the product just changes the wavelength of the light to give the colour...

I don't have any pics to hand, but I am thinking I am going to make some time to do the swing-arm and other bits on my bike, and if I do, I will post an update...

if you do the colorchrome, then you need to use the clear on top, to stop the scratching and chipping, esp. on a off-road bike... plus you only need a small airbrush to apply the colorchrome to small parts... it doesn't get messy and complicated...

Good luck,

David

[TeamScream]

That sounds like some good stuff but that link is dead for the color stuff.

I wanna see samples!

[yamaha.dude]

Try this...

http://www.por15.com/subcat.asp?id=7

it seems to be the pesky %20 (space code) that blew the link...

David

[ob1quixote]

www.caswellplating.com

but it isn't cheap, read all the forums and the "pick-a-kit"

and remember, the finish before plating is the finish after plating, any surface defects arent going away because you plate it. Surface prep is everything. I have found their plate to be top notch, indistinguishable from triple chrome.

In fact, I have had the opportunity to compare my plating with the exact same part plated by the manufacturer, I win!!!! The part is presently rolling down the road on a $35k chopper, the manufacturers part seemd to disappear...

Yes, its part of my business, but since I gave the supplier, I dont call this advertising. You can do it yourself, or you can send your parts out to be plated, well, anywhere.

Robert