Guys I started the process of polishing the tires and swingarm this week and I grabbed some Mother Sluminum polish for the swingarm and so on. Well, I read the instructions and it said that you have to rub it in until you get a black residue, and if you don't stop polishing as it is not a polishable metal. So I rubbed a bit on my swingarm and started to rub it in circles and nothing. No black residue. All I did to the swingarm was clean it off before I put the mothers on it, so what's the catch here? How long you have to rub that stuff in?

wildcard

 

swingarm is brushed alum. Mothers will clean it up nice n make it all shiney, but not polished polished. I love the stuff

 

you cant just put it straight on to the swingarm, there is an anodizing coating on the swingarm that you need to take off. if you are looking for a nice shiny coating then you will need to do some stuff first. Not sure if this is the best way but its what i used to polish my heelgaurd plates.
1. Use aircraft paint stripper to remove coating
2. Use sand paper starting 180 grit, then 400, 600, 800, then 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit wet sand
3. After all that your ready to use the mothers

i wish it was as easy as applying the polish

in my case for some reason the stripper did not take the coating off so i spent alot of time removing that with the 180, so that said im not sure if you need to start that low if the stripper does its job.

 

If you wanna make it shine hard, try autosol or marine autosol. I use it on all the metal bits on my bike.

 

just so ya know... if you remove the anodize, you open yer self up to have to keep polishing and polishing and polishing and polishing. this wont end unless you seal it. and if you gett lazy , it will begin to white corrode...peeece

 

will that work with the frame as well??

 

yes it will work but it takes a ton of time.... btw an angle or die grinder helps...go to sears they have good polishing compound that u need a buffer to put on but it brings out a nice shine.

Its a pain to keep clean btw .... NEVER DULL wadding polish kicks mothers *** btw

 

Do a Youtube search for "polishing aluminum" and you find all kinds of information on polishing compounds and tools. Motorcycle swing-arms and frames need the protective coating removed first. Liquid stripper or good old sanding are the only options.

Psy

 

i was just told today about this stuff that my friend who is a truck driver uses on all his stuff. its called alumibrite or something like that. i was also told that i could use some stuff that you use on your oven to remove the anodized coating.

 

Yeah, a guy I work with was just telling me about this stuff they sell at the truck chrome shop in my town that's supposed to be really good. Can't remember the name, though. I'm gonna stop on my way home from work.
He said he's never seen anything like it for cleaning and polishing aluminum.

I wasn't gonna do my swinger, but just wanted to clean up my triple and some other little stuff....