Restoring Metal

Hey everyone
I want to restore the metal on my engine covers to get back the shine that they originally had. Ive seen a lot of videos of people doing this with huge expensive polishing tools. I've tried using Mothers aluminum polish which added a little shine but with temporary results. Is there a way to do it with a smaller hand tool that isn't going to cost me a years worth of paychecks?

Theres a lot of different of ways to achieve that. I personally sanded all entire motor with sandpaper and snading bits for drills and dremels. Finished with a finer grit wet sand. Then used white diamond metal polish and buffing wheels from harbor freight. then finished it off with mothers. But that might be overkill for u. I wanted mine polished to a near chrome finish.

I wasn't born yet to know what the original amount of shine was on the bikes so I'm basing it on what I think it should look like I do want to try for a almost chrome finish. Would a hand buffer give the same result as the table buffing wheel?

I have tried a few different polishing techniques so far the best has been the polishing wheel I just got.
I used a regular buffer with different rouges and mothers, neverdull, shine bright and a myriad of
other polishes

currently using a harbor freight polishing wheel 1/2 horse 47.95 I just bought last week with white rouge and blue rouge








put it together Sunday and spent a few minutes having fun

if you decide to get one get the 3/4 horse 8" and use 3 6" wheels for a wider patch IMO
the 1/2 horse struggles with larger pieces

I've had pretty good results with the 4" and 6" cloth wheels on a corded drill for the buffing steps. Cordless motors don't generally spin fast enough. Mothers works pretty good as the final step with a loose stitch cloth wheel. By hand I can't get much usefulness out of Mothers. I got super annoyed with the HF wheels and compounds, but they are inexpensive. Can't stress enough about getting all the scratches out with progressive wet sanding. Otherwise you're just wasting time with the buffing wheels and compounds.

Alan

Well the girlfriend might punch me for buying more tools for the garage but I suppose that's a risk I'll have to take. Off to harbor freight tomorrow haha

Like Power stroke said depends on the finish. My bike is a daily driver I don't want to send more time polishing that riding. I use an electric drill and a polishing kit from Harbor Freight. You want to use the Rouse compound. After I polish it for a while I use a wheel without compound to bring out the shine. Use lots of compound. Harbor Freight also carries a long shaft die cutter that will accept a 1/4" shank. Spins at 2500 RPM and works great for polishing. The alternate option is to do the "chrome" powder coat. Not as shiny but a lot less time and maintenance.