Aluminum

[banshee]

Oxidation removal, just found a beautiful 93 vn1500a Vulcan but p.o. didn't take care of it, what's the best thing to use??

Marvel mystery oil's good on oxidation, but what do I use on the dark carbon spots

 

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[benjy_26]

I've always had good luck using Mother's aluminum polish.

[Dogote]

It really depends on what it is on and if the aluminum has any coatings on it. Japanese bikes almost always are clear coated or painted to look polished or cast. 

I work on a lot of early European bikes like Guzzi, Ducati, and BMW, as well as some British stuff. They all have uncoated cast or polished cases.

I like to use mag wheel cleaner for unpainted wheels on the cast stuff. Spray it on and brush it with a stiff plastic brush, then wash it off. Phosphoric acid is the active ingredient and if you can get a bottle of it and dilute it, it's even better, but I have found that for most jobs you may as well just buy what walmart has.

 

I like never dull on polished parts. It is a cotton wadding compound. It looks like fiberglass insulation, comes in a tin can. Rub it on, polish it off. Leaves a vintage looking patina, but makes it clean and shiny. 

 

A paste of baking soda works on everything. It really gets the stains out and can polish stuff to a great shine. It's also like .99 cents a box, so you can use a ton of it. Get a couple boxes. It will work with a rag or a brush depending on what you are doing. I have clean an entire WW2 fighter plane with it, and then Neverdull before. Came out like a mirror, but still looked 60 years old.

 

DO NOT USE METAL BRUSHES ON ALUMINUM. Its so bad to do that it's borderline illegal to do on an aircraft. You will ruin the metal, even though the immediate short term results may be acceptable. With that said, you can use a CLEAN stainless tooth brush on small select spots to get really bad crap off, but be conservative with it and don't do it on anything polished. 

[DirtyComanche]

If you're going to use a metal brush on aluminum, brass is the preferred type.

[Dogote]

If you're going to use a metal brush on aluminum, brass is the preferred type.

 

No, not at all. The brass will embed in the aluminum and cause dissimilar metal corrosion. It will also make the aluminum black with the brass that rubbing off into it. The best thing is not to use any metal brushes, but at least the stainless resists wearing into the aluminum part if use very sparingly. 

 

Red 3M scotch brite works very well. Better than a brush for most stuff.

[Dadinator]

Mothers with a polishing wheel for the drill works real well.

[banshee]

Thanks Dogote going to try the baking soda and never dull

 

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[Tex06]

X2 on Neverdull.  Great stuff and super easy to use.  

 

Red or green scotchbrite and Bikebrite will get most gunk off the aluminum, follow it with the neverdull and you should be set!