[B40dash8]

Took on another job of polishing the fork tubes on the 450. They came out pretty good compared to what they were. No sanding needed. Just paint stripper to remove the clear coat. 5 dollar cutting metal compound from harbor freight, mothers polishing compound, angle grinder and polishing pads. The Results are pretty impressive. Finished up with some wax to protect the job afterwards.

 

[Emil]

That looks great! Clear coating it would probably keep it looking like that for a much longer time.
Mother's is good stuff!

 

[Kreuzi]

Nice Job!👍

 

[rickybug]

Holy moly!!! I had no idea that they could look like that.

 

[B40dash8]

Haha I didn’t either till I tried it. There was no way I was going to sand any of the aluminum shown in all these YouTube vids. Like I mentioned I just removed the clear coat with a paste paint stripper and used 2 different 6 inch buffing wheels on a angle grinder. I also used the gray polishing compound. You could probably even use the more harsher compound and get better results. I think that’s the black one. Then at the end you can use the mothers aluminum polish till you get them like mirrors. It’s like endless. That black junk just keeps forming and forming on the rag no matter how many times you polish it. lol

 

[rickybug]

It’s like endless. That black junk just keeps forming and forming on the rag no matter how many times you polish it. lol

So doing it without removing not practical.
How about an SOS pad? 🥴

 

[Kreuzi]

How long did it take to polish?

 

[B40dash8]

with the 6 inch buffer wheels I used on the angle grinder probably about an hour for the actual polishing. Not counting removing the front tire and loosening the forks.
By hand probably days…. I would say it would be hard to do by hand and very time consuming. I can keep going on the metal but don’t really want a mirror finish. Maybe down the road or when I’m bored.