polishing bits of your bike

russ0228
russ0228 Posts: 228
edited April 2008 in MTB general
hi all does anyone have any thoughts on which is the best way to polish a crank arm.
you see i have a pair of saints and they are looking well tatered now, so i thought i would polish them up, but was looking for any ideas on the best and easiest way. any thoughts would be grateful.
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Comments

  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Just metal polish. The stuff with wadding ina can is excellent. Eventually areas will dull again as the polish comes off, and it oxidizes, yet you will have a shinier patch where your foot comstantly rubs.
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  • russ0228
    russ0228 Posts: 228
    yeah i still have heaps of the original finish on the inside of the arm so what would work best to remove the paint
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  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    It seems SPD shoes are the best thing ;-)

    I am not sure to be honest. The metal wadding will probably fetch the anodizing off pretty quickly.
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  • russ0228
    russ0228 Posts: 228
    spd's that's a bad word in my area. flatties all the way !!
    i will try paint remover and see what happens. what can go wrong????
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  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Not much really! Just dont splatter it about lol
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  • dave_hill
    dave_hill Posts: 3,877
    What you want is a rotary polishing kit like this and an electric drill or a bench grinder with a chuck in one end of the spindle.

    You can get a show-quality mirror finish with one of these, but bear in mind that you'll have to keep on top of it because once the lacquer is gone off the aluminium it will start to look shabby in no time unless you give it a once-over with Autosol every now and again...
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  • Milkie
    Milkie Posts: 377
    give it a once-over with Autosol every now and again...

    Thats the stuff!! I use it all the time to make metals shiney!
  • russ0228
    russ0228 Posts: 228
    thanks for the tips. i tried paint remover and it did bugger all. i will try the polishing kit though, by the looks of it the polisher should do the job.
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  • pete236
    pete236 Posts: 204
    My advice, get some medium and some fine wet and dry glass (sand) paper. Rub all anodising off with the medium grade. Give everything a good rub with the fine grade, then with some frech fine grade but with the paper really wet. Finally, 3 or 4 good strong hard rub downs with Autosol metal polish as dave_hill said! Thats easily the best stuff to use!
    Rub it on with a bit of thick, fairly coarsley woven rag, rub until everything is black then buff off with a clean bit of the same rag. For the final buff off use a very finely woven bit of cloth for a fantastic shine!
    A lot of elbow grease but well worth it!
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  • Prints
    Prints Posts: 86
    go to halfords
    buy autosol
    use a cloth
    and rub away!!
  • russ0228
    russ0228 Posts: 228
    thanks for all the comments!! i will try the outosol and some elbow grease and see what happens. thanks again
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