Restoring polished aluminium

[ade634]

So in true Retrobike style I’ve not finished my current Retrobike and I’m looking for the next one....

I’ve seen an Orange Elite frame. It’s looking a bit tired and it’s age. The surface is pockmarked, has a few gouges but is uncracked. How well is it likely to polish out? I know it’s a bit of a how long is a bit of string question, deep gouges are unrecoverable but do surface marks generally polish out with a bit of wire wool?
It may be obvious to some of you that this is something I’ve never done before....

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Have a search for boy"O"boy's Elite rebuild from years ago as he showed step by step how to do it. Basically for best results you need to strip the lacquer then polish up with something like Autosol. You could just polish as it is but the result won't be as good.

 

[ade634]

I shall have a look for that thread. I’ve a feeling this Orange might be a bit too far gone though.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

If you get the lacquer off it will polish up perfectly.

 

[ade634]

Don’t say that.... must not bid....

 

[abr303]

Re:

I'm in the process of doing mine, once the lacquer is off, then the hard work begins haha. You'll be surprised how much you can pull back the surface shine but it will depend on any surface oxidisation that may of got under the lacquer and eaten into the tube surface.... This 'pitting' can go quite deep into the surface and wont all polish out with a bit of elbow grease you'll see a large improvement should you take it on.

 

[Bawgixer]

Can take abit of work with regards scratches etc but it good to see the results of the work u put in

 

[Retro Spud]

Great results here as well cranks and rear frame

Total dog s**t to one very sparkly glitter viewtopic.php?f=6&t=406947&start=90

 

[Retrobike93]

Them cranks look brilliant, I’ve just stripped and polished my Marin ifi 93 frame, it’s turned out really well.

 

[ade634]

I wimped out on bidding. There has been some superb results posted in this thread though. The crank above looks amazing!