Polishing Aluminium Bodywork

[Alex Gurr]

Chaps,

I was hoping I could get some advice...I am new to this so go easy

I have an bare ali skinned Caterham that I use for racing. It is about 16 months old now and the bodywork needs a good clean before the new season. The biggest problem is that it has now picked up some water marks that just cant be shifted with normal cleaning.

I am not looking for a mirror finish that will take 10 days to achieve (it is a race car after all), but would like to bring the car back to original condition and protect it from further marks. So my questions are:
- What is the best process to use (I have heard everything from wire wool, to aluminium cleaner on an orbital polisher)
- What are the best products to use?
- Is it worth buying an orbital polisher? If so, what product would you recommend without having to spend a lot of money?

Ideally I would like to spend no more than a day on this, but would really appreciate any thoughts you guys have.

Many thanks,

Alex

[belleair302]

Alex, Double 00 Grade Wire Wool and then polish with Auto Finesse Mercury Metal Polish

[TallPaul]

Surely (and I'm not an expert in aluminium bodies), using anything other than dedicated stainless steel on aluminium will promote galvanic corrosion? I'd expect a scotchbrite pad would be ideal to lightly sand the surface and then a course compound to bring it back?