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I've had a lot of inquiries about how I did the polishing on my bike, so I thought I'd write a how to. If one of you could make it a sticky I'd appreciate it. I hope you find it useful!
Here's how to polish your side cases and other aluminium/steel parts on your bike.
To inspire you .. Here's one of my fork legs after polishing using this method ..
Okay .. let's start!
Materials :
Go get yourself a 115mm grinder, a wire wheel attachment, and some wet and dry ranging from 240-600 grit. I highly recommend Ryobi power tools.
Buying cheap stuff works out to be more expensive / inconvenient if you're planning on regular use.
This is the model I have and it's fantastic. Reasonly light, very tough and the handle and head are adjustable.
Then grab yourself a three-stage polishing kit with two hard buffing wheels (orange) and a soft one (white) .. and the red, white and green polishing compounds.
Attach these to a cheap $29 ozito (or whatever) electric drill (the crap coming off the wheels will ruin a drill pretty quickly so here's the exception to the rule). Try and find one with the little knob on it for controlling the motor speed. Most seem to have it.
Models similiar to this seem to go for about $30 at Bunnings. Get a hammer drill with a handle as it's easier on your hands when polishing. The polishing stuff is usually available at Bunnings or auto stores for about $30-40.
How much do I need? :
A set of buffing/polishing wheels and the little sticks of diamong rouge compound you get in the kits will get a set of cases done with a little bit of life left in them.
Step #1 : Degrease your side cases, cam covers, etc etc and get them nice and clean.
Step #2 : Sand any high spots or casting marks with various grits of sandpaper (working from rough to fine) .. a scotchbrite pad on a drill works well too.
Step #3 : If you have any sanding marks or scratches, keep sanding until everything is a little smoother. Give it another brush with the wire wheel on the grinder if need be.
When they're ready to be polished they should look like this :
Step #4 : Put the work piece in a vice with soft jaws (rubber or wrap it in a rag but make sure it doesn't flap about and get caught in your grinder or drill - (be VERY careful and consider investing in some proper soft jaw attachments).
Step #5 : Grab the drill, a hard buffing wheel and the RED compound, and keeping the drill at around 1500rpm, hit the piece with the buffing wheel all over, keeping an even and moderate pressure run it along the piece in even lines, then concentrate on any tricky area's.
Step #6 : Once you've done that thoroughly, grab a clean rag and wipe off all of the excess buffing compound, then change to the other clean buffing wheel and dress it with the WHITE compound. Keep your buffing wheels seperate and only use them for the same colour compound - label them! Continue the process .. and you will start to see the shine come up, so keep at it and be very thorough. This is the most important stage. When you are satisfied with the shine, grab a clean rag again and wipe off all the excess compound and use a bit of carby cleaner to get everything clean. After polishing with this compound it should look like this :
Step #7 : Change to the soft polishing wheel and dress it with the GREEN compound. This is the gloss compound which helps bring out a little more shine, but more importantly protects the metal from corrosion. Repeat the process as above and make sure you get into every little nook and cranny.
Now grab a clean rag and some cotton tips and get all of the excess compound and bits of fluff from the polishing wheel out of the nooks and crannies, and clean the inside of the casing out to make sure none of the fluff or compound gets inside the motor.
Step #8 : Re-fit to the engine and check out your reflection. Make faces where possible.
Here's the motor back in the frame after detailing and polishing.
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Originally Posted by lunar_c 
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