Posted by WD on March 12, 2001 at 05:14:23:
In Reply to: Re: wet sanding between coats posted by Amy on March 12, 2001 at 02:23:02:
I used to go as fine as 20000 grit for polishing Sportster cases, which in the 900 and 1100cc versions were notoriously porous. It will take a lot of time and patience to polish out aluminum that far. Make sure you keep the paper soggy, as it starts to get dry, it will try to scratch rather than burnish (polish) the metal. I would get the ultra fine 10000-20000 grit papers mail order from a jewelers supply company on the East Coast of the USA. These specialty papers are not cheap. You can get the same results with jewelers rouge, but the metal seals better (shines brighter/longer) if you hand polish it. Generally, the shine would last for around five years, but that was in semi-arid conditions on the east side of Washington State. In a humid area, this level of shine will likely only last 2 years or so, and each time you touch it up, you are removing both base material and part strength. The shops I was in always recommended having the part triple dipped to preserve it. Proper triple dip plating is 3 layers of copper, followed by three layers of nickel, followed by three layers of chromium, and it is very expensive to have done to aluminum parts.
-WD