Anyone have any suggestions on the fastest way to shine diamond tread aluminum?! Mine hasn't had any love since i got it and is looking pretty disgusting.

 

Never used any but have seen several products for cleaning aluminum rims at the auto parts.

 

I bought Gord polish..I haven't tryed it yet,but some guys say it works very well...If you do a search on the web you will find serveral videos about it.

 

buffing compound for bodies and wool pad and a couple minutes, then use some cutting bricks, then uses some blue diamond cut(think that's the name of it) that is what we do on semi trucks at work. Leaves them like a mirror when done.

 

depending on how bad it is, those Mr. clean magic eraser will cut grease real good, then I would use mothers in a small red can with a white cap

 

I've heard of people spraying it down with vinegar to remove the oxidization then polishing after wards with Mothers or Maguires.

 

In my experience, after you clean and polish aluminum, it will continue to oxidize unless you clear coat it. But I bet you knew that......

 

Years ago I used to use a product called Britelum or alumbrite on the fire trucks aluminum diamond plate. It worked very well on really oxidized stuff. We found out the hard way that a little is good but a lot is not since it will turn the aluminum whitish colored. Use it as the label says. It will clean it very well but if you want polished that will be by good old fashioned muscle power. You could use a polisher but it doesn't work well around the raised portions in my experience

I have used a couple of other local products that worked pretty good for polishing. The first was called Heavy Metal Polish manufactured in Gresham, OR. The other was manufactured in Vancouver, WA but the label has come off and I don't recall the name. The second one was easier to use overall but the first seemed easier on really oxidized aluminum to get the shine started. I used both together and that worked good. Not long before I retired from the Fire Department I polished up the diamond plate well enough for inspection the Batt Chief thought it was stainless. He should have known better since he drove semi before he got in the FD.

 

I use GoJo on my chrome tip and rims. I put some GOJO on a paper towel and lightly rub it in, then wipe off any residue with a dry paper towel. It may work on aluminum also. For diamond tread I would use a brush. If you try it let us know if it works. I've also cleaned aluminum intakes with oven cleaner and a pressure washer.

 

Get a cotton wheel for your cordless drill and get after it with Mothers, or Meguirs. then wax em with a good hard wax and they'll shine a lot longer than if you just leave 'em raw.

Clear coating isn't a bad idea but its hard to get any tooth on the polished aluminum to adhere too. If you wipe it down with vinegar you'll lose some of the shine.

Kurt