ALUMINUM CARE & MAINTENANCE (POLISHING)

[DAIRYdr]

HELLO ALL I AM A NEW C 170B DRIVER LUCKY 2 GET MY DADS ALL POLISHED PLANE , HE KEPT IT POLISHED FAIR BUT IT COULD BE WAY BETTER I WOULD REALLY LIKE 2 SURPRISE HIM & I DONT KNOW ANY THING ABOUT POLISHING ALUMINUM. PLEASE CAN SOMEBODY HELP! ?

[3958v]

Polishing is one of those jobs that can always be better. I polish my 170 with nuvite polish. I start with a circular polisher and C grade polish dabed on with a finger very lightly with dabs every 4-6" apart I repeat this process until the cloudyness is removed. Then I use a Cyclo Buffer with sweatshirt type material and s grade polish. The more you polish the longer it lasts and the better it looks. Really not that hard if you break it up in 2 hour segments. A nicely polished plane will get lots of coments from all the tower controlers and line people where ever you go! Do a search on NUvite products and they will direct you to web site with a great tutorial on pollishing. The reason I use their products is that they have several differnt grades of polish which you will find quite handy. Bill K

[DAIRYdr]

HEY THANKS A MILLION

[GAHorn]

Check out the following website for polishing tecniques, advice, tools, and materials:

http://www.perfectpolish.com/

[hilltop170]

HELLO ALL I AM A NEW C 170B DRIVER LUCKY 2 GET MY DADS ALL POLISHED PLANE , HE KEPT IT POLISHED FAIR BUT IT COULD BE WAY BETTER I WOULD REALLY LIKE 2 SURPRISE HIM & I DONT KNOW ANY THING ABOUT POLISHING ALUMINUM. PLEASE CAN SOMEBODY HELP! ?

Or you could just let it return to the natural patina it left the factory with, Cessna did not polish it's planes, they just left the mill finish that came on the new aluminum.

George is doing that with his airplane and even with all the un-original mods he is putting on the plane, it still looks more "original" than any of the highly polished ones. I'm not entirely sure of his technique but it involves washing it with WD-40 or Marvel Mystery Oil or something.

Click on picture to enlarge

IMG_8202.jpg

[markeg1964]

I acquired my 170 from my dad as well - I traded a Harley and some cash. He polished it yearly although due to keeping it outside (in Washington State) it was not as shinny as it could be. I have continued to polish it yearly although due to keeping it inside it has become shiner each year.

I also use Nuvite polish. It may appear expensive when compared to other polishes but you only use fingerprints at a time so a small container goes a long way.

I started by using Met-All polish which brought the plane to a nice shine but left swirl marks. I followed that up with Nuvite. I apply the polish with a Dewalt variable speed polisher and remove it with a soft cloth by hand. Be careful not to over polish. Once the polish has broken down continued polishing will result in a hazy finish. Polishing is actually quite enjoyable although I have only polished it about four times.

I’ve started to polish the underside of the wings which according to my dad have not been polished in 30+ years. For that I’m starting with an extremely course polish and then move to the Met-All. It takes about an hour to do a 12 inch strip of the wing - I’m done with one half of one wing. It is amazing how good it looks it just takes time.

The following picture was taken several months after the spring polish. The tops of the wings are polished they are just covered in dust.