Polished my primary cover. What to seal it with?

[Frank the Real Biker]

The brushed aluminum primary cover on my 2005 has been kinda sorta neglected over the years. Decided to spiff it up a bit, so I sanded it with 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. (I was too lazy to remove the cover from the engine to polish it. Instead I took off the shift levers and the passenger and rider foot boards and did it on the bike.) Armed with Mother's Mag and Aluminum cleaner and an electric drill with a jeweler's buffing wheel I began my attack. Took a while to get the hang of it, but once I figured it out it went smooth and fairly quick. Finished by polishing it all again by hand with Mother's and a hefty measure of elbow grease. It's not quite as shiny as chrome, but close. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 = chrome and 1 = cast iron) it's about an 8.

I realize that if there was any protective coating on the cover beforehand, but there definitely is not now. Exposed aluminum is susceptible to oxidation and needs to be sealed. I've toyed with squirting it with automotive clear coat. Looked a number of different sealing products on-line as well. Nothing has jumped out at me as being ideal.

Any suggestions? Anyone with experience coating/sealing aluminum?

[rbabos]

Short of spraying it with one of the standard clear coats for aluminum, nothing really will stick to it like wax and all that crap. The coating can chip, then it's ugly. Best to give it a quick mothers, or never dull, autosol treatment once in a while. Had a polished aluminum prop on my last aircraft. Nothing I tried protected it from water marking, short of coating it with grease for the winter. Nature of non ferrous metals.
Ron

[Admiral Akbar]

Wrinkle black powder coat.. 

Max


Opps
You got a blond motor.. 

Max

[splitting_lanes]

Simichrome Metal Polish

It will look like it's been chromed.

[Rags722]

You may find that raw aluminum that has been polished and then treated with any number of polish/cleaners has absorbed a crapload of chemicals that are not conducive to allowing a clear coat ( or any other color for that matter ) to bond with the surface.  If clear will not stick, you are in for a LOT of polishing.  I took a reasonably new Triumph once and spent the winter shining it up.  Sparkled like a gem, but I had a chance to pick up a used HD and sell the Triumph in the same town...... about 700 miles away in the dead of winter. So, we loaded the Triumph in a trailer and headed west in the middle of a snowstorm.  When we arrived about 40 hours later, the polished aluminum looked like it was part of a corrosion test and was on the losing side.  I will tell you I did polish and sand my stock HD wheels after I got road salt on them and forgot to clean them.  I have found as long as I keep a decent coat of wax on them they hold up halfway decent.

[Frank the Real Biker]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I think I'll try to keep ahead of any corrosion with good ol' wax. I ordered some Collinite 845 Insulator Wax. I heard good things about it.

I'm not a fan of washing the bike. I'd rather ride than wash. That's probably why the cover looked so bad. I have a friend in Ohio that is a real nut about washing his Harley. Heck...he's been know to wash it 2...maybe 3 times a year! Anyway, it won't take much time or effort to slop a coat of wax on the cover every now and then. Time will tell if I did the right thing.

[mrmike]

Do yourself a favor and pick up a used chrome cover on E-bay, raw aluminum is a PITA to maintain as compared to chrome and it's one of the reasons I put chrome lowers on my forks, just one ride on a salty road and don't clean it afterwards and the damage is done.

Chrome, wipe it down with windex and it's like new.

Mike

[Breeze]

I like polished aluminum. I've found that just auto wax works as good as anything. I polish my alum. about twice a year. I have done tests of Mothers Mag./ White Diamond/ Busch's Alum./ Simichrome/ and Wenol (German Simichrome) on my fork  legs .There is virtually no difference in luster. You will get some black spotting around the bolts where you did not get the clear coat off, but it will still look good.

P.S. I live in middle Georgia, where there is no salt to worry about. It was different on the East coast of Florida.

[YFOPOS1]

Do yourself a favor and pick up a used chrome cover on E-bay, raw aluminum is a PITA to maintain as compared to chrome and it's one of the reasons I put chrome lowers on my forks, just one ride on a salty road and don't clean it afterwards and the damage is done.

Chrome, wipe it down with windex and it's like new.

Mike

I'll second the above.

I'll never own polished aluminum again if possible or at least not on purpose !
Had some polished aluminum rims on a truck years back. I thought they had a clear coat on them... NOT.. anyways came outside one morning and notice a dog had watered the front rim/tire. Late for work so figured I'd clean it when I got off work. Big mistake !  I tried everything I could get my hands on to polish it out. Nothing worked the, the dog piss had etched in the aluminum rim.     

[14Frisco]

I bought a polished aluminum fork brace from SuperBrace approx. 10 years ago.  It arrived with a mirror polish, almost chrome like.  And it has held up incredibly well, it has yet to oxidize or loose its luster.  I think I may have polished it once over all these years, and it didn't really need it.  I have a few things I want to strip the clear-coat myself, so a while back I contacted them and asked how/what they did to get that super finish that lasts so long but unfortunately they didn't respond.

Clear-coat is good, that is, until you break the clear-coat, then it gets ugly in a hurry.  Same with chrome, it is good until it starts pitting.

[dirty jim]

OR GO TOTALLY THE OTHER WAY. POLISH EVERY THING! I HAD A 77 FXE, POLISHED PRIMARY, INNER AND OUTER, ENGINE CASES, TRANSMISSION CASE, ROCKER BOXES, CAM COVER, OIL PUMP, ETC., ETC. WAS "EASY" TO POLISH, JUST RUB EVERYTHING WITH NEVERDULL, NO POWDER COATED SURFACES TO STAY AWAY FROM. LOOKS KILLER BUT, WASH TIME IS A LITTLE LONG.

[2tired]

Haven't used it, but Shine Seal is made for sealing polished aluminum.  shineseal.com

[76shuvlinoff]

Well if you are successful let me know.  Years ago I spent a winter buffing all the bare aluminum on my 76.
Man it was sweet looking... for about 3 weeks.

  I went chrome.

[hogasm]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I think I'll try to keep ahead of any corrosion with good ol' wax. I ordered some Collinite 845 Insulator Wax. I heard good things about it.

I hve used 845 Insulator was on my boat since it was new in 03. Looks like it came off the showroom floor. Use it on electrical connections also to prevent corrosion on them.

[nibroc]

mothers mag and aluminum polish works for me with a coating of a good quality car wax

[PoorUB]

Frank, I had an old Honda a few years back with polished aluminum covers where the clear had peeled and the bare aluminum corroded. I sanded them down with finer grits untill they looked pretty good and shot them with cheap Krylon rattle can clear. It held up for the two years I had the bike before I sold it.

[BlackSpecial]

I've always used Poor Boys sealant with excellent results.

http://www.poorboysworld.com/wheel-sealant.htm

[Jim Bronson]

mothers mag and aluminum polish works for me with a coating of a good quality car wax

Best stuff there is.

[hbkeith]

I agree , for a chrome looking shine Mothers is great , but im like you ,I hate washing and waxing , try Blue Magic polish for quick results

[sporty88]

What mrmike said...

[rbabos]

While I didn't mention it in my first post wax is the classic wax on /wax off is a Karate kid exersise. It won't stick to aluminum. Only thing that does is RainX. Offers a micro film that actually works at the cost of a slight dulling effect. It can be washed off with acetone or whatever if needed to restore the original polished surface.
Ron

[easyricer]

I "Normally" polish all of my aluminum up once a year then wax it all with Mothers carnuba wax. With my engine rebuild, tranny replacement and recent other troubles, Ol Betsie ain't been all shined up in about 2 years. Since she's sittin in the shed waiting for a new clutch, I think I'll get out there and shine it all up again.
The first time I polished the headlight nacelle was almost 15 years ago before I even owned her. Back then it was just a real dull grey where just sandblasting would have been a great improvement. After reading your post about how to protect it, I went out and got a look at mine. I can't see my brite shiny toothless smile in them anymore but they still don't look too bad.
My method is first a light wet sanding with 2000 grit paper, and then lots of old t-shirt rags and Mothers Mag polish. It takes about a case of beer, before it's done to my satisfaction. Last year, while I was rebuilding the motor, was the first time the rocker boxes got a good scrubbing since the bike was new back in 1976. I thought I would burn out the motor on my dremmel tool but they shined up beautifully.
I actually prefer the look of polished aluminum over chromed. It has more depth and shows that the owner actually takes care of it.
EASY

[Deye76]

"It takes about a case of beer, before it's done to my satisfaction."

Don't tell me that, I'll be wanting to polish everyday. 

[Ken R]

Whatever you do, don't clean that polished primary cover with any harsh over-the-counter cleaners.


I polished the pulley cover for my Bridgeport Mill a few years ago.  I mean, I had it looking like chrome.  Took hours and hours of dedication.  It had left a little bit of polishing compound in nooks and crannies . . . so I cleaned it with a cleaner from an auto store in a purple spray (plastic) bottle. 


INSTANT DULL! 


I mean, something in the cleaner instantly etched my bright polished aluminum so that it looked 50 years old. 


Had to start all over again. 


Be careful what you spray on polished aluminum and test it on something not critical before spraying it on polished parts. 


Ken

[Frank the Real Biker]

Good to know, Ken. I generally use good ol' soap and water unless I'm sure that a particular chemical won't hurt anything. Some of that stuff will etch the dickens out of aluminum!