Topic: Help with polished aluminium

[trueblue]

I have spent hours polishing the aluminium on the side covers, forks and rocker covers on my cb 650 and I can get them to a finish that you could use them to shave in.  The problems I'm having is there is what looks like a black spiderweb through the aluminium, which no matter how much sanding, buffing or polishing I do I can't remove, and the other problem I'm having is more weather related, with all the rain we are having here, I have to polish the aluminium nearly everyday to stop it getting 'white frost' all over it.  I have tried using car wax on it to stop the oxidation, which helps but doesn't fix the problem.  I have checked with the local bike shops but they can't offer any useful information.  I have searched the forum and the products that are listed I haven't been able to find, or find a supplier of in Australia.  The polish I'm using is California Custom Purple Polish, http://www.californiacustom.com/purple_metal_polish.html .  I've almost had enough of the constant polishing and am about that far away from just painting the covers silver.

[solo 2]

I don't know about the black but POR15 makes a clear coat that is supposedly water clear and will bond to polished metal. I'm going to try it but that'll be a while yet. On another of my projects I just polished with scotchbrite and cleared, looks pretty good but is more of a factory look. It's a pain getting all the 'brushed' marks going the same way too.