3M Aluminum Polish and Restorer

[haganjeff]

Below are the before and after pictures of the 3M Aluminum Polish and Restorer. The product says made for pontoons on the label.

Most of the improvements were made by 3 hours with the pressure washer. The polish did take off oxidation, but left the finish somewhat splotchy. I purchased a 4,000 rpm buffer that helped a little. All in all, I probably would not do it again. For all the work it took, the results were nominal.

Also, I should mention that my neighbor had some metal protectant designed for commercial kitchens and safe for aluminum. I sprayed it on and wiped off. It gave the toons a super slick feeling like they were coated in wax. I will find out tomorrow if that adds some top end speed. Thought I would share the results. From now on, pressure washing will be enough for me.

[Cycleman07]

looks good! Nice job.

[Bamaman]

When you've got green grunge on the toons, the green junk's gotta go. You did right by using the pressure washer, and it's a time consuming job.

Using the acid based pontoon boat cleaners is the next step, and it'll finish the job but leave the toons very dull and gray.

Then, you go after the toons with a metal or aluminum polish. I use White Diamond aluminum polish from Advance Auto Parts. I apply it with a Porter Cable dual action polisher and a wool bonnet. You can apply the polish with a detailing rotary polisher, but they're not as forgiving as the dual action polishers. The trick is having the right wool bonnet, not a foam pad.

After applying the polish up and down, right and left 2'x2', the polish will turn from a black paste to a powder and mostly disappear in the air. Then, wipe off the remaining black oxide.

After applying the polish with the proper equipment and bonnet, polishing toons is more time consuming than hard work.

[haganjeff]

Well I got some new found speed after all. I was able to hit 21 mph consistently this afternoon. Recently, I have been stuck around 18 - 18.5 mph. The grunge on the toons was apparently slowing me down more than 10%. Oddly enough my max rpm's climbed from 5,000 to 5,400. Kind of surprised by the jump.