anodized aluminum protection

[cleatus]

What's new (or old) for keeping my railing and bimini frame nice?
I'm sure this has been discussed before, but what's new out there, or should I just use metal polish or car wax...what's good?
Where the fence corners have curved bends, the rail appears lighter in color.

thanks in advance.

[ToonGuy]

I'm not aware of any "tricks" to keep it new. I can tell you NOT to use any type of polish on it. Anodizing is a coating applied to the aluminum, and any type of aluminum or chrome polish will lightly remove a layer of it every time it's applied. Alumiunm rails and bimini frames are anodized in bulk tube form, then bent and welded. That stresses the coating slightly and gives it a slightly different look on the bends. The welds are then hand coated to provide protection.

[HandymanHerb]

Get some fine steel wool and rub it clean, worked great when we redone our boat

[ToonGuy]

The problem with that is it will remove the anodizing. It's super for polishing, but I think he's trying to preserve what he already has

[robster]

also if you use JJ's Best toon cleaner make sure it NEVER touches the anodized aluminum or it will kill the anodized.. we made that mistake when JJ's Best splashed up on our trim. Once the anodized is gone it's gone for good.

[robster]

Woody's Wax is good stuff for all aluminum too..

http://www.woody-wax.com/index.php

[HandymanHerb]

You can not rub it off that easy, it is a plating process, all the fine wool does is remove dirt,then you don't have to do anything else as they are aready sealed, ours are still looking good six months later, even with the dog standing on them

[cleatus]

Your railing looks great Herb (so does your dog), but my railing has a flat silver finish, so I will probably leave it that way. I figured the corner bends lighter color resulted from being stressed when forming the turns, but it wasn't like that a year ago. The boat is in a uncovered wet slip during the summer, so the sun is a factor. maybe a good wax with UV protection is what I need?

thanks fellas

[Bryden24shp]

I use 303 on all my railings and wipe it on my EzFenders as well.