While some alloys need polishing, others will require wax. This will be dependant on the wheel’s finish, if the wheel has a chrome finish, a chrome polish is required. If the alloys are polished, they will need an aluminium polish. If the alloys are painted or coated, it’s best to choose a quality wax to protect the finish. Thoroughly Wash the Alloys It's important to dry off your bike. Some people recommend a micro-fibre drying cloth over a chamois, but I use a chamois. The main mistake I used to make was to fold up the chamois into four and then scrub at the bodywork to soak up water. You don't need to do this and all you'll do is rub any remaining grit across the surface, causing hairline scratches. Take your chamois and lay it across surfaces like your tank, take it off, wring out the chamois and repeat. On vertical surfaces, you can pat dry the surface, again, helping to reduce hairline scratches. You may be left with a small film of water or a few beads, but this is fine, they'll evaporate. Metal polishing compounds can vary in abrasiveness, ranging from coarse compounds for heavy-duty polishing to fine compounds for achieving a mirror-like finish. They can be used on a wide range of metals, including stainless steel, aluminum, brass, copper, silver, and gold.

Once your bike is washed in this way, you'll spend less time keeping it clean. With the Zymol cleaner wax, the surface is sealed and protected. After a ride, you will be able to rinse down the bike to wash off surface grit and retain the shine. You can use the Autoglym Showshine to give an instant gloss. When water stops beading up on the bodywork, it's a sign that you could do with a fresh wash and re-application of wax. Once you are happy that your alloys are sparkling clean, you need to thoroughly dry them. Use a clean, soft microfibre cloth to remove all moisture from the wheel, as this may react with the polishing treatments. Apply an Alloy Wheel Brightener As with all things the amount of energy expended on a job dictates how good the results will be; it’s not all about how hard you polish though. The annoying phrase…don’t work harder, work smarter….is very appropriate when it comes to polishing. Alloy wheels add style and substance to any vehicle, but alloys can get pretty dirty and fade overtime, especially if you do a lot of miles. Its important to care for the alloys as you would care for the car’s paintwork. To keep alloys looking as good as they should, they should be regularly polished to maintain the finish. If you discover damage to your alloys when polishing your alloy wheels. ChipsAway specialists can repair the damage in a matter of hours so your wheels look as good as new again.Then we need rub the surface over with some Vienna lime to remove any residual polishing soap, grease or finger marks and the job’s a good’un as they say. All that’s left to do is possibly give the readily oxidisable surface coating of protective wax polish and it’s time to move onto the next job. Sharp eyed readers will note I’ve not polished out the marks in the top face of the carb cover. As the intended bike has a patina of wear I’ve elected not to go over the top but rather carry out a sympathetic refurbishment.

Within reason a larger power source will give better results, you’ll need to expend less time/effort/energy and there’s less likelihood of damaging the shiny bits. Bench or post mounted grinder/polishers generally have the guts to do the job but you need to match the mop size to the motor’s capabilities.

Polishing

When you polish a painted surface, you're removing miniscule layers of paint and in doing so you're creating a smoother surface, free from scratches and swirls. With a motorcycle's bodywork, unless you're very skilled with a polisher, it is best to polish by hand. Pressure washers. I don't use a pressure washer. Apart from being incredibly lazy, they're just not necessary. You're cleaning a small surface, not the side of a boat. Using a pressure washer is a bit like turning up to an Archery competition with a sawn-off shotgun. You want more precision for a better result. You could make this process take longer by working in a dedicated polish and then applying a wax/sealant, but after trying this myself, I could not notice much difference. The Zymol cleaner wax is seriously good stuff, giving the bike an incredibly deep, three-dimensional shine. I’m also using a second cut file to carefully shave off any big dings while still preserving the original profiled and then redressing as above. By using progressively finer abrasives (whether by hand or on a mop) it should, with time, be possible to get surface that will readily polish up to an acceptable level. Finally, unless you have a workshop area you can dedicate to polishing it’s probably best to do it outside; it’s inevitably a messy process and you don’t want the debris all over your bikes or work area. ON THE MOPS

What we're looking to do here is remove the dirt from within the paintwork. I say within, because the finish on your bodywork is very much a three-dimensional. We're looking to get a deeper clean. The final step is to apply a finishing polish to the alloy wheels. Apply the finishing polish with a soft microfibre cloth and polish until the cloth is free from product. The longer you polish the wheels, the shiner they will look, so keep polishing! If this happens you will see parallel tram lines along the surface that will show up on the finished item. The sisal mop is used until the work piece is uniformly buffed and further polishing doesn’t enhance the sheen. It’s also worth investing in a kit that comes with the smaller dolly mops (1”, 1 ½” & 2”) as these can be a godsend. The larger mops cannot get into recesses or tight spaces but the smaller mops can get into the nooks and crannies. Don’t throw a dolly mop away until you’re absolutely sure it’s beyond use; it’s guaranteed that you will need a worn down 1” version the minute you bin it. KEEPING IT IN PERSPECTIVE

No sponges and the 'Two Bucket Rule'

Select below from our great range of Pro-Max Metal Polishing Compounds ideal for use on aluminium, alloy, brass, copper, steel, stainless steel and chrome.