Tailgate Banner

[kennythewelder]

So I am working on polishing out my aluminum tailgate banner. I striped off the OE clear coat, and repainted the letters. We have a biker who comes to the shop regular for us to do some welding for Him. Mostly aluminum. He is a master metal polisher. His aluminum work is second to none. He can take aluminum, and make it look like a mirror. I asked Him last week to teach me how to do that kind of work. I went to His place Thursday night after work. He did a small spot (upper left corner) on my aluminum tailgate banner. I thought it looked good like it was, but MAN what a difference. He ordered me some supplies so I could do this myself. So this is a work in progress. I will post more pics ( up date this thread) once the buff out is complete.

 

[kennythewelder]

Did some work on my banner, and my rims this weekend. I will still need to repaint the letters black on the banner. I stripped everything off to make it easier to buff. I used triple E rouge, white rouge, and white diamond metal polish. On the rims, all I used was white diamond metal polish. It took 3 polishes on the rims, and they could use some more work, but look good as they are.

 

[tbplus10]

I had a Pontoon boat a few years back that I polished out to a mirror finish.
Actually had a guy follow me to the boat ramp to complain my boat was to shiny and the reflection "almost" made him have an accident.
Im sure you can guess what I told him about my boat "almost" being the cause of his "almost" accident.
Looks good Kenny

 

[kennythewelder]

Well the weather was finally good enough today for me to paint my letters. Here is a finished pic. You can see the reflection of the picket fence gate leading into my back yard, along with the post ect.

 

[tbplus10]

Looks great Kenny

 

[kennythewelder]

Looks great Kenny

Thanks TB

 

[kennythewelder]

Here is a before pic

 

[tibadoe]

Nice job!!!

 

[kennythewelder]

Thanks, it was a lot of work, but well worth the effort.

 

[toyotafan]

So I am working on polishing out my aluminum tailgate banner. I striped off the OE clear coat, and repainted the letters. We have a biker who comes to the shop regular for us to do some welding for Him. Mostly aluminum. He is a master metal polisher. His aluminum work is second to none. He can take aluminum, and make it look like a mirror. I asked Him last week to teach me how to do that kind of work. I went to His place Thursday night after work. He did a small spot (upper left corner) on my aluminum tailgate banner. I thought it looked good like it was, but MAN what a difference. He ordered me some supplies so I could do this myself. So this is a work in progress. I will post more pics ( up date this thread) once the buff out is complete.View attachment 8515 View attachment 8516 View attachment 8517 View attachment 8518 View attachment 8519

Wow, that's a huge difference. How long did it take?

 

[kennythewelder]

Wow, that's a huge difference. How long did it take?

It was a process. The buffing took an afternoon one weekend ( about 4 hours) Then it took a few weeks for the weather to get rite to paint, but it took me another weekend afternoon to paint the letters, about another 3 hours. So about 7 hours total.

 

[kennythewelder]

Detals of what I did. Stripped off the clear coat and paint with some paint stripper after tapping and news papering off the white paint. I removed the stripper as per directions on the can of aircraft paint stripper I bought at Orileys. Once all was dry and clean, and all the tape and paper was removed, I used tripoli compound on a small air buff. After that then I used white jewelers rouge on a new buff with the same die grinder. Then once that was done, I finished up the shine with 3 or 4 coats of white diamond metal polish. This not only brings out the mirror shine, but also helps protect the aluminum from oxidation some what. It will need to be reapplied every few months to keep up the mirror shine. When ever I wax my truck will be fine. As for the paint, I taped the letters off, and used an exacto knife to get the trim rite. Then put the news paper over the white. I applied 2 coats of primer after I wiped the metal down with alcohol and that dried. All primer and paint coats were applied in thin layers and allowed to dry between coats. After priming I then applied 5 coats of paint. Again these were thin coats allowing the coats to dry. On the last coat, I let it sit for about 45 mins before I removed the paper and tape being careful to pull the tape away from the painted letters, so not to pull of the fresh paint .