[Guest]

At a meet today a guy on an S3 has polished various aluminuim bits from his 2005 S3 and removed bits of black paint to bare metal and polished that too. Even the side stand looked like chrome.

In all honesty you could not tell if it was chrome or not.

However I'm not sure how long the finish will last as aluminum tends to oxidise and form a crust?

Any opinions?

Mark

 

[Avi8or]

Yep, polished alloy is real nice but a pain to keep nice.
I would think that your best bet is to polish the socks off the alloy & then get it anodised.
I would love to try it no no anodising shops here.
Another option is chrome but same problem.

 

[Guest]

A simple coat of non-yellowing laquer paint over polished aluminum keeps it looking great for a long time.

A while back, I saw a photo where someone had polished the frame, engine, and everything else you could think of on a 2004 Speed Triple - it looked really nice. You could also go as far as having the plastic parts including the tank vacuum-metalized for the chrome look.

 

[cheapbastard]

Polished aluminum isn't that bad to keep up if you do a good job on it to begin with. I used to, and still do a little of sportbike frames, and swingarm polish work. Only problem is, it's a helluva lot of work, and nowadays, I prefer the black out look of the frames and swingarms anyways, especially on speedy! ;D Besides, that frame would be a PITA to tackle!