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Reinforced Front Wheel Arches

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Thanks guys. Draino is cheap and at Kroger. Cleaning up those are way down the road.
 
Do you / should you do anything for a protective coating? They look awesome!

Tx-

George
 
kellysguy said:
$65 a quart:eeek: I've been wondering about using sodium silicate for an aluminum sealer.
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Hence the "I've not decided yet". There's a downside to every solution.

2 years ago I made an aluminum handle for my mailbox. I just shined it up and stuck it on. It self anodized in the weather and always looks good. The aluminum trim on my garaged car did not fare as well. I wish I could reproduce what happened to the mailbox handle.
 
Kelly, Like all of us have some of that on our shelves.:rolleye: How about a more common name please. What's wrong with Mother's aluminum polish/wax?
 
Sodium Silicate "water glass"
 
David_Doan said:
I have tried that in the past without success. What always works is sandpaper. Start at 60 or 80 grit to knock off the anodizing then work up to 600 (or however high you want to go). I used 60, 100, 180, 400, 600. Most of the real work goes on at 180 grit. Make sure all the rough marks from the coarse sandpaper are gone before you move on to 400 and higher. At 600 is where you will realize anything you missed and you will have to go back to 180.

Do not use a grinding wheel or a wire-brush on AL. The grinding wheel will clog. The wire brush will make it shiny but melts the surface leaving a rough, but shiny texture. For really deep scrapes or imperfections, a file works well.

Depending on how much gloss you want 0000 steel wool can also be used for the final shine. I prefer 600 or 800 grit sandpaper, then Mothers Aluminum Polish. the Mothers will make it look awesome.
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Worked on the other post today. Was not happy with the shine at 600 grit. Went and bought 800, 1000, and 1500. The last three grits don't take long and they help a lot, it was worth it.
 
auto paint shops sell an epoxy glue for glueing metal panels together.

it is under the 3m brand. it is designed for quarter panel replacement.
 
I'm glad to hear it's working so well! This sounds like the way to go for me too. Time to invest in a handful of cheap vicegrips!

How much JBWeld does it take per arch?
 
I certainly have no experience with using JBWeld in such an application, and I commend David for trying it. However, I'd like to see how it holds up under normal use for a year or so before recommending it.
 
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