Polish Aluminum Trailers Need help

[Tazz]

I have an account that purchased a couple of brand new and a couple used polished aluminum gas tankers. I need to find a soap that will keep them looking new and a soap that will remove the milky streaks on the slightly used ones.

[R L S]

The only way to remove the "milky streaks " are by buffing. The best thing I have found for polished is Sabre from EaCochem. We also use alot of HF and if you know what you are doing can meter it down ALOT and get great results.

[hydro Tek Man]

At the ACR Round Table we will have at least 5 or more truck washers that hardly ever go on the web . They all wash at least 500 trucks a month . I sell sabre and it does work well . Hope you can make it to the Round table.

[Paul Kassander]

If you want to avoid stripping the polish off stay away from acids and hydroxide based chems all together, they can burn the alum pretty easy. Random light applications of an acid are ok but they will dull it a little each time. If they don't get too bad a phosphoric acid will be your best bet. HF is good also because it has high dilution ratios but it is much more aggressive. Remember to follow with your alkaline based soap for neutralization.

Like Richard said buffing is all you can do for the "milky" streaks. More than likely someone used some acid to clean it up and it was a little stronger there or ran down from the top.

[Tmrrptr]

OK, I'll be the safety nerd.

Find the HF Hydroflouric acid grief story with the search button before using that product. Nasty stuff. I can get by without it!
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[Paul Kassander]

Yes it is dangerous, especially when used improperly, so are the hydroxides that are in most of the chemicals on the market. There are other less people aggressive cleaners available that can do an equivalent cleaning job if you look for them.

Your situation will really dictate what you use and if the units aren't too bad or you can spend a little more time on them Phosphoric is a much better choice. Of course all should be used with care. Do your research and understand what it is you are using and you can have a long and prosperous career-life.