After two years of sea air, lack of cleaning and general neglect, my box trailer is looking pretty rough. So I decided to give it a bit of well over due TLC. First job is to attempt to clean up the heavily oxidised aluminium sheet panels.
Does any one know of a quick fix to remove oxidisation from the aluminium? Or am I simply going to have to use elbow grease?
Septone "Ali Bright" acid cleaner or the Chemtech equivalent, avail at auto stores and hardware.
They are the shazzizle.
BUT very very dangerous, this stuff demands respect.
Just bring in some south africans to do it.
That's how you english fixed up your cricket team 
I missed that you are in UK so maybe you don't have those cleaners there. There will be equivalents. Rust converters based on phosphoric acid work OK for light cleaning but don't do much. For proper oxide layer removal to get it back to bright and clean the strong stuff is all that will work. Septone Ali Bright is awesome.
But are u sure it is aluminium - seems an expensive way to build a trailer. Not just galv steel sheet?
Select to expand quotemark62 said..
Or am I simply going to have to use elbow grease?
Aluminium oxide is extremely hard - ruby and sapphire are both aluminium oxides that measure 9 on Mohs' hardness scale. Only diamond is harder, measuring 10. So, the "elbow grease" might work in reverse and wear out your tools. I'd rather look at something chemical, possibly acid-based...
Not much help to you but the apprentice at Custom Aluminium here in Perth built this in his spare time..all aluminium...we are discussing a contra deal...might be some time before I get my trailer from him!
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
I missed that you are in UK so maybe you don't have those cleaners there. There will be equivalents. Rust converters based on phosphoric acid work OK for light cleaning but don't do much. For proper oxide layer removal to get it back to bright and clean the strong stuff is all that will work. Septone Ali Bright is awesome.
But are u sure it is aluminium - seems an expensive way to build a trailer. Not just galv steel sheet?
Again, not really helpful if you are in the UK, but Whitworths have an aluminium cleaner meant for boats that works really well. I used it on the rocker cover of my car's engine and it turned a dull rough finish into something that you can polish up easily. The bottle has all sorts of warnings on it, so it is obviously caustic. It seemed to be surprisingly effective, although I am not sure how to keep the same finish. Do you need to clear coat it to prevent it oxidising badly again?
Thanks for all the tips. A lot of the brands mentioned can't be bought in the UK. I did find this, I guess it's pretty similar:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321138006692?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648
Last night, I tried a bit of foaming Mr Muscle oven cleaner on a small area on one of the aluminium panels, it stripped the oxidisation off, but it left a horrid grey effect, looked worse than oxidised panel.
Hopefully the stuff on ebay will do the trick:)
Cheers
Select to expand quoteMan0verBoard said..
Not much help to you but the apprentice at Custom Aluminium here in Perth built this in his spare time..all aluminium...we are discussing a contra deal...might be some time before I get my trailer from him!
I want one
Select to expand quoteKazza said..Man0verBoard said..
Not much help to you but the apprentice at Custom Aluminium here in Perth built this in his spare time..all aluminium...we are discussing a contra deal...might be some time before I get my trailer from him!
I want one
+1
Just to finish the thread off, today I spent 6 hours cleaning the trailer. The trailer was in a pretty bad state, very heavy oxidisation and very dull.
Hand washed and dried, then sprayed metklean ali bright on in stages. I used a 4 inch brush to agitate the metklean ali bright into the heavier areas of oxidisation. Washed down with hot soapy water, then hosed down with clean water and dried again.
Finally finished it all of with Autosol metal cleaner/polish. This was buffed up to a nice shine.
The old oxidisation has left bad scars and its impossible to blend it all in, but the general finish is smooth and shiny. Massive improvement:)
