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Help needed!!

I thought I'd throw this out on the EXTERIOR forum to see if anyone has any good ideas. I'm using 3 Nuvite compounds (F7, C and S) to polish my aluminum body panels. Long story short, one panel slid off my trailer onto a brick road and was scratched. Not deep gouges...you could barely feel them with a fingernail. Do I drive across town, pay another $100, cut out another panel or use what I have? I used what I had. When cutting out the big rear panel, I mistakenly reversed the (non-symmetrical) pattern which put the scratches on the outside instead of the inside as planned. Damn!

This week I've used the most aggressive compound, but it didn't remove the scratches completely. They are not as bad, but still very noticeable:One guy suggested sandpaper - 600, 1000, 1500 grit, but others say this will cause dips or valleys and possibly be even more obvious. So if anyone has any suggestions, ideas or recommendations, I'm all ears!

Thanks,
-Gar
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14227&start=240

Use the progressive grits but use only on a block. By hand you're more likely to cause low spots. You've got nothing to lose but time.

Don't get too serious about a perfect shine because it won't last if you drive it. The shine can be scratched with clean fingers. Stones from driving will scratch and gouge from the first hour on the road. They look perfect for a very short period of time.

Like i said earlier today.. it would be faster to do it the way i said to get it out.. with so much flat area an orbital sander will make it go quick...

These are those wheels i was telling you about i had..

These are pictures of them when i got them.. they were scratched and and had curb marks....



This is what it looked like about an hour later..


How i did it was the following,
-Sand paper, 320,600,1000,1500,2000 Wet and Dry Versions
-a bucket of HOT water with dawn power scrub (Never sand aluminum dry.. the material you sand off.. just scratchs it worse...) You constantly dip the sand paper to get the material off and spray the surface to get the sanded material off the surface... when i did the final sanding with the 2000 grit i layed the hose where it drips on the surface while i did it because the slightest material will rescratch the surface..
-mothers mag polish (only do this step after all scratches are gone.. cause all it does is make it reflective..
-Wax, I like using 3m cleaner wax cause it seemed to make it last the longest.. both mothers aluminum wax and some other brand i tried last very little time before scratches came back..

This will fix it for good ...

what you need is a brushed aluminum finish, done in the directions of the scratches, did my sides because they would get scatched by stones.

or you could always spring for permashine powder coating or even anodized in colors if you like.

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polishing aluminum is the same in many ways as you do to a painted cars finish .
you can sand the hell out of aluminum and unlike a painted cars finish you will not sand thru .
you can start with any grit sand paper you feel you need to remove the scratch . say 80 grit then brake down the grits about 100 at a time so from the 80 go to 180 then 220 then 320 then you can go to wet or dry 400 i use wet from 400 on down then 500 wet then 600 wet and so on until you get to about a 1200 or 1500 grit then use your soft metal polish and buff .