type of Compound on Aluminum Arch?

[JohnEGraham]

I am working on restoring a portion on an aluminum arch ( Atlantic Arch) They say on there web site that to restore the Aluminum you can start with #600 sandpaper than down to #1200 grit followed by Compound. I Know there are different types of compound. Do they mean the Heavy Orange compound? seam to be a heavy grit then the #600 or do they mean the white compound?
I wonder if I should do the whole arch and would this cause it to be overall duller that the areas not touched which look good already?
Thanks. John G

 

[Redhook98]

Running into the same issue with my arch on my AJ. Would love to hear some input on this. Thanks!

 

[JohnEGraham]

I found the following on there Web site ( Atlantic Towers) I Have Started with the #600 grit Wet Sand paper using some #400 on the real bad areas then went to #1200. Overall the unit looks good, so far except for the top corners which look dark gray. I don't know if anything can be done for that.
Atlantic Towers info: "Restoring the the brilliance of the finish will take many more hours than maintaining it.
But if you've neglected your tower or hardtop and corrosion has started already, don't despair. The damage is likely to be limited to the anodized coating; the underlying aluminum should be O.K. Aluminum workboats or hard-core bluewater sailing yachts are often left unpainted; oxidation creates a hard, dull grey coating that protects the underlying metal better than paint would. But if you don't want your Tower to look like that, you can http://www.atlantictowers.com/at_sub/images/00107AB339.jpg do a pretty good job of restoring the finish of a "greyed out" tower if it was properly anodized originally. Start with strips of fine sandpaper, no coarser than 600, using them "shoe shine" fashion around the pipes, then work on up to 1200 paper, then a strip of cloth, with rubbing compound, a final polishing with something like Flitz, and then a good coat of Woody's wax applied frequently."
Good Luck. John G

 

[JohnEGraham]

Looks so far, Going to try heavy duty Auto past compound an follow up with Polish. John G

 

[JohnEGraham]

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]I have read that you can use Sodium Hydroxide (Draino) to remove the hard covering and then use a product like Wally wax to protect the soft exposed aluminum. Really would need to be in a paste form due to it the arch being to big to put into a tub of the stuff. I understand it takes 20min of chemical action.
I also understand the Hazards of using this chemical SAFETY FIRST
JG
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[JohnEGraham]

If any one every tried using the chemical ( other then your sink / tub) please reply
Thanks