Cleaning alloy parts

[Bean]

My car is stored outside most the time, under a cotton sheet, a cheap rain proof Halfords cover and finally a Tarpaulin tied down with rope.

I have the use of a garage now, for the rainy seasons.

This keeps the car bone dry, however some off the alloy parts have gone a bit off colour (dull, dirty), a white powdery substance which I'm guessing is oxidisation, a light form of corrosion.

What's the best way of cleaning up these parts?

[Bean]

Boing

[pistonbroke]

Try metal polish with fine emery and loads of elbow grease  

Or strip off (parts from the car) and send to metal finisher  

[Bean]

They're not that bad, must be from the car occasionally sitting in a puddle from heavy rain, really need to get the driveway resurfaced.

I might strip the bits off and polish up, won't happen again once the car is left in the garage I hope.

[Blatman]

Depends what you mean by clean...

I tend to wipe my ally/powdercoated ally down with WD40 after a rainy blat. Bare ally will go dull, but that's never bothered me at all. The white powdery stuff is a form of corrosion and you may find the ally is marked beneath it. Assuming it's bare ally, you could wet 'n' dry it with 800/1000 grit, wet, to restore a matt finish, and if you want a more polished finish, use finer wet 'n' dry and finish with Autosol. Get a big tin of elbow grease if you want a polished finish though

With the Westfield, I tend to find prevention is better than cure, so I coat everything metal with WD40 on a regular basis, and *always* immediately after a wet run. Seems to have served me well...

[Bean]

I'm just looking to clean off the white powdery corrosion, a wipe with a cloth seems to bring back to former finish then a coat with WD40 I guess.

I'm referring to the carbs, inlet manifold, alternator and various other bits under the bonnet.

I'm not into polishing, far too much like hard work.

Like I said, a symptom of leaving the car outside for a period of time I guess (even though covered up), it will be garaged in the future.

[Blatman]

For the engine bits, wrap a couple of placcy bags around the alternator and starter, then cover the bits with truck wash, either sprayed on or brushed on, then rinse off with either a bucket of water and a clean brush, or a hose pipe/jest wash. For the engine I use my Karcher, but I don't actually switch it on, I let the water pressure and the spray nozzle do their thing au natural...

[Bean]

Thx, I'll give that a try.

Where do I get truck wash, some form of generic cleaner from a motor factors?

The block is fine, was freshly painted last year.

[Blatman]

Yep, your local "proper" motor factor should have truck wash. Or Gunk or Jizer will do, just don't use them on tarmac. It dissolves the bitumen, turning tarmac into gravel... Been there, done that, got the ear bending

[Bean]

Gunk or Jizer will do

Ah, think I've got some of that in the shed

[spence]

Gunk or Jizer will do

Ah, think I've got some of that in the shed <!--emo&

http://www.bizrate.co.uk/carmaintenanceproducts/oid579671955.html

Was well impressed with this stuff . Gunk is good but i just can't stand the smell of it.

[Bean]

It's not actually a degreaser I need, it's a deoxidiser, there I just made up a word.

In the future, the car will be garage over extended periods of typical British weather.

[Blatman]

Oxidation is formed from the base metal itself. I don't think there's a brush on/wash off solution for that. I'm afraid elbow grease is what's needed. You'll find it on the shelf next to rocking horse s**t, above the unicorn horns...

[Bean]

Oxidation is formed from the base metal itself. I don't think there's a brush on/wash off solution for that. I'm afraid elbow grease is what's needed. You'll find it on the shelf next to rocking horse s**t, above the unicorn horns...

It's only light alloy corrosion, won't take that much elbow grease hopefully.

Need the car shiny for Stoneleigh

[custardtart]

Spray all shiny bits black - problem solved!