Bare Metal Case

[simon275]

If I wanted to have a new shiny front to my case. I would be best to sand all the paint of obviously. Clear the surface off oils. Then paint a couple of layers of clear coat wet sanding between coats and then polish and buff right?

Also I was wondering how good of a shine can I get out of Aluminum or would I be better getting a piece of stainless steel cut to shape then sticking that to the front?

Cheers

[jdbnsn]

I have polished both stainless and aluminum, though not extensively. In my short experience I found aluminum to be MUCH easier to get a mirror shine from than stainless, the steel is less maliable and takes more effort to smooth out. Also, if I read you post right, you intend to clear coat before you polish? You should strip the metal down to bare with sandpaper, moving to relatively high grit until all scratches are gone, then using a polishing compound buff the living hell out of it, clear coat later. Another thing I noticed when I worked with this process is that you can get almost any old ugly metal to a mirror finish, but once it's perfectly clean and shiny you leave awful fingerprints that have to be buffed back out so get a box of latex gloves (or sub if allergic) so you can guard the metal from oily fingers and have clean swaps always available.

[simon275]

When I said polish I meant the car polishing stuff not the liquid sand paper but that is a good idea to. Cheers for that I just needed some one to confirm my thoughts. I was thinking about maybe four clear coats is that to many or to few? Also do you wet sand the top and final layer of clear coat?

Cheers

Oh and +rep