Polishing Your Billet Grille

Let's say you have a brushed billet grill or a polished grill that has oxidized beyond the point of recognition. You want to bring that shine back? Follow these few steps carefully and you’ll bring a brilliant shine to your billet grill.

1: Cleaning and Prepping the Grill.

The first step is to clean your grill properly, making sure there are no surface contaminates or debris. Eliminating dirt, grease and grime will make the polishing process much easier. Hot soapy water works well for the initial cleaning. After you rinse and dry the grill, hit it with a degreaser, then dry it again.

2: Sanding

This is the most important step to getting a great shine your billet grill. This will take some elbow grease from you but the end result is well worth the extra effort.

The first step in sanding is to wet sand it with 320-grit wet sandpaper. Make sure that the sandpaper and the grill are constantly wet during the entire sanding process. You don’t have to apply too much pressure, just enough to scuff the grill up. Just make sure you sand everything evenly. This will leave noticeable scratches in the aluminum, but that’s okay. They will come out in the following sanding processes.

After using the 320-grit wet sandpaper, repeat the process using the 400-grit, and then 600-grit wet sandpaper. As you move through this process you’ll notice the aluminum becoming smoother and shinier. This is because the scratches are becoming less noticeable with the higher grit sandpaper.

The last step in the sanding process is to use 1,000-grit wet sandpaper. This is going to knock down the fine scratches in the aluminum and leave micro-scratches in it. Make sure you take your time with this and that the entire grill is evenly sanded and smooth.

When you are done sanding, wash the grill again with hot soapy water. After it dries, wipe it down with a degreaser to make sure there are no contaminants on the grill.

3. Polishing

Now it’s time to bring the shine back to the grill. Apply aluminum polish to the grill evenly. After the polish has been applied start polishing it with a buffing tool. Keep polishing the grill until the aluminum polish turns black. After the entire grill has been polished and has turned black, wipe it down with a micro-fiber towel to remove the excess aluminum polish.

HINT: If you need to get into the tight areas, use a small flat head screw driver with the micro-fiber towel over it. Be careful not to poke through the towel with the screwdriver, so you don’t scratch your grill.

After all the excess polish is removed and the grill is clean, you may still notice very fine scratches.. The last step is to rub the polishing compound on the grill with your fingers while wearing latex gloves. Just like the last step, rub the aluminum polish into the grill until the polish turns black.

Put on your sunglasses and wipe the excess polish with the micro-fiber towel. This will reveal a brilliant shine to your grill.

NOTE: If you have deep oxidation in the grill you can use flour or baby powder in the first polishing step to cut deep into the grill and bring out the oxidation.

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