Not really an issue for the foreseeable future with my 2005 Enfield's military green painted timing and primary cases' paint still being pretty much tip-top, but it would
NEVER occur to me to pull off my old Norton's aluminum (or "aluminium" for you purists) alloy timing case just to polish it, if I weren't already mucking around in there fixing something anyhow. I do like it shiny though, so that
NEVR-DULL wadding has always been my go-to polish of choice for those alloy bits. It buffs out real pretty with any old rag, lasts a long time, and unlike pastes it gets into and then, just as importantly,
out of those those nooks and crannies quite handily. If I were to suddenly experience any yearnings for "even shinier," then I think I might have to have a few stern words with my pharmacist about his messing up that decimal point again. NEVR-DULL does pretty much any metal well, but if you're looking specifically at chrome, especially pitted or even rusty chrome, then a while back a great little specialist mag called
Classic Car Restorer did a long-term test of chrome cleaning products in which the humble and inexpensive
Turtle Wax Chrome Polish & Rust Remover earned highest marks and their recommendation as top choice above other polishes costing several times as much. That said, one of the
Jay Leno's Garage episodes on YouTube plugged a little family-made water-soluble metal polish from Louisiana called
Quick-Glo Chrome Cleaner, so I gave it a whirl. Sure, it's roughly five times pricier than the Turtle Wax stuff, but then it does clearly contain some kind of Cajun voodoo.
My old Amazon review of it's here, with a link to the item.
As for wax for those painty bits, I've got cans and bottles and jugs of all sorts of high-end buffy goop jostling around on my garage shelves because of my boats: Collinite, 3M, Starbrite...The gang's all here. But once that good firm shiny bed is made, as it were, do you know what I
REALLY like as a super easy gleaming touch up? It's that
Lucas Oil Slick Mist Speed Wax Spray. Man, I
love that stuff, and I adore putting it on. It smells like prom night in Candyland. I wish they made an aftershave. Seriously: grab a bottle next time you're at "Wallyworld" (and pick yourself up
one of these super-handy cheap gadgets for your Enfield's toolbox for just a few bucks while you're at it). Your wife will wonder why the hell you're suddenly spending so much time in the damned garage lately. Oh, and yes it
does make everything shiny without a math-challenged pharmacist's aid. If you're interested in seeing what it does with an Enfield, check out the pix in the online folder at
http://www.bukmop.com/RoyalEnfield/. The pix with names beginning "AsFound..." are the
Before pics taken before I bought the bike last month, while the ones that begin with "AtHome..." are the
After ones, having given her a little scrub and a quick Slick Mist rubdown.
Bring that glistening beast hither to my bedchamber, I pray thee, for a man hath need of beauteous diversion! WHOOPS! Best call the pharmacist. Gotta go now!