I'm still a newbie, but learning fast. I'm in the middle of rebuilding my Yamaha Banshee and am polishing every piece of aluminum that came off the thing. With each piece I'm getting better results and my way may not be the best way, but it's working well for me.
Depending on the part, I start different ways. Head over to
www.net-cetera.com/banshee and check out the pics. I'll try to describe how each one was done.
The engine case was pretty smooth to start with so I just dove in with the black compound and a sisal wheel for the initial polish. I used medium pressure and went against the wheel's rotation (as I learned here) to get all the minor blemishes out and get an initial shine. Once I had the main areas done, I went to a felt bob with black compound, hard pressure and got all the nooks and crannies. Once it was all shiny, I moved to the brown compound on a spiral sewn wheel/felt bob (not the same ones!) with medium pressure. Again, I went against the rotation of the wheel until all the minor scratches from the sisal wheel were gone, then went with the rotation of the wheel to brighten it up. I followed this with the white compound on a loose cotton wheel, lite pressure and going with the wheel rotation. Once it was done, I washed with soap and water, wiped it with laquer thinner and gave it a good coat of carnauba wax to seal it.
The clutch cover was originally powder coated black and was bead blasted clean, washed, wiped down with laquer thinner and then sanded with 100/220/400/600 until all evidence of blasting and sanding marks were gone. It was then washed and wiped down with laquer thinner again. Then I did the same as I did for the engine case to get it shiny.
The nuts on the cylinder heads went right to the tight spiral wheel and brown compound with only a dip in the parts washer to clean off the grease beforehand. The balance tube went right to the white compound as it was in good shape to start with. The reed cages got the same treatment as the clutch cover.
The suspension linkage needed a bit more work before it went to the buffer. I had to grind down the casting lines and rock damage (This is a 15 year old ATV) with a dremel and an 80 grit sanding drum first, then followed up with 80 grit emery cloth over the entire surface. I then used 220 garnet paper to smooth it all out, then 320 wet/dry then 400 wet dry before hitting it with the sisal wheel and the black compound. I should have hit it with 600 wet dry before buffing as it took forever to remove the sanding marks with the sisal wheel. The rest of the process was the same as the other parts.
Again, my methods may not be "the" way, but the results are more than acceptable to me. Oh, BTW, all this was done with a Makita drill clamped to my workbench and a cheap flexible shaft unit from Harbor Freight. One of these days I'm going to buy the 3/4hp buffer... Probably the day after the old makita finally burns up... heheh
Some good reading for you would be the buffing guide right here:
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/...922549ce6821ef
This is where I was "taught" how to polish..
Good luck!