Do ALL freshly polished metals rust?

[kwood69]

Just curious. I polished a steel differential cover to a nice mirror like finish (it's my first piece as I'm a newbie) using the 3 steps. A friend told me that when he polishes aluminum he has to seal it or it will rust inside of a week. With that in mind, I put on a coat of Turtle Wax chrome polish since I had it laying around and it leaves a seal coat behind. Well, the piece has been hanging in my garage for about 8 days now and the humidity has been above 50% everyday and not a sign of rust.

Now, I don't know if this is because of me applying the chrome polish or because not all metals act the same. So what's the verdict? Do all metals act the same here or does Aluminum have different properties than Steel that would effect this?

For the record I do plan on experimenting with some clear coat spray for polished diff. covers like the one I just polished. I just want to know how long I have between final polish and clear coat application before rust or corrossion sets in.

[customandsound]

metals are not the same .... steel will rust if not covered with wax of clear ,,,,, aluminum dose not rust.... so what he said is false !!!!!

[berad001]

Clear coating a diff cover might not be the best idea seeing those get pretty hot, could go either way. Zoop seal works nice. I wouldn't use any spray can clear coat stuff though, if you're going with clear have it done right. With steel I've polished I just use a hard wax sealer, I've yet to have an issue just gotta make sure you always have wax on it, otherwise it will rust. I don't seal anything I do in aluminum and it all looks great.

[customandsound]

the cover on my car's rear end is coated and it dose not get that hot at that part of the car .. so the coating WILL not burn off !!!!!!

[berad001]

the cover on my car's rear end is coated and it dose not get that hot at that part of the car .. so the coating WILL not burn off !!!!!!

That's good it worked for you, maybe it depends on the type of car and the way you drive it. Mine gets pretty hot. I've seen less heat haze/cloud clear coat.