How Can I Clean My Aluminum Truck Bed

And so your toolbox isn't quite shining in the sun similar it was when y'all bought it? If you've got an aluminum diamondplate toolbox on the back of your truck like I do, y'all may have noticed that over time it doesn't look quite equally skillful.

Mine usually turns a milky white color, which I found out the consequence of oxidation over time. Stainless steel won't rust, but can wearisome over time which is important yous take the time to clean (and polish it) from time to time if you want that factory showroom finish.

In this post, I'll embrace pace past step how to make clean an aluminum toolbox from domicile, or as a detailer.

What You Will Need

At that place are a few things that are important to have on paw whenever tackling a project like this, including a couple of hours of your time for starters. This tutorial volition assume yous do non accept access to a polisher, but below is a complete list of items it's nice to have on-hand.

Image	You lot Will Demand	Quantity Needed
	Old work clothes	1 fix
	Latex Gloves	1 pair
	Aluminum brightener or wheel cleaner	i
	Microfiber towels	5-half-dozen
	Cotton or wool buffing wheel with adapter	1
	Aluminum polish or rouge compound	1
	Choose i of the following:
	wool carpeting foursquare (optional)	1
	Drill with polishing adapter (optional)	1
	Dual Activeness polisher (optional)	1
	Rotary polisher tool (for extreme cases)	ane

What to Know Before Getting Started

Most tool boxes are made of aluminum, although some are stainless steel. If you have a stainless steel box, just exist sure to work with the grain, and utilise a stainless smooth. With that said, cleaning and polishing are actually 2 separate steps. Polishing can take a while depending on how thorough y'all want to be, simply the polishing phase it actually what will cause that mirror-like finish to aluminum.

Step ane: Remove and Launder Your Tool Box

To get started, it's a good idea to put on gloves and former work clothes, every bit this tin can get messier than you may think. .

If y'all are able to, it's best to remove your tool box completely from your truck before doing anything. This will just make your life a lot easier, since it can take a bit of work to scrub these clean.

This besides gives yous an opportunity to make clean out the within, and dump out the water when yous are finished. After you lot have it removed information technology, only launder information technology similar yous normally would with soap and water, removing any loose dirt and droppings.

Step 2: Apply an Acid-Based Wheel Cleaner

One flim-flam I've heard about from Dallas Paint Correction and Automobile Detailing is to use a more acidic chemical (like a wheel cleaner) to break up stuck-on clay and grime starting time, followed by a more basic chemic like an all-purpose cleaner. This will restore your aluminum to an unpolished state when treated dorsum to dorsum with these ii cleaners.

This swing in the pH scale from acidic to more bones helps prep the aluminum for the polishing phase.

You may too want to pick upward an aluminum brightener for phase ane, which is pretty acidic and really designed to eat away at the dirt and grime on exactly this type of application.

Go on in listen that cleaning aluminum will not restore luster or shine until the polishing procedure begins. After yous employ your cleaners, merely wipe everything down with a microfiber towel and proceed to pace iii.

Step iii: Apply Polish With a Buffing Bike

For this step you can either apply polish by manus with a strip of wool carpeting (which will obviously take longer) only I would recommend using a polisher or sander with a wool or cotton fiber buffing cycle.

Wool is probably my favorite personally, and have found they polish cloudy headlights a lot meliorate than the foam or microfiber pads do. Especially when working with metal, microfiber pads tend to pause apart rather quickly.

While you're at it, you lot may want to check out this tutorial I put together if your headlights are getting a little hazy and need to be polished out using a wetsanding technique.

Polishers

Go on in heed that dual action polishers are much safer effectually cars than orbital sanders which tin can exercise damage when used on higher settings.

For most people, a uncomplicated drill zipper works just fine. I recently picked upwardly a wool polishing kit with a drill attachment on eBay for around 15 bucks.

Use an Aluminum Smoothen or Cutting Compound

Once y'all have your wool pad and device, y'all will want to plow the pad sideways to actually clean in the grooves of the diamond plate when polishing. You tin can use notice aluminum polish like the Flitts brand here on Amazon that you lot can apply straight to the surface with a paintbrush.

Another alternative that really does a expert job if you have a polisher is a rouge polishing (or cutting) block. This is used to shine jewelry and works well on aluminum.

Step 4: Wipe Down and Spray Multipurpose Cleaner

You volition probably observe in that location is quite a bit of black or grayness smudgy substance on the exterior of your tool box after polishing information technology, which is perfectly normal. Merely hit with multipurpose cleaner or soap and h2o and a microfiber towel. This is can be a dirty process when polishing, and then merely exist certain to protect your clothes and be aware of your surroundings.

Conclusion

Overall, this entire process shouldn' t have more than than virtually 45 minutes to an hour if you are using the proper tools. Polishing or cleaning aluminum tin can actually stand up out and is a simple upsell that you lot can offer customers if you lot are a detailer.

I hope this post is helpful, and let me know if you take whatsoever other tips and tricks for polishing or protecting your tool box. Let me know how your project goes!