Member Credit: XERMAN2001
I am not an expert or a pro, I am not telling you this is the way it is done or has to be done.
This is what I did and used to polish my plenum, I made this thread to help others.
If you know a better or faster way to do this by all means post how, we are all here just to help each other. This job took me 25 hours over 4-5 days. If I had done it over 2 days and had a larger compressor I think I could have done it in much less time, around 16 hours possibly.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
I have seen a few zeds online here with a polished oem upper plenum and liked it so I decided to do mine. Some have done them themselves others have paid around $300 to get them done professionally.
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Safety glasses
-respirator
-ear protection
-gloves
I bought an extra plenum to polish that way my car would still be drivable. What it looked like when I stared, rough and dirty.
After 4 hours of using an air grinder with a 40 grit flap disk and a Rotary tool with a grinding stone. (should have took less time but even with 2 compressors I still had to wait for them to keep up)
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-40 grit flap disk
-Rotary tool with and assortment of grinding stones
On a small part of the plenum you can see I did a few more steps to see some shine, (I wanted some motivation lol)
After another 4 hours of using an air grinder with a 80 grit flap disk and a Rotary tool with a grinding stone and 80 grit flap wheel. (should have took less time but even with 2 compressors I still had to wait for them to keep up)
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-80 grit flap disk
-Rotary tool with and assortment of grinding stones, sanding wheels and flap wheels.
On a small part of the plenum you can see I did a few more steps to see some shine, (I wanted some motivation lol)
After another 6 hours of using an electric orbital sander with 80 grit sand paper, 120 grit sand paper and 220 grit sand paper. A Rotary tool with a 80 grit flap wheel and wire wheel. (should have took less time but even with 2 compressors I still had to wait for them to keep up)
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-5 inch electric orbital sander
-80 grit sand paper
-120 grit sand paper
-220 grit sand paper
-Rotary tool with and assortment sanding wheels, flap wheels and wire wheels.
After another 3 hours of wet sanding by hand with 400 grit and 800 grit. A Rotary tool with a 80 grit flap wheel, wire wheel and sanding wheel.
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-400 grit wet sand paper
-800 grit wet sand paper
-Rotary tool with and assortment sanding wheels, flap wheels and wire wheels.
After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and a black compound/bar.
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-an assortment of felt/cloth wheels
-black compound/bar
After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and a White compound/bar.
After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and a Red compound/bar.
After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and Metal polish
— another 6 Hours total—
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-an assortment of felt/cloth wheels
-White compound/bar
-Red compound/bar
-Metal polish
–HERE ARE THE PICS AFTER 25 HOURS OF WORK—
I also polished my strut bar. The bar is made of steel not aluminum so it can rust. The bar is not on the bar and was finished 4 weeks ago. It has been stored in the garage since then and shows no signs of rust. I am thinking/hoping that if I keep a protective coating of polish on the car it will not rust. If it does rust I will sand it again and clear coat it, or just reinstall my other oem bar.
Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-5 inch electric orbital sander
-Rotary tool with and assortment sanding wheels, flap wheels and wire wheels.
-Air grinder
-an assortment of felt/cloth wheels
-220 grit sand paper
-400 grit wet sand paper
-800 grit wet sand paper
-1000 grit wet sand paper
-black compound/bar
-Red compound/bar
-Metal polish
———
i am not sure how long this took me, maybe 2-4 hours total.
before and after pics
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