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Aluminum Display Case - Polish Product Review

kronin323

Font of Useless Knowledge
46,014
7,943
Austin, TX
As you likely know, last week I picked up a x-metal single-wide tower. It needed some cleaning. I searched the forum for recommended aluminum cleaning products and found two mainly mentioned: Mother's Polish and Sheila Shine.

So I bought both. And I'd like to review them for you.

As a control, I also included some common "Mr. Metal", something you can buy at a grocery store.
20140906_151312.jpg


With an aluminum tower, the original finish isn't gleaming-polished shiny. The I-beam corners have a smooth finish but a muted shine, kinda like a late-gen plasma x-metal. The panels around the top and the bottom storage have a rougher, flat finish.

Mr.Metal:

Since I already had the Mr. Metal while I had to wait for the other two to arrive, I started by applying Mr. Metal to the entire case. It's a milky liquid that you wipe on, let dry, then buff off.

It did a good job removing dirt, etc and some tarnish, particularly on the corner beams. But the dry stuff was difficult to get off, especially around the edges of the rivets. And on the rough panels, the end result was swirly and uneven:

Dried Mr. Metal on a panel:
20140906_150937.jpg


After buffing it off:
20140906_170057.jpg


Sheila Shine:

Sheila Shine is a clear liquid. You can buy it in a pourable tin (like you would paint thinner) or in a spray can. I got the spray can because I thought it'd be a more efficient use of the product, though the cost per volume was higher. You spray it on, wipe off excess, then let it dry. Extra rubbing or buffing is not supposed to be needed.

This did a great job on the rougher, flat-finish metal panels, though initially it may take more than one application. Here is the same panel as above, after two applications of Sheila Shine:

20140906_171714.jpg


Mother's Polish:

Mother's polish is a white paste. You dab a little on a cloth and rub it on, where it will blacken. After rubbing it in quite a bit, you buff it off.

Mother's is by far the most effective polish - almost too effective. If you use it on one of the metal panels, it will change the finish from flat to shiny, more like the corner beams. There's nothing wrong with shiny; it looks good and some may prefer it. But if you're looking to keep the original flat finish and the contrast with the beams, I'd advise against using it on the flat panels.

I tried it on the left half of the top panel on the back of the case (so, whatever the results were, they'd be hidden against the wall). You can see in this picture the difference in shine between left and right - it was hard to capture with the camera and is much more obvious in real life. This is from a single application:

20140906_151053.jpg


When you use Mother's on the corner beams, it'll get rid of tarnish that nothing else will. But it will also polish it to a more mirror-like finish. This makes it difficult to use for spot cleaning - it will make the cleaned spot shinier than the surrounding area so you really have to commit to the whole surface so it'll blend.

In this pic, you can see that the spot center/below the lower third rivets is shinier. I actually applied it to that entire area, but rubbed more in that center spot. Also note the black marks - it is not a scratch remover. You'd probably have to sand out the scratches first. (Again, it's not as visible in the pic as in real life)

20140906_131204.jpg


But on another beam I had a tarnish spot the Mr. Metal didn't do jack to. I didn't try Sheila Shine on it. But Mother's took it right off... and polished the beam.

Before: (again, more visible in real life than the pic)
20140906_131214.jpg


After:
20140906_131615.jpg


Review continued in next post...
 
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But here's some interesting results - there was this one spot on a corner beam with a kinda "splatter" of tarnish:

20140906_171727.jpg


When I used Sheila Shine on it, they turned white (again, more visible in real life)
20140906_171817.jpg


So I then tried Mother's. Suprisingly, it left the white splatter marks but polished the metal all around it, making them more visible! I did a second application of Mothers. Same results, but they faded a little bit - I believe if I do repeated applications of Mother's, it will eventually wipe them out. Here's after the second application:
20140906_172402.jpg



My conclusion? Sheila Shine is the best product for most of your needs. It is the easiest to use and gives results closest to the original finish. However, Mother's can be used to remove unsightly tarnish that nothing else will, and can give your case an overall shinier look, if that's what you're going for.

Sheila Shine was also the most expensive - on amazon, regardless of single cans or two or three can bundles, after shipping it worked out around $11 - $12 per 10 oz spray can. Unless you buy a case - then you get 12 cans for about $6.50 per. If you have stainless steel appliances, the case option is worth considering because it can be used on those, too.
 
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Yeah, thanks for the review Kronin, Sheila Shine definitely looks the pick of the bunch for our purposes.
 
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