Cleaned Running Boards

[touring_style]

Glossy black window trims machine polished last week, it was the turn of the side steps this week.

Good results again.

Before;


After removing all the rubber grommets and masking round the aluminium boards I started off using Wonder Wheels as it was recommended by another form member on another post. I used coarse wire wool and scrubbed hard to get rid of all the corrosion.

It did work, but left the aluminium looking a bit milky, although they did look better than before already.

After using wire wool and Wonder Wheels;


I then used a 75mm compounding pad with my machine polisher and my trusty Farecla G3 and gave them a good polish.

They looked better again but not a good as I was hoping for so I moved onto Autosol with the machine polisher.

Finally I gave them a couple of coats of wax before reinserting the rubber grommets (which I had washed in soapy water).

Final result;




They're not perfect but certainly 90% better, all the corrosion has gone but there is still some pitting and scratches that I'll never get out with basic DIY tools.

Overall a great result and not difficult to do.

[X5Sport]

Pretty good..

[graemeX5]

Congrats on a good job definitely worth doing

[chris.t]

Good results

[X5-D-Sport]

Fabulous result.

Mine are just as manky, with bits of road tar etc - looks B-Awful..
Do the black grommets just pop out with a trim tool, or need pushing out from under the vehicle ?

[Nick73]

Im both impressed and jealous of both of your sets of results!  I keep thinking I need a machine polisher, but Im so f***ing ham fisted, Im pretty sure I'd end up with several a polish mit sized patches of bare metal...

How hard are they to get the hang of?  (quiet voice on my shoulder saying "leave it Nick, its not worth it..."

[touring_style]

[quote="Nick73"]
Im both impressed and jealous of both of your sets of results!  I keep thinking I need a machine polisher, but Im so f***ing ham fisted, Im pretty sure I'd end up with several a polish mit sized patches of bare metal...

How hard are they to get the hang of?  (quiet voice on my shoulder saying "leave it Nick, its not worth it..."
[/quote]

Thanks for all your comments guys.

Nick73 - my X5s goes 3-4 months between washes and I'm really not a competent DIY'er at all either, but after I got a crazy quote from a local guy who does smart repairs to do the headlights, black glossy window trim and the running boards I thought I'd give it a go myself.

Those three things were really making the car look old and I thought that for about £100 I could theoretically takes years off the car without spending the money I was quoted to get a professional to do it.

To be fair I've spent at least 8-10 hours doing the jobs and the pro has to earn a living but I'd rather the money was in my pocket than his!

So I bought the various bits and bobs I'd need including Autosol, Meguires headlight restoration kit, sanding discs, a Silverline machine polisher from Amazon, a bottle of Farecla G3 some 75mm compounding and finishing pads - given that the jobs I wanted to do involved narrow bits of trim.

You can't make the bits look any worse and I wasn't expecting them to look new (even a professional won't make them look brand new).

All in all its been a success and I'd encourage anyone to give it a go.

The money spent on kit isn't wasted as I still have the tools and most of the cleaning equipment to use on other cars or other jobs on this X5.

The only job I'm going to have to do again are the headlights, but another member has given me more advice on that so hopefully his experience will help me with that.

I wrote the posts to help anyone else giving these jobs a go as I did spend a while going through other posts figuring out the best way to do the jobs - hopefully my posts and the steps I took will help anyone else trying it in the future.

[touring_style]

[quote="X5-D-Sport Salisbury"]
Fabulous result.

Mine are just as manky, with bits of road tar etc - looks B-Awful..
Do the black grommets just pop out with a trim tool, or need pushing out from under the vehicle ?
[/quote]

They're straight forward to get out, I used a metal forked trim tool / tack remover on one side and a flat blade screwdriver on the other to prise each one out from the top surface.

I wasn't close to damaging even one of the grommets and didn't put any scratches on the running boards using metal tools - it was very straight forward.

Someone on another post suggested using two spoons, I didn't try that but its a plausible idea if you don't have a trim tool.

[iff26]

really good result but theres easier way as well!
most car wash places use hydrochloric acid or alibrite to clean alloys from brake dust.
put a bit on the towel and rub with it and after rinse with water and you get pretty much same result but yeah good job!!   cleaned 2 weeks ago,still looking good

[touring_style]

[quote="iff26"]
really good result but theres easier way as well!
most car wash places use hydrochloric acid or alibrite to clean alloys from brake dust.
put a bit on the towel and rub with it and after rinse with water and you get pretty much same result but yeah good job!!
[/quote]

Nice one!

That's useful information - but that's basically what Wonder Wheels is (hydrochrolic acid). But on mine it left the surface milky looking (see 2nd photo) even after washing off. Although it had cleaned off all the crap that had built up as well as the small corrosion spots it didn't polish them to the nice aluminium sheen that I managed with the machine polisher and G3 / Autosol.

The hydrochrolic acid / Wonder Wheels is definitely the ideal first step though. 

[crash]

I would be careful with how long you leave any HCL based cleaner on alloy, it will start to dissolve the surface pretty quickly. And i wouldn't use it if you don't have a machine polisher to smooth the surface off after as the HCL cleaning solution will pit the surface making it oxidise and collect dirt even quicker.

Difference with alloy wheels is they have a layer of paint/ clear coat to protect the metal surface.