Bicycle Mechanics - products for polishing

As I embark int he task of restoring an old bike, I ahve to clean and polish the old components. Some of them need very little cleaning while some of the others need a lot of elbow grease. I was wondering if you guys could recommend any products for cleaning and some polishing the components. By the way, all the components are C-record stuff. The aero seat tube is the one thing that will need the most cleaning off and polishing.

Simichrome polish. Its hard to find, but worth looking for.

Turtlewax Chrome Polish and the finest steel wool possible--I used to detail Porsche's/Ferarri's/BMW's... we tried lots of stuff but Turtlewax always worked the best and was the cheapest. Do NOT make the mistake of assuming anything polished is "chrome" as many people do. Polished surfaces will want a good aluminum polish (again I recommend Turtlewax), and the finest steel wool on oxidized surfaces, or polishing cloths on non oxidized surfaces.

Don't use Simichrome on bare-metal, it has abrasives and will cause a dull finish; only use it on hard chrome or anodized surfaces.

On bare aluminium, use a chemical-based (ammonia) polish like Blue Magic or Mother's.

Mother's on 0000 steel wool and finish with NevrDull. Awesome results.

^ Mothers works well too. I'd avoid ammonia based polishes for bare al. though, I feel that they are a bit too harsh and a bit stronger than necessary. Had some bad experiences with them on unfinished Benz wheels early on.

You sure it was the ammonia creme polishes? THat's what Mother's is. YOu might have had a problem with a spray-on product using phosphoric acid.

On aluminum, I use a product that is no longer on the market. The Wax Shop aluma gloss. Very liquid, and little or no abrasive in it. On really rough aluminum/alloy I use #0000 steel wool followed by the AG. If you email The Wax shop, they may send you a bottle or two for free. They did for me. It even shines cad plating, not that there's any on decent road bikes, but.... Chrome, I usually soak the small parts in Chemtool, and then brass brush them.,,,,BD

You can get Wax Shop products at car shows and drag races.

But not aluma gloss. It was discontinued, as per their own info. They may have come out with another aluminum polish, but I don't know about it.,,,,BD