I have seen Mother's polish recommended on the site here. When I went to the local auto parts store to get some, however, the can ("Mothers Aluminum and Mag Polish") said it was not suitable for anondizing or chrome, which seems to rule it out for my Nuovo Record cranks, Delta brakes etc. Is that correct? Was I looking at the wrong stuff?
In the meantime, I ordered some Flitz off the Web.

I use it on chrome all the time, with good results. The only ano parts I ever clean with it are those little gold/red pivots on old schwinn/weinmenn brake levers, and they seem fine.

wre you looking at the auto polish for paint? I think mothers makes a polish just for chrome.

Mothers aluminum polish is a good polish, but no aluminum polish is going to work if the part has a factory clear anodising on it. You would have to strip it off, then apply the polish.

I have used that stuff to remove anodizing (I think that's what was happening). But it takes a long while.

If you just want to brighten plain aluminum or polish any metal, tho, screw the pink German stuff. Mother's is your man.

I love autosol but I am sure mothers works similarly. It would take you days of non-stop rubbing to remove anodizing with that stuff. I have serious doubts about an above posters claim to have done so. One of the mechanics that I work with was sponsored by mothers to polish the aluminum howard hughs plane in the movie about tucker (i think that is right) automobiles. Apparently it took him several weeks to polish.

To clarify, I'm not removing the anodize, just spit shining.

Thanks all!

The pink German stuff is called Simichrome and it is a fine product. I also enjoy using Mother's Aluminum & Mag Polish on bicycles and motorcycles as well as Flitz on firearms.