Cleaning aluminum diamond plate

[Stein]

I figure I'm not the only one around that will be doing some boat polishing.  Does anyone have a good method or materials to clean aluminum diamond plate with mild marine corrosion?

I am going to pull my seat boxes to seal underneath so I don't get my junk wet when I hose out the boat and figured I might as well shine up the diamond plate while it's easy to access.

I tried a few cleaners on hand and a stiff brush and nothing touched it.  I don't need perfection, but it would be nice to bring it back closer to the new look.

[b23]

There's a cleaner called Star Brite, or something like that, I'm sure a google search would turn something up, but it has acid in it and should work for you.  They may even make a product specifically for AL.  My boat was glass but I used it to clean the water line that would form when we left it in the water all summer.  That stuff would bring my glass hull back to sparkling white.

[Bango skank]

000 steel wool, some blue magic (takes very little, very thin film) and buff off with clean rags.

[blackpowderhunter]

ive got a brand new can of shark hide aluminum cleaner you can have.
it's not the protectant, just the cleaner.

[Sakko300wsm]

Sharkhide works great. But definitely use the protectant afterwards.
New aluminum all you need is the protectant

[nwhunter]

Does that sharkhide work good on the hulls of aluminum boats? I have a hewes hardtop and the paint is immaculate but the aluminum hull is pretty streaky. I certainly am not a keep it polished guy but if this product would shine it up some and get rid of the streaks I would try it..

[Sakko300wsm]

We put Sharkhide on every boat we build before it ever leaves the shop! Ya polished boats are not my thing either

[jmscon]

If you, for some reason or another, use a wire brush on aluminum, make sure it is stainless steel. Regular steel wire brushes can transfer enough metal onto the aluminum to have a rust hew! And you will never be able to get that off unless you sand it off, which isn’t very easy on diamond plate!

[CP]

If you, for some reason or another, use a wire brush on aluminum, make sure it is stainless steel. Regular steel wire brushes can transfer enough metal onto the aluminum to have a rust hew! And you will never be able to get that off unless you sand it off, which isn’t very easy on diamond plate!

So will stainless, unless it’s passivated.  You’d be better off with a nylon brush.

[Sakko300wsm]

If you, for some reason or another, use a wire brush on aluminum, make sure it is stainless steel. Regular steel wire brushes can transfer enough metal onto the aluminum to have a rust hew! And you will never be able to get that off unless you sand it off, which isn’t very easy on diamond plate!

So will stainless, unless it’s passivated.  You’d be better off with a nylon brush.

Nope stainless wire brushes do nothing to the aluminum - we wire brush every single weld on each boat we build with a stainless wire brush - zero issue 👍