A co-worker lent me some of this to clean the rust off my sill plates. I snipped off a short piece of strip, about 2" for each plate, figuring they weren't too big, after all. I gave a fairly aggressive rubbing and now, after doing this twice, they look no better than when I started.

Don't know if I am using it wrong (i.e. too little), if the stuff he had was "old" or whatever, just thought I'd pass along my experience on this.

 

Looks like this product is designed to polish bare metals - aluminum, brass, etc. I don't know about your sill plates, but mine are plastic with a clear coated aluminum decorative strip. Got any pictures of what you're trying to work on? May be you've just got the wrong product for the job.

 

Thanks, Mike. Here are a couple of pictures. Hope you can see the brown discoloratin I am talking about. I guess it's not rust if they're aluminum, whick makes sense considering the black oxide that came off during polishing. Any help would be appreciated.

brian

 

Naval Jelly always works on any metal.

 

Hmmmm...... your applicator/strip is turning black when working on this eh? I always just assumed they were clear coated aluminum but then again I've not had to do anything to mine. If they're clear coated you wouldn't be getting the black transfer onto the applicator/strips, but by the same token you should then be able to clean up that staining, regardless what it is.

You may want to try just a plain ol' metal polish like Mother's or Meguiar's with a terry cloth towel. I'll have to take a closer look at my sills when I get home this afternoon.

 

Could this discoloration be coming from the under sides of the door which is rusting, with the rust stained moisture dripping on the aluminum?

 

Excellent thought, 180. I did read that thread on the door rot. Also, I did notice that after a heavy rain the other night when I got in to the car in the morning and opened the driver's door water came pissing out of the drain hole - so, it was held in there all that time until the tension was broken - not a good sign.
I'll check that out tonight when I get home and can lay in the driveway!!

 

Crosseyed - I just checked my naval and, while there was some lint, there was no jelly ...seriously, never heard of it - where can I get some?

 

Most all good auto parts stores will stock... but be careful if there is a coating of any kind it'll definately strip it off along with the intended rust. It's been around for decades and works when Brillo didn't.

use only on a very small area and RTFM please... old navy term.