Cutting Compounds: Metal Polishing Compound for Buffing Wheels Renegade Products is the premier manufacturer of polishing compounds that are robust in quality due to our use of premium raw materials. We do not use cheap fillers in our polishing compounds like other manufacturers that prioritize profit over bar quality.  Our cutting compounds are meant to be used with our stiffest buffing wheels to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to removing the oxidation and surface imperfections on your polished metal projects. What are metal polishing compounds? Our metal polishing compounds are used with our Airway Buffing Wheels to increase the effectiveness of the wheel while being used during the cutting, buffing, and polishing process. Some are of a coarser consistency and are usually used to remove scratches while the others are finer, which lends to them being used to shine and finish your work. They should be applied to airway buffing wheels by coating the edges of the airway buffs like below: How do I prep for polishing? Prepping is almost entirely all about sanding. We recommend starting with 180 grit for most wheels and stepping forward to 220 grit, and finishing with 400 grit sanding discs. Most polishing, for aluminum, can be polished well after prepping with 400 grit—finer grits are not usually necessary before polishing with tripoli compound. Two points to keep in mind that as an alternative to sanding discs one of most popular products is the buff and blend prep discs. Most users will not need green buff and blend discs as those are often used more for concrete wheels. The blue buff and blend disc can help remove dirt, grime, and rust from a wheel to provide a clean surface to begin polishing with compound. We do recommend hitting an aluminum wheel with our maroon satin airway prior to going to polish with tripoli compound as the blue buff and blend disc may leave some hash marks that won't come out without a finer sanding of 400 grit or the maroon airway. What Metal Polishing Compound Should I Use? To determine which polishing compounds are most appropriate for your project, we've listed them below along with some basic characteristics regarding their performance: T88 Brown Tripoli Cutting bar Contains medium and fine abrasive grains Considered a “wet” bar with gummy and tacky characteristics Cutting ability: 7/10 Dryness: 5/10 T-121 Fast Cut Tripoli Cutting bar Contains coarse and medium abrasive grains Considered a “dry” bar Cutting ability: 9/10 Dryness: 7/10   White Rouge Coloring rouge Contains medium and fine abrasive grains Relatively “dry” bar Cutting ability: 4/10 Dryness: 8/10   Black Magic Cutting bar Contains a high concentration on fine abrasive grains Considered a “very dry” bar Cutting ability: 4/10 Dryness: 8/10  Wild Cherry Cutting (and coloring) bar Contains medium abrasive grains Balanced wetness Cutting ability: 6/10 Dryness: 4/10 Q69 Cutting (and coloring) bar Contains medium and fine cutting grains Considered a “dry” bar Cutting ability: 6/10 Dryness: 6/10  Q36 Cutting bar Contains coarse, medium, and fine abrasive grains Considered a “dry” bar Cutting ability: 7/10 Dryness: 7/10     Steel Cut Cutting bar: Should be used with a Sisal & Cloth Buffing Wheel placeholder Considered a “very dry” bar Cutting ability: 10/10 Dryness: 8/10   What Polisher/Grinder is most common with polishing compounds & buffing wheels?  MAKITA 9237C- The best 3,500 RPM polishing machine (PROS & BEGINNERS)  MAKITA GA7021 - The best 6,000 RPM polishing machine (PROS)  What do the colors mean for metal polishing compound? The color of the polishing compound is almost always a byproduct of the natural abrasive ingredients. Tripoli powder, pictured below for example, is an abrasive product that along with the other formula's ingredients allows the buffing wheel to polish a metal surface. These abrasives are often pigments as well causing the bar color to take on the appearance of the abrasive. In situations where similar in color appearances have substantially different abrasive qualities, many manufactures (ourselves included) can add separate pigment or dye to help differentiate the products. Pro tip:  Use our Renegade Red Liquid Metal Polish, Renegade Pro Red, and Renegade Pipe Dream Chrome Conditioner and Polish liquid metal polishes between major cuttings to help maintain a show-quality shine on your vehicles.   What speed should I move the buffing wheel across the surface? We captured the below video as a guide of how fast you should drag the buffing wheel across the metal surface. Buffing Wheel Speed for Metal Polishing from Renegade Products USA on Vimeo.   The SDS Sheets for our Metal Polishing Compounds can be found below: SDS Sheet for T88 Brown Tripoli Compound SDS Sheet for G16 Green Rouge Compound SDS Sheet for T121 Fast-Cut Brown Tripoli Compound SDS Sheet for SS800 Blue Rouge Compound SDS Sheet for SS615 Yellow Deluxe Compound SDS Sheet for SS11 Black Magic Compound SDS Sheet for SS300 White Rouge Compound SDS Sheet for SS510 Competition Purple Compound  SDS Sheet for Q36 Illudium One-Step Compound