Cleaning and polishing skin on RV-12

Need some suggestions on how to clean and polish the skins on the airframe without damaging skins. Plan to sell it unpainted but don't want to hurt it if new owner wnts to paint it. What type of cleaners/rags/items did you use to get your unpainted parts bright and how to maintain them that way. Our a/c is always hangared. Thanks Doug R.

Don't polish

Actualy I don't think polishing would help the potential buyer. The surface should be "roughed up" and immediately primed with a compatible primer before painting. You run the risk of the polishing etc creating problems later. Surface oxidation of the alclad is normal and should not be removed until immediately before painting.

Gary Eldridge

Thanks Gary, can I use MEK to take the dirt and adhesive from tape that we used inconstruction to make it look cleaner. If not MEK, then what as I don't want to damage the Alclad surface?

Agree - hold off on polishing

I am just finishing my 12 and plan to paint a small amout of trim and polish the rest (against the advice of everyone I have spoken with about it).

Have polished a few places such as under placards, etc. I am using Nuvite C (I think it is) with a large auto buffer and wool pad followed up by Nuvite S with random orbit car polisher and cotton flannel. The areas I have done include vertical stab under N numbers, trim tab under "no push" labels and around fuel filler. They all look absolutely great - even the really thin metal on trim tab. But I see a host of potential problems - extra polish around rivets, in the rivet head shaft holes, etc. if I do eventually paint.

Hoping a pressure washer will help if it comes to that.

Acetone takes stuff like tape residue off just as well as MEK. Mineral spirits for stuff that acetone won't remove.
Some like to build.
Some like to fly.
Some like to build and fly.
Some like to build and polish!