Can you Polish a 'dull' Stem

[Jay]

I've been looking for a quill stem with 31.8 bar clamp, 70mm, and -17 or more.  I found one. Only thing is it's 'dull' vs. 'polished'.  I'm going to buy it, but was wondering if it's possible to polish it?

Not a big deal, it's just the the bars and other bits in the cockpit are polished and I thought it would look nicer.

I have zero experience with polishing metals or anything else with them, but I'm willing to invest some time learning and going through the process.

Thanks!

[John Rinker]

Hey Jay,

I've had success using Mother's Aluminum polish to brighten up dull aluminum parts. Others may know better, but I believe Nitto adds a 'dull bright' finish and I'm not sure if Mother's will polish this off.

Cheers, John

[Paul Sistowicz]

Hey Jay and John,

I used Simichrome aluminum polish that I got from Velo Orange on an old Nitto stem I picked up from the bike co-op and got pretty good results. Definitely doesn’t have a mirror finish like a polished Paul Components part but spiffed up a scratched old stem pretty nicely. I’ve attempted to a few photos to give you an idea.  

Cheers,

Paul in Tucson 

(talkin’ polishing to a lightly polished but not quite Paulish finish)

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 16, 2025, at 4:09 PM, John Rinker <jwri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey Jay,

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[Mike Godwin]

I've used Soft Scrub cleaner, followed by Simichrome, then car wax. Soft Scrub can rub out small scratches. 

Mike SLO CA

On Saturday, August 16, 2025 at 12:22:45 PM UTC-7 Jay wrote: