I'm presently in the process of removing a lot of the "polish" from my engine compartment and going more toward a virgin aluminum look. It has involved A LOT of effort so far, from having the polished stainless bolt heads "dulled" to having various parts blasted with "medical grade" (i.e. very, very fine) glass bead. Most of the parts are at the clear coater now (looking to achieve a semi-gloss cover over all this so that I can simply wipe it down). I just finally got tired of polishing stuff (see my gallery for pics and you will see what I mean). I'm sort of going for the military/satin look under the hood. I will post pics in a separate thread when it's all done, but I'll need another month to get it all back together. I guess you can use Zoopseal or other coatings to keep polished aluminum looking good, but I decided I needed a change.
-Dean