jon.... i always find myself giving them a good soaking of prewash when i clean the car and just a very good rinse with the PW and they come up as good as when they were polished every time
Another vote for Autofinesse Mercury from me, gave it a go on my Mk1 leon exhaust tips and it came out really very well.
For bonus points the stainless steel kitchen sink got a bit of a going over at the weekend just to see how well it managed, worked pretty well on that to, with comments from the wife on how she never manages to get it to shine like that . Its a bit more expensive than some polishes but is very thick n' creamy so you dont use much of it and it wont spill, just a dab on a microfibre cloth and away you go. The cloth looked trashed afterwards (lots of nasty black patches) but a go round in the washing machine seemed to fix that completely.
Cheers, Snark
Its protection effectiveness is poor.
http://automobiledecor.com/best-aluminum-polish-reviews/
The two dated products, Autosol and T-Cut finish last here.