there's plenty of steps you can skip if you have the tools powerful enough. technically you can polish a part to a mirror finish without any sanding at all with a large enough and powerful enough buffer/motor.

polishing isn't always about taking materials off. with aluminum you can also think of it like this: the soft material can be moved around on the surface to smooth it and eventually polish it. like working with cement to trowel the surface to move it and flatten it and if you want you can even make it have a mirror smooth surface.

 

I (ME) havnt seen anyone take 1/8in+ gouges out with just polishing. im sure theres a machine to do it but its probably no were in my price range.

 

I'm shocked no one suggested selling them and just getting FD calipers. IIRC they're identical, minus the Mazda logo.

 

And minus the anoyong fins, defiatly easier to keep clean...

 

Shaving them off. The FD calipers is were this whole idea originated.

 

Pretty sure he's doing a full up restore on his vert if I remember his build thread.
Crazy fella

 

guy got the car on a rotisserie I dont think he minds a little work