Tips on polishing valve covers anyone?

[4corsa]

I've had my '02 Scura for 3 years now and is a bit overdue to re-polish the polished aluminum valve covers.  I started in lightly with some ultra-fine steel wool (without much results), and was going to follow up with some Simichrome polish.  This worked quite well with the aluminum valve cover on my old TVR 2500M.  But it almost seems like the polished valve covers on the Scura may be clear coated, so I stopped before getting too far into it.  Anyone know if they came from the factory with a clear coat?

[Steve S]

The Scura valve covers were painted grey from the factory, as the tailpiece was 

[4corsa]

Ok thank you. So mine were obviously polished by the previous owner.