all my chrome has a rainbow thing going on with it. ive triied a few different chrome cleaners, also coca-cola and sos pads and nothing seems to remover it. any ideas on what i can do? maybe buff it?
whats the best way to polish chrome?
- Thread starter cutlassguy
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Yea buff it.... hand polish will only do it so well... I use like mothers chrome polish and my dremel with a polish wheel on it.... but not to high of a speed cause you can burn through the chrome.... if its ur trim its mostly likely stainless steel and a good buffing would work wonders onn it too...
yah basically the parts on top of the door and the plate that runs from the door to the roof, trim around the windows...its all got it. i even triied goo-gone and it looked good for 3 seconds until it dryed lol
Most likely it's anodized aluminum.. You either have to get them reanodized or strip the anodizing and polish them..which i heard oven cleaner does a good job but i haven't confirmed it... If you remove the anodize coating then you need to keep up on the polishing to prevent it from dulling. I know there is a product that if you strip the coating then polish them and seal them it lasts a while.. I think its called Zoops sealant. The stainless steel rocker panels are much harder to clean up...
Just my opinion, and repeating what's already been said, the oven cleaner may remove the anodizing, but you're going to potentially have a huge problem on your hands. It can mess up the aluminum, might leave it blotchy, any number of things. And it will hurt your paint too if you get any on it. Then, you will have to polish the newly-stripped trim for it to look good, and will then need to continue polishing it as previously mentioned, forever. I would HIGHLY recommend experimenting on a spare piece of trim OFF of the car, and if you like the results, then remove the rest of the trim you want to work on from the car and work on it OFF of the car. What we're talking about though is not the ideal solution. The ideal solution is to remove all the trim and have it professionally stripped and re-anodized. I had a situation where I HAD to get this done on a piece of trim. The price was so high that I now just smile and move along when I see the rainbow thing you're talking about.
You guys gave me an idea. I wonder how powder coating would look on that trim. I found an excellent chrome powder and a really durable clear to prevent marring. I'd need to check out the UV resistance though. I may find a piece and shoot it to see how it turns out. It seems like an alternative to fighting these anodized pieces needs to be found.
Here's a bracket I shot with the chrome powder.
Olds oil fill tube
Here's a bracket I shot with the chrome powder.
Olds oil fill tube
those pieces look good but ive never done powder coating and im not sure what id all need to do it. now im thinking ill just try a buffing wheel and some good mothers chrome polish. i dont want any more head-aches, just shiney chrome 🙂
I just had the same issue. I too tried mothers Crome polish and a dremel with a buffing wheel. It came out great! And my trim pieces where in real bad shape.
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