Polishing trim

[Sodell]

Any one have any luck polishing the trim. I bought a new strip for the center of the cab below the back glass, but I would like to reuse the original corners since they have the Chevy logo on them. I would also like to polish the tailgate trim as well. I have heard of polishing and then covering with clear to keep the shine. Any one have any suggestions...... Have any success polishing?


Polishing trim, let the jokes begin....

[geezer#99]

Been there, done that! Spent a winter doing the trim on a 56 belair. Tedious but worth it. And when you're done you don't need any coating to preserve it.
Look here for some polishing kits.
http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=polishing%20kit

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Alot of trim is hard anodized. Sand forever or professionally have it removed
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[JWall]

Lots of polishing later....

It does not have any clear over it.

[PAWS 72]

Originally Posted by JWall

Lots of polishing later....

It does not have any clear over it.

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That looks great. nice

[425HP409]

I picked out an bench mounted electric buffer with 6 inch wheels from Sears years ago for my wife to give to me for Christmas, and it works great. I have polished many pieces of aluminum and stainless to near mirror finish. The link to the video from Eastwood on the previous post is good. I bought the three DVD set from them and it goes into great detail on repairing, straightening and buffing. It is very satisfying to me to do the work myself and see the finished product. I have not clear coated any of mine and they stay looking good.

[geezer#99]

Nice job Justin!!
THe one I did is still lookin' good 25 years later (and no clear)!

[1774btcrew]

These are hard anodized. The anno can be removed with Easy Off oven cleaner or a mix of liquid plumber and water. I use a plastic play pool and the Liquid plumber. The thing with doing it this way is the item needs to be completely submersed. If you only do 1/2 at a time you end up with a line at the middle where it didn't strip the anno at the same rate. I do a lot of old school BMX bikes and many of the parts where clear or color anodized and I have used the process often.

[N2TRUX]

Justin- I never get tired of looking at pics of your truck. Please elaborate on the process you used to strip and polish your trim.

geezer#99- I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure the trim on your 56 belair is stainless steel.

[JWall]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Justin- I never get tired of looking at pics of your truck. Please elaborate on the process you used to strip and polish your trim.

We first polished trim on the truck 10+ years ago when the truck was painted.
Since at the time it was still my Dad's truck he actually was the one that had the idea to polish the trim out.

Now with my Dad being kind of "old school" he tried a lot of concoctions of chemicals to get the coating off the trim & couldnt tell you for sure what all was used (and we might not want to know what was used when I wasnt around ). He probably tried a little of whatever he had on the shelf in the shop.

Then we used a 2 or 3 inch buffing pad on an air driven die grinder with a kit of jewlers rouge to polish them out. Then at the end polished them out with some good billet polish with the same style pad set up & then finally by hand.
It took some time & getting dirty buffing but I think it turned out great.
It has only taken a few quick passes of hand polishing over the years to keep it maintained. But also this truck lives a pretty sheltered life these days too.

And Thank You for the compliment... I drool over your truck quite often as well.

[Sodell]

I have polished aluminum before with great results, but have never tried to polish this type of trim. I have a polishing wheel and some jewelers blocks to use. I will polish the crap out of the trim and not worry about it dulling quickly, from this advice I am sure it will work. Thanks for the tips, I will try to post pics when I get some of it done.

[425HP409]

Originally Posted by Sodell

I have polished aluminum before with great results, but have never tried to polish this type of trim. I have a polishing wheel and some jewelers blocks to use. I will polish the crap out of the trim and not worry about it dulling quickly, from this advice I am sure it will work. Thanks for the tips, I will try to post pics when I get some of it done.

I use the red rouge first with a rough wheel and then use the white rouge with the softer wheel, then I admire the shine....
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[Sodell]

Well I got one side just about done. I tried the oven cleaner to get the coating off, no luck. I used 80 grit, 220, and then wet sanded with 1000. I have a polishing wheel, so once I got the coating off it polishes right up. I think I will get some 1500 and wet sand a bit more before final polish. Still have to clean and paint the Chevy emblem.

JWALL-I hope to get it as nice as yours[IMG][/IMG]

[JWall]

Lookin good!
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[05duramaxhd]

dang now I think I am going to polish mine. looking good
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[VroomVroom68]

I use Blue Magic polish....and love the stuff --

BlueMagic 400 Metal Polish Cream - 7 oz. :...

[Sodell]

Not a big fan of the cream on the polishing wheel, makes a mess....I have been using mothers metal polish for a long time for final hand polishing, I may have to try that Blue Magic out.

[cleansquare]

Wow, those are some beautiful jobs! JWALL, did yall hand paint the black on the trim?

Sodell, please tell me exactly the style tools you used, and the methods! My truck is being painted apple red now and i want it to look like this!

[JWall]

Originally Posted by cleansquare

Wow, those are some beautiful jobs! JWALL, did yall hand paint the black on the trim?

Yes we did.

Here are a couple more pics... My friends hate to drive behind me when its dark because of getting blinded by their own headlights

[gridironkohn]

Im attempting this today on my molding off my 85 k10. I had purchased the lmc crap aftermarket ones but while they look good. The material is too cheap and wrinkles when installed. giving it a dented look in spots. I decided to try some of these methods to bring mine back to life! I first tried Mothers then the Blue Magic. It is doing eh ok but not isnt getting the filmy like appearance off. I am hoping to still achieve the brushed look and not get too shiny. I do have a hand held buffer I borrowed from one the guys at my the paint shop. I plan to try the red and white rouge and see how it works for me. Its amazing to me that the aftermarket cant make a decent duplicate for this. The metal is just too thin!

[Sodell]

I used 320 on an DA sander, then 600 west sand, ect.. up to 2000 west sand. I then use polishing wheels with jewelers rouge, red then white.

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-1-2...RCCODE=1SE1531

I have polished a lot of stuff since this original post, once you get the anodized stuff off, its similar to polishing stainless steel.

[cleansquare]

Thanks, wherr can you get the rouge red and white? That link goes to a polishing drill

[Sodell]

You can get it just about anywhere, I think Walmart sells it.

[Sodell]

If you have a Harbor freight, they have it

[cleansquare]

Is the red and white rouge a polish or a wheel? We do have a horrible freight. I may be making a trip there tomorrow