Renewing Chrome Trim - DIY with Classictrimcoat

[agent]

The instructions in my kit indicated to lightly sand on the oxidized parts; the kit I purchased included the (fine grit) sandpaper to do that. To George's point, the purpose of sanding is to remove enough of the protective coating so that the solution can hit the layer that is actually damaged.

[ncsubowen]

That may be true, but the website claimed that this would work by applying it as stated, so I wanted to attempt to use the product as recommended.

Future attempts will probably include removing the bumper and sanding it down, then polishing and coating. I happen to like the chrome look, it's just a matter of cleaning up the oxidized areas.

[george graves]

I could be wrong, but the AL bumpers have a coating on them, that will prevent any polish from work directly on the metal - and the metal can be tarnished UNDER the coating - Don't quote me on that.

Most of us, scuff them up and hit them with something like black SEM trim coat. (I think VHT or other vendors have their version of exterior black trim paint - I happen to like the texture SEM gives)

Interested to see how it works.

[cgk_iii]

I've had pretty good success with coating all the metal trim with a very high grade wax such as VIP or La Cera and letting it sit for about 3-5 hours. After letting the wax sit, polish off the wax or even simply wipe away with a microfiber rag.. Works pretty well IMO.

[Semblance]

Thanks for posting this, I was considering trying it but now I won't waste my time. Too bad.

[ncsubowen]

As promised, follow up from this morning.

I tried to take pictures from the same angles so that they can be compared, but to summarize, this is no magic cure. There are areas which were not so bad when I originally went over, they were definitely the most improved by the treatment and you can still see the difference where they cleaned up, versus the areas of heavy oxidation which are still relatively heavily oxidized.

In another thread, the recommendation was to take the bumper off and polish it with increasing grit sandpaper and then going over it with the same product, that will be my next attempt. Here are the pictures;

[Beau B]

Any follow up to this?

[ncsubowen]

This is my first writeup, so any feedback is appreciated.

First off - the trim on our cars is anodized aluminum - not chrome. The fading/discoloration of said trim is therefore oxidation, and the only true way to completely restore it is to sand/polish it, and then to have it re-anodized, or to just buy new trim.

Here's what mine looks like prior to just plain cleaning. As you can see in the pictures, the trim is not shiny at all and looks a bit yellowed if anything.






Prior to treatment, I washed and dried all of the trim using a pretty standard household cleaner/degreaser.




That said, there are a variety of after-market products out there aimed at polishing/restoring aluminum trim pieces, so, at the recommendation of another forum member, I purchased the Oxidized Aluminum Kit from Classic Trim Coat. The kit comes with 'special' rolled paper towels, a roll of masking tape, an instructional DVD, and the aluminum deoxidizer itself. At first, I was put off by the fact that I paid $40 for such a tiny little bottle of the stuff, but I can say after following the instructions and even spilling a bit that it's definitely enough for one car, and probably for about 15 if you only make one pass per car.



Following the instructions, first you mask any paint you may accidentally come into contact with. Then you dab enough deoxidizer to get the paper towel damp, and smoothly pass over the surface in a single motion. No scrubbing or back and forth. You should be able to actually see it work. For comparison, I did the bottom part of the door trim and left the top.




The bumpers were harder because of the width, I wet the whole rolled paper towel and held it lengthwise, pressing down with the outside of my hand and went all the way across in one sweep. Then I came back and touched up the edges using the standard motion.



It looks pretty good, but by the time I finished it was dark and I couldn't quite see how much of a difference it had made. I'm going to assume that repeated applications will also help, as I noticed in going back to where I started that some of the initial sheen had already died down. It still looked much better than when I started. I will post a follow-up tomorrow when I get the chance to see how it did overnight.