Renewing Chrome Trim - DIY with Classictrimcoat

[tonerrrr]

Here are a few pics from when I did some. Also, a little "headlight restore" pad with a drill works wonders for kidneys and other parts. Just use a little polish!

The bumpers are a friggin bitch. I only recommend doing them if you are prepared for a lot of work.

In my pics you can see the anodized part of the bumper coming off when sanding. Hopefully this clears up (omg pun) the confusion for some. There is no scrubbing that will get this off, only sanding IMO.

[SkiFree]

As mentioned you can't really REALLY polish anodized aluminum trim. There are a couple ways to tackle it, just depends on how much time/money you want to sink into it.


1) For light haze: just use a "polish" as mentioned above.


2) For scratches that not removable with "polish" you will need to remove the old anodizing (use anything with Lye in it [sodium hydroxide], I found a $10 bottle of "Hair and Grease remover" from Home Depot to work like a charm).

Once the anodizing is removed you can either

A) polish the bare aluminum and throw some spray-on clear coat on top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3Jdlo-AQoAY

B) Have the parts re-anodized. If you choose to Re-anodizing the trim there are some basics you should be aware of a couple things ....

When anodizing an aluminum part the final finish depends largely on the surface finish of the part you are anodizing. Simply put, the more polished the part is when in goes into the anodizing tank, the shinier it will be when it comes out.

Now when you take trim parts to an anodizer the first thing they do is strip the old anodizing (if the part isn't anodized to start with it still goes in to clean the part). The stripper used is fairly abrasive and the part comes out with a flat/matt surface finish. Typically part is then put into the anodizing tank and given the matt-finish at that point, that's what you end up with for the final finish.

To avoid a matt-finish when re-anodizing you should plan on intervening between the anodizer's cleaning bath and the anodizing bath by picking up the parts and polishing them.

Hope that helps...

Clearly you don't get it then and are becoming obstinate. How am I "right" when I've said there's more than one way to go about it?

To reiterate.

1) remove anodizing completely (using a sodium-hydroxide based solvent, aka lye, aka draino, etc. NOT some generic "de-oxidizer").

2a) then polish, clear, and call it good.
OR
2b) then polish, anodize, and call it good.

[ncsubowen]

Here are a few pics from when I did some. Also, a little "headlight restore" pad with a drill works wonders for kidneys and other parts. Just use a little polish!

The bumpers are a friggin bitch. I only recommend doing them if you are prepared for a lot of work.

In my pics you can see the anodized part of the bumper coming off when sanding. Hopefully this clears up (omg pun) the confusion for some. There is no scrubbing that will get this off, only sanding IMO.

How did you get just the chrome part off the kidneys? Isn't there a plastic rivet in there?

Also, your bumpers look amazing. Great work.

[tonerrrr]

How did you get just the chrome part off the kidneys? Isn't there a plastic rivet in there?

Also, your bumpers look amazing. Great work.

I think there is one on top and two on the bottom or something like that. Push the rivets through with these small tools: http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece...set-66836.html

Thanks a lot!

[Old city bimmer]

European bumper will apply to these also ?

[ncsubowen]

European bumper will apply to these also ?

*Edit - Incorrect on my part. This does not apply to euro bumpers, as they are chromed steel.

[netcsk]

European bumper will apply to these also ?

Yep - anodized aluminum all around.

Incorrect. The euro bumpers are chrome plated steel bumpers. You do NOT want to sand on them.

[ncsubowen]

Incorrect. The euro bumpers are chrome plated steel bumpers. You do NOT want to sand on them.

Oh man, my fault. Listen to this guy.