I was using some metal polish with a cotton wheel in a drill but the chrome is still cloudy. It's a slow process and the corded drill gets hot. The grinder with a pad wouldn't be able to be controlled well enough.



Then, how to keep it shiny - clear coat? or continual maintenance?

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

The metal surrounding the windows is usually bright anodized aluminum.

Of course I've taken everything to the nth degree.

These are pieces of the alum trim which mount on the door/qtr panel and fender trim. I started by removing the anodized finish then buffed with different buffing compounds using different buffing wheels. These pieces are stored at the time but I intend to hand buff them with a finish compound, wipe them down with denature alcohol then coat them all with Crystal Coat which is a spray compound which is suppose to prevent further oxydation.

I suggest that if the last two steps turn out as well as the early process I may claim success. If not then perhaps periodic polishing will be required.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

Common wisdom has always been that they cannot be brought back to a shine. Perhaps you are about to prove everyone wrong.

I didn't realize that it's anodized aluminum. If that's the case, lots of polishing information.

Skip to 40 seconds. I may try it on an extra piece but wouldn't want it installed at the time.

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

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

I did not bring anything back. I removed all the coating, sanded the imperfections out then used a common buffer to make it shine. Much of the trim was off the car and those pieces which I didn't remove, but restored in place, were a sure PITA.

I used lots of masking tape but had I to do it over I would have used masking tape with a layer of duct tape over it.

You have to understand, this was a total restoration job and took a lot longer to do the first time than it would take me to do it again. It's a matter of process which took a long time to work out.

The funnest part, other than the finish product, was that you get to buy lots of new tools and products. Most of which you won't need because they won't work.

__________________
84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

I tried the drain cleaner in post 5 on an extra piece. It cleaned the dirt off and black came off on the rag when I polished with Blue Magic Metal Polish that I had on hand. That process made the piece look much better without a whole lot of work.

I wouldn't want to get the cleaner on the paint so that means doing whatever I decide before putting the car back together. It's currently too cold to paint and I'm wondering what I can use to prevent the oxidation that doesn't require warm weather.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

If you chose to polish, you may want to consider a 2K clear coat to protect your work for some time to come. SprayMax 2k Glamour High Gloss works very well and is easy to use in a rattle can PN# 3680061. To help gauge quantity, 2 spray cans provided 2 coats to 4 aluminum wheels and enough left over to do a fifth wheel (which I didnt have) it runs about $22 per can.

__________________
Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

The process of removing the anodization from the trim which is mounted is what I described. I even removed the '300SD,' and 'Turbo,' plaques from the trunk lid along with the drip at the lower lip of the truck lid and polished them on the bench.

If I had it to do over again I would remove the alum window trim and redo that. It did not turn out as well as the trim I polished on the bench.

I mounted a 3/8" drill on my bench (work table) and held the trim with my hands to buff it. You learn real quick that pulling the trim down the buffer in the direction of spin is the final polishing action and pulling it against the direction of spin of the buffing wheel is the way to 'cut,' the material.

Harbor freight has some small (1 1/2") cutting disk made from a scotchbrite type materials. Arbors for a small drill are included, brown, green and red, I think. They do a good job for starting the cutting process whether using the oven cleaner or not.

After 'cleaning,' the trim piece up a bit with the scotchbrite you will need to sand to remove nicks and scratches. Unfortunately, that will be done by wet sanding with a heavy grit paper, I used 400g, 500g, 800, 1Kg, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 and tried some finer grits after that but discovered that the finishing wheels will handle the process after 1500 or 2000.

I used a dremel on the smaller pieces like the alum designations on the trunk lid the '300 SD,' and 'Turbo.' PITA really but I enjoyed the finish product.

Junkman, you got me thinking that since I'm painting the body I might want to remove the window trim and run it across the buffer too.

I did all the buffing on the rear windshield after I put the new glass and gasket in it so I might remove all that and redo it too. I need that rear windshield out to paint the car anyway. I used that zink type rust preventer everyone here swears by but I have a quart of Transtar 2K primer which is far superior to anything of that junk stuff.

No offense intended to anyone who uses that zink stuff but there's no way it will do the job of a top shelf 2k primer.

__________________
84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

It won't bond to metal polished to this finish.

__________________
84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

I misspoke and what I used was drain cleaner not oven cleaner. I'm not sure that all of the anodizing came off. The rag and buffing wheels now turn black and clog more than before the drain cleaner. Something more than dirt is coming off.

A little bit of the Blue Magic and a shop towel make the metal shine. Many threads over the years regarding polishing aluminum valve covers have said that the shine goes away unless it is sprayed with a clear coat.

Most days are below 50* so I can't paint outside and I already proved a few days ago that painting inside stinks up the house and gets a comment from my spouse. I also know that I don't have the patience to sand enough to do fine finishing work that requires sanding as in painting or even wood working.

Next step is to find out what clear will stick to aluminum and what is necessary to make it stick. The oven cleaner and a little metal polish gives an initial very nice shine that doesn't require multiple sanding with fine sandpapers.

Clemson, what holds the rear badges on? I looked at what I have and a couple sets have no legs. One set has legs but no clips or anything to hold them in place. These would be difficult to get any kind of glue out from between the letters so I'm hoping that the OE connectors are still available.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Junkman, if your badges dont have legs, they are held on with double sided tape. 3M makes some call molding/trim tape that will work to reattach, you'll just need to trim around the characters.

Many 2K clears are formulated for polished metals, namely aluminum alloys used to refinish wheels as an alternate to powder coating. As mentioned Spraymax earlier is one of them. Just posted a thread on having done my wheels with this spray a couple of weeks ago

CLK Light Alloy Forged wheel refinishing

Temperature and how you spray makes a world of difference. The temps need to be above 68 degress, and you must do this in a very well ventilated (like outside) with a high quality respirator and goggles, or a fully enclosed hood with a remote air supply. It's nasty stuff to breathe in, so take precautions. Pretty much any 2k or any spray product, wear a high quality or rated respirator for the product that you are using.

What I have found that works well for bonding to reflective polished metal is to use a series of mist coats first, wait the appropriate flash time, and then lay on a medium wet coat. The initial mist coats help to create a semi rough intermediary layer for the top coat to adhere to. The 2K clears are much harder and more durable than any single stage clear but less so than anodizing.

You can also anodize at home, take care with the chemicals, but it can be done and there are plenty of u tube tutorials on how to. The big downside is needing tanks of solution to accommodate your trim pieces entirely.

Best of luck

__________________
Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

How are the badges with legs held on. I have complete sets with and without. There are holes in the trunk so may as well use the set with legs. There isn't anything currently attached to the legs.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Emblem grommets. Usually white plastic, push the grommet into the body holes, then push emblem legs into grommet. Press fit, pressure holds the emblems in place. Take a look in your holes to be sure they are not still there.

Not sure of your specific part number, but out sponsor likely carries them

__________________
Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

How would the shine hold with some kind of car polish or wax if it wasn't cleared? It's too cold and I want it back together.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.