Polishing Stainless Trim??

[Guest Duanesk]

Any suggestions on how to properly polish stainless trim thats very oxidized. I have 2 trim pieces that go on the top of the fenders on a 1946 that are very dull and gray.

Thanks,

Duane

1946 Super Conv.

1948 Super 4dr.

[BUICK RACER]

Duane, check out Eastwood I think they sell a kit for polishing stainless. Basically it's 400 sandpaper, and 800, 1100, etc, til you get it back shiny, you can use a buffing wheel also, for dents, Eastwood kit again for hammering out any dents. Hope that helps.

[Bill Stoneberg]

One other trick I use to remove the oxidatation on stainleass is called Kaboom. Its a bathroom cleaner and it takes all the grey dirty stuff off.

I find it at Wal Mart.

That and some 0000 Steel wool makes a single piece or 2 of stainless look good without having to take it off the car.

[NTX5467]

Iverson Automotive sells "Secret Sauce For Stainless Steel Clean . . . Protect . . . Beautify. Final step in my 10 step process for restored stainless trim."

I saw this stuff and his work at a large swap meet several years ago. Looks to work, but I haven't used much of it just yet. He's based out of Minnetonka, MN.

It also notes to not use it in direct sunlight. I'm not sure if it would initially work for what you have to do, but it might be a more "final" step of the process. Personally, I like chemicals that will clean without harming the base metal, rather than sanding operations which will thin the base metal in many cases.

Much of these stainless items can be worked as you would work sheetmetal in doing body work. It would be more important to maintain the base thickness of the metal as much as possible as you can't use any "filler" to fill in the low spots as you would in bodywork. Basically, more finesse would be needed to "shrink" the base metal to raise the low spots and then lightly use the sanding/polishing operations for the final "smoothness" procedures.

Good luck in your projects!

NTX5467

[Bhigdog]

Sisel buffing wheel with black stainless compound. Finish with a cotton wheel with white compound. Now all the rest of the trim will look shabby. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />.......Bob.

[Rooster]

I agree with Bob the Bhigdog. That's the best way to get your stainless to sparkle if you want show finish. Of course that means you have to take it off and have access to a machine and buffing wheels / compounds and have some ability to do it. Many precious parts have been damaged / destroyed by the high spinning wheel grabbing the part out of ones hand and smashing it onto the ground. Hold on tight!! You could try and get a product called " Autosol" , a specialist metal polish , apply with a rag. It comes in a tube and looks like toothpaste. You can then have a go while the trim is still on the car. It's what we all use here. Works fantastic on chrome too. But for ultimate show finish bits you have to put in the hard yards and take it all off. Good luck !

Ken.