polishing tips

[Snake]

Need your tips on polishing chroum trim.I was thinking on buying a polishing wheel for my bench grinder and going nuts.So what kind of polish and tips can anyone give me.

 

[65 Dartman]

Need your tips on polishing chroum trim.I was thinking on buying a polishing wheel for my bench grinder and going nuts.So what kind of polish and tips can anyone give me.

No tips but if you go to the Eastwood site they might have info on the different polishing buffs and compounds. If not there, get them to send you a paper catalogue which will have all that info. Good luck!

 

[autoxcuda]

Need your tips on polishing chroum trim.I was thinking on buying a polishing wheel for my bench grinder and going nuts.So what kind of polish and tips can anyone give me.

To start out a lot of people just call all the bright metal on their car "chrome"

There are three major materials use for bright metal.

Stainless steel
Aluminum with protective anodizing
chrome over steel
Chrome over pot metal

Applications

Stainless steel: drip rail moldings, trim rings, 67-69 Dart/Barracuda upper door moldings, 68-up front/rear window moldings...

Aluminum with protective anodizing: 67-69 Dart grilles/hl bezels, 67-68 Barracuda grilles/hl bezels, most 60-69 Dart/Valiant grilles/hl bezels...

chrome over steel: bumpers

Chrome over pot metal: front vent wings, 69 Barracuda grill surrounds, 70-72 Dart hood/hl bucket moldings...

Solutions/Techniques

Stainless: Hard metal. polishes up real well on a buffing wheel. And it's not extremely tough to fix small dents. You can sand the scratches out and use step of finer sand paper to get to like 600 grit, then use buffing wheel. When it's gets bent, it's really tough to bend back.

Aluminum:
-soft metal
-need to sand off anodizing or chemically remove it. Easy Off oven cleaner works well with a couple of applications and you don't let it sit too long. You can take it to a chemical stripping place to remove it too.
-It's softer than stainless. Trickier to fix dents. Espectally big smashes.
-You can sand the scratches out and use step of finer sand paper to get to like 600 grit, then use buffing wheel.
-bends can be fixed but very tricky

Chome over pot metal: Use 0 or 00 fine steel wool to remove pitting and hazing. Carefull not to scratch it. Don't use brillo pads! Light buffing helps. But you can wear through old pot metal chrome if you are heavy handed with the buffer.

There are all kinds of buffing wheel pads and compounds. Basically the pads are for heavy or finer polishings. The compounds very from heavy to fine and also vary for material. Their compound names and color vary depending on manufacture. A medium buffing pad on your bench grinder will do you fine.

 

[Snake]

Thanks autoxcuda very well exsplained.I know how to get started now.

 

[pushrod]

For polishing only, I use Eagle wading. Works great on ss and chrome plate
for sanding on ss and alum. I found the 3m pads superior to sandpaper

 

[autoxcuda]

For polishing only, I use Eagle wading. Works great on ss and chrome plate
for sanding on ss and alum. I found the 3m pads superior to sandpaper

Yes, the 3M pads used to sand with seem to last longer and not load up. They don't "look" as aggressive as they sand.