Well, I looked around and I didnt see a how to restore/repair/repolish trim so I guess Ill do it... Ill do the write up in 2 categories, Aluminium and stainless See what you guys think... Aluminium Items Needed -Plastic container, water tight -Lye Powder -Steel Wool -***ortment of sand paper grits -Small hammer -Fine flat file -Wooden paint sticks -Polish -PROTECTIVE GEAR!!! When restoring aluminium trim, first things first... Take it off of the car. Alum is fairly easy to bend so be extra careful removing it. Some pieces are difficult to remove with out any damage, so that being said, limit damage if you cant avoid it... Ill Start simple, and with something nearly everyone wishes was a little nicer on their cars... No im not talking about the wifey sitting in the p***enger seat. I mean headlight bezels. It seems everything seems to hit them or you drive so fast you just drive the shine off... Well go with that one.... Its the same process, Ill just be demonstrating with one... So when it is removed clean it with some soap, scrub it very good. Back side included! Now that its removed and squeeky clean if you look at it the aluminium, it appears that it is just aluminium... Wrong... Aluminium oxidizes fairly quickly it needs to remain protected, especially on a polished finish. The coating is an anodized finish that your not going to use paint stripper on, sanding wont do the best job at removing it either. Removing the anodizing is a fairly simple process, but can be fairly dangerous... To remove the anodizing first find a plastic container that the trim will fit into easlily, laying flat will help but not necessary. Clean the container. Now that everything is clean its time to get to work. Get a respirator, safety gl***es, and chemical safe cloves on.Fill warm/hot water into your plastic container and and your powdered lye to the water (The best mix Ive discovered is 2oz of lye to 1gal of water.) Stir mixture in a figure 8 pattern, being careful not to splash. When the lye is completely dissolved take your trim and drop it into your solution. Allow it to sit for around 10-20 minutes depending on the temp. As soon as you drop it in you will see an immediate reaction with little fizzing around the edges. A few minutes later it will become very cloudy, dont be scared this is normal, it is the anodize coming off. after about 10 minutes go ahead and take your piece out of your solution, rinse with cold water and scrub with 4 0 steel wool. look at it closly and the entire piece shold appear a dull hazy gray with no shine. If there are shiny spots left reapply in your solution. Repeat as necessary.Solution is reusable until it no longer strips. *Do not load your solution up and leave your trim in overnight... You likely will have no trim in the morning.* Now to the repair... Now that the trim is a dull consistant color it is fairly easy to see any of the damage. This is the delicate part. Best thing to do is any dents going inward, lightly tap them out... LIGHTLY! Best using a 2oz hammer and letting it do all the work. To knock the dents out place the trim on a clean piece of wood and cut you some pieces of paint sticks just large enough to make contact with the dents/ flat head works well too. Tap dents juat a hair risen above flat. File the rest of the dent flat, follow with 180 grit sandpaper. After all your damage is fixed and flat use a piece of 320 grit and go over the entire piece. Follow that up with 500 grit paper making sure all of your 320 and rougher scratches are gone... Buffing... This is how to use on a buffing wheel... Study your compounds and wheels and set your self up with a med cut and fine cut of both. Charts are readily available. Using a pair of leather or wool gloves slowly buff your trim always going away from the edges and buffing just below the horizontal centerline of the wheel. (The buffer will pull it out of your hands very quickly and throw it across your garage if you dont.) Slowly buff all the gray out and get a decent shine, along with the black that will be appearing. Using a clean cleaning cloth after your first stage is done use rubbing alcohol or laquer thinner to clean the trim... Repeat with the fine grit but move quicker to achieve a high shine. Again clean when you are done. Protection!!! Protection is always important. So to protect all your hard work clear coat your trim ASAP! I prefer powdercoating but Eastwood Diamond clear works wonders as well. Good luck to all. And have fun! I have a few videos but no idea how to post them...
Thank you for the tutorial,,you mentioned a video...is it posted on you tube? This was posted a while back. HRP http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392068&highlight=stainless+polishing
Forgot to say... You dont have to use the lye solution. You can hand sand with some 320 grit sand paper, than over that with 500 grit. While your sanding you will notice a difference in color and all of it has to change... Sanding takes a long time. Heres what the color difference looks like
... You must be very careful... but its not half as hard as aluminium trim. If I can get ahold of some damaged stainless trim Ill do a write up on it. Any takers? I was looking through my pictures and I only have some before and afters. No durings. Manolcars What exactly are you working on? I could probably help you out. For welding it kinda all depends on what kind of damage, and where its located. all to be done with a TIG.
Another alternative for stripping the anodizing is to check around your area to see if you can find a local anodizing shop, and have them strip it for you. When I restored my F-100 I found a place in my neighborhood that was able to do the work and it was pretty inexpensive since all they had to do was strip it, I did the rest of the work. It's not always a choice, but it's worth looking in the Yellow Pages. Also, depending on the environment in your area and how you use the vehicle you may be able to get away with not having it coated (or bright dip anodized) after you've polished it. In my area we don't have to worry about acid rain or salty air, and my truck sits in the garage and mostly only comes out on sunny days. I have to touch it up with a little Simichrome or Flitz once a year or so, but otherwise it stays nice and shiny. I agree that putting some type of coating on is the best long term solution.
Good write up, I use wood bleach instead of lye, the wood bleach is an acid, forget what kind. I've only done stainless, I use 1x2 hardwood strips and sand the ends into different radii and slowly work the dents out from the backside, push across them from different angles and bring them back to surface.
Wood bleach is oxalic acid... The anodizing is itself acidic which is why you want to use Lye (an alkaline). Anything near either end of the PH scale is very damaging to skin, so be careful and protective equipment is a must. I also have a few little tools for bringing out dents. I make them out of paint sticks, but some dent a screw driver works best, A variety of things is the best thing to do.
I want to weld the stainless trim on a 4 dr 55 chevy as I convert the car to a two door sedan. I also want to repair Model A radiator shells
First off... Can you tig weld? get another set to practice on. You also want to get the same type of stainless for a filler rod otherwise when you polish it there will be a line where you welded that can be slightly different color.
Have you tried a s**** piece of stainless from the piece you are welding for welding rod? I remember reading that someplace, to help in hiding the weld.
Yes sir... By using a backing plate that will allow you to grind the trim smooth and it still be strong enough to not break...
great post man. the old man who gave me a crash course years ago used to do trim repair for the local car dealerships. he always used variable sized dowel rods for his "tools"--I've used paint paddles some too on the limited number of projects I've tried.
The Jalopy Journal
