Cleaning old paint off of stainless bezels?!?

Hey Guys,

I looked around on here and haven't been able to come up with anything but I am hoping someone can give me a heads up.

I bought a pair of 53 chevy bezels off of a guy and they are covered in old paint. I think the idiot just spray bombed the shit out of his whole car. I tried using some goof off on a small area and it cleaned the paint off but it seemed to discolor the stainless turning it almost brown??

Anybody got any better ideas? I have a shitload of 0000 steel wool and that is the next experiment unless somebody can throw me a bone.

Thanks guys

 

soak them in brake fluid

 

Lacquer thinner always works for me.

 

So does paint remover

 

I've used oven cleaner to do just that.

 

Any paint stripper should do the job. I don't know why Goof Off would turn it brown, it is supposed to be stainless. It should never stain.

If you have some oven cleaner in the kitchen it is good too.

Go easy with the steel wool. I prefer a copper kitchen scrubbing pad, it won't scratch. Follow up with Simichrome, FLitz, Solvol Autosol or your favorite chrome polish.

 

soak em in gas

 

Fine steel wool with wd40 for lube and finish off with neverdull worked for me

 

use denatured alchohol, will work great. available at any hardware store

 

Awesome, thanks guys!

I actually have most of the stuff you guys are talking about except the denatured alcohol, so I will run through that stuff first. I was a little worried about the steel wool because I didn't want to scuff them too bad.

If I go the soaking route either in gas or brake fluid, how long should they soak?

I have no idea why the goof off turned the stainless brown but I am hoping I can get that off too.

Thanks again everyone!

 

boil them in hot water...the wife loves it!

 

The Orange Citrus Stripper works good. And smells good too. Ok, bring on the "i knew a stripper named Citrus that worked and smelled good" jokes b

 

get some Jascos PAINT REMOVER in the spray can. that's what I would use to REMOVE PAINT.

 

Oven cleaner should remove it in minutes. I buy mine at the $ store, you need the full-strength formula. The lemon scented one is not as strong.

Bob

 

I actually used some steel wool on a 53 bezel last week, came out suprisingly nice. the out area of the bezel wasnt plated, altough it had somewhat of a nice "brushed" finish when i got a little more aggressive with the steel wool.

 

Naval Jelly

 

Soak until the paint gets soft. If it's spray bomb paint, it won't take too long at all.

 

Well...I'm a moron!

It turns out my "stainless" bezels aren't stainless at all but rather, brass.

And after a quick call to the local plater and a quote of $125 a piece, it looks like these will be getting installed and sprayed the body color

I guess the previous owner wasn't such an idiot after all.

Anybody have any other suggestions?

 

Chrome them..... Have seen some powder coat chrome..... Looks ok, but not real chrome.

 

You could buff them and then clear coat, then they won't tarnish, but they'l only look right on something brass era.

 

In 52 -53,most Chevy,s chrome was very poor ( war time chrome) The goo stuff took off the paint and left a dull copper showing. The p.o. was just covering them to look better

 

Carb cleaner works good as well.