chrome cleaning
 

i know some of us out there are having some problems with our chrome trims. i have recently made some enquiries to either replace my existing trims or have them renovated. my first port of call was to ring the main stealers and ask how much to replace them. now i was supprised and shocked at the prices. if you want a straight trim like on your doors or the center one on your boot then the cost is quite resonable at about £20 each. if you require a trim with a bend in it like the ones on the outside edges of your bumper then they are well over £100 each. so if you have most of your trims in a bad condition like i do then you could be looking at spending best part of a grand buying new from the dealers.
now it seams the problem is all the chrome trims are covered in lacquer and moisture buildup between the lacquer and chrome causes a milky effect as shown hear on mine in the first photo.
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...9&d=1273000505
after speaking to a few people i have come up with the answer to the problem. remove the lacquer, polish the chrome and re-lacquer the trims. problem solved +++
if only it was that simple. first question how the hell do you remove the lacquer without damaging the chrome ? do you take off all the trims without damaging any of them or damaging the bodywork ? what size crowbar or pick axe do you use to get them off :tuttut: i dont know yet the best way to do it but i am working on it.
Today i recieved a chrome trim from a8part that had the slight milky effect on it. this i decided to have a go at sorting it out. its better to sort out a second hand one than trying a load of different ways on the ones on my car just in case something goes wrong. anyway i put some masking tape on different sections and dug out some polish.
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1273000968
the first section i used autoglym metal polish and applied by hand. after some time with a lot of elbow grease it started to come clean. on the second section i used some cutting compound and finishing compound applied by hand, again similar results. third section i used same compounds with a dual action polisher. that idea just caused deep scratches. the fourth section i used meguiars nxt generation all metal polysh. now this seamed to come up pretty good. tha last section i used auto glym fast glass and this did nothing at all.
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1273001500
as you can see from this photo with the tape removed there is still the milky effect under where the tape has been.
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1273001739
this is the same trim with the section shown using the nxt metal polysh.
now the project is just in the early stages and my ultimate plan is to do all my trims around the car and to get them polished with a new coat of lacquer. i will let you know how it is going as and when i get some more info.

Looks like that may well work :)

Got some on the D3 as well as the Volvo.. Had a chat with the detailer guy that was working cleaning it when I picked it up and he hasn't seen a car more than a couple of years old without at least some of the chrome trim going across pretty much every manufacturer.

Good research! and glad someones working on a solution for this as i have a few bits i would like to redo on mine (bumper chromes strips front and rear).

Have you tried a fine wet and dry to cut away the lacquer and any marks / impurities before polishing it back up?

Really interesting stuff Darren - would be good next to weather the samples and see how quickly each sample degrades out there when its in the rain and shine?

Are you saying youre gonna polish with meguiars nxt generation then laquer over it or remove the existing laquer fully from the existing trim and then re-laquer after either repolishing or re-chroming?

Cheers for the research so far +++

not had any time over the past few days due to work but my plan is to remove all the laquer then polish and then re laquer. would like to get all the trims off the car and get them inside to do the work but at the moment i dont know how to get them all off without any damage. i may try a few companies near me and ask if they can remove the laquer, buff up and re-laquer.will get them sorted somehow +++

I wonder if anyone offers an on-car strip. polish and re-laquering service? just a thought. . .

I just wanted to chip in here... yes, I know I am a newbee, but I just wanted to clear something up on this subject. +++

I should be picking up my S8 in a few weeks, and yes, I do have the same problem. I can't comment on what would work just yet until I have a go myself.

Without wishing to state the obvious; you cannot successfully lacquer a polished surface; the finish will just not stay on. For this to work, you would need to rub down the suface to key it. 1500 - 2000 wet and dry would achieve this. You then buff the lacquered finish.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the OEM factory finish on these trims a semi-gloss, not mirror finish? By doing this on your test piece, you should create the same effect.

Are you sure that the trims are not anodised? Again, I can't yet comment as I do not have the car just yet.

:Confused:

I have just picked up this thread after being pointed to it by the 'librarian' as I am trying to solve the same problem. How did this turn out darrenjoe90?

milky trim now very shiny!
 

I know I didn't hear how it went for darrenjoe90, but i have continued to persevere and try and solve this problem........so after trying a number of polishing compounds and lots of elbow grease (without any noticeable difference) i bit the bullet and got the wet and dry out.

I couldn't figure out how to get the trim off the car, so instead masked everything up (3 layers for saftey!;)) and started off with a 1000 grade - no luck removing the lacquer so moved down to a 600...better but took about 30 mins to get all the lacquer off a section about 3 inches long :( - so down to a 350, and now we are talking. Now I'm not saying it was easy, but I was able to strip all the lacquer back on the section around all the windows (roof line and under windows) in about 1 hour. This left it quite keyed so went back over the lot with the 600, followed by the 1000, then onto some autoglym metal polish and after 2 hours hey presto, no more milky spots just very nice shiny trim!+++.

I am really pleased with the results and now need to tackle the passenger side before moving onto the lower trims etc :D

A result. :D Now you have removed the lacquer you may find it goes milky quickly and requires regular polishing. If you put a coat of clear wax on it it will reduce your workload. +++