chrome trim has gone milky?

[HPsauce]

Resurrecting this old thread, has anyone done this and how easy is it to remove/refix the trim under the headlight?
The "chrome" trim under my offside headlight is looking decidedly "milky" so I'm thinking of having a go, but haven't a clue how it's held in place.

[notorious]

You will need to remove front bumper, but you don't have to remove it completely from car just to remove the bit under headlight. You need to undo two big bolts which hold bumper in place and then pry off bumper forward from one side of the car to create just enough space to access from inner side of it to remove some screws with a ratchet or small screwdriver and then unclip the chrome strip. Clips can snap off, so I'd suggest to purchase some clips from Audi or from A8 Parts before removing that strip.

I have powder painted those trims about year ago and I'm very happy with result: http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4587

[David's8]

I have just removed and polished the anodised trim below the boot lid where it sits on top of the rear bumper as the holding clips at one end were allowing it to spring up and damage the lid and the trim. The trim was pitted and worn and so i took the approach that I couldnt make it any worse by taking some wet'n'dry to it. I used 800/1500/2500 and 3000 grade to get a reasonably shiny finish but it is hard work and not all the pits/marks came out. I then spreayed with laquer but, to be frank, havent any great hope that it will last anylength of time. time will tell.

[47p2]

Thread resurrection...


The rear quarterlight window trim on the A8 is well known for going milky, mine was bad, so bad it looked white with the odd mottled bit of aluminium shining through and has been like this since I bought the car. I suspect someone has washed the car with neat TFR at some point in time and left it on too long which caused the damage. I had made several attempts to clean it but to no avail, a search on the net reveals there are two options. 1. Strip off the anodising with over cleaner or caustic soda and polish to a bright shine with Autosol (or similar). The only problem with this is the alloy is now open to the environment and will quickly turn black, therefore re-polishing on a regular basis would be necessary, you could apparently give it a coat of lacquer but if the water got into it again it would look worse than it does milky. Then there is option 2. Buy new trim, but only go down this route if you have a lottery win and are prepared to spend a lot of your blood sweat and tears removing and refitting as it's a pig of a job.

I decided to try and remove some of the marks by polishing with my usual National Products 'A Grade Polish' which I've happily been using for more than 16 years now (details & website here) you can buy it on eBay for £7.50 for a 750ml bottle (LINK HERE)

I started by masking the paintwork and rubber seals (A grade polish should not mark your rubber bits as it contains no powder) then with a microfibre cloth I stood rubbing and rubbing and rubbing for a couple of hours (I need to get a life) The end results have not removed all the marks but it is a massive improvement on what it started off as.

Sadly no before pictures but you can just about make out in this picture how bad the trim was



I might give it another go and try to get a better finish, but this is the end results after hours of work.

[Lee S]

Yeah... mine are the same.. some joker with heavy duty TFR sprayed on in the sun and left to bubble and stain... clowns.

I often wonder if the cheapest and easiest option is some kind of ally or chrome vinyl wrap over just those parts? Would it look OK? Would it stay on? Would it look OEM?

[Borys]

I'll just get mine wrapped
Would be nice if trim could be removed easily....will go for hydro dipping
Did my ML grill looked amazing

[Norretal]

Just wondering, what is the cost of replacements from Audi?

[Lee S]

Someone said they were about £600+ for the set... dunno how true that is... plus they will be NOS so will go milky again anyway....

[moltuae]

I've been gradually buying various bits of used chrome/aluminium trim for my car which I'm planning to have restored to replace any tarnished bits.

I've been looking at the restoration options. Since the parts are solid aluminium they can of course be re-polished, but I'm considering chrome-plating instead (on the assumption that chrome plating will be longer lasting). So I'm presently in the process of looking for a good local chrome-plating company who can plate aluminium (not all of them are able to). Failing that, I may post the parts off to this place:

http://www.ashfordchroming.com/chrom...sked-questions

Q. Do you offer chroming, chrome plating or rechroming on Aluminum?
A. Yes we can. The results can sometimes be hard to achieve due to the nature and purity of its composition, but we will always advise customers if we think there may be a problem. Aluminum can be highly polished to a mirror like finish and using compounds and mops stunning results can be achieved which is a good alternative to chrome plating and chroming.

[moltuae]

After researching this further, and contacting various metal polishing and chroming companies, it seems that the best way to restore the aluminium trim, so that the result is both durable and original, is to have it re-anodised. Has anyone tried this route?

The problem, as I understand it, is that it's the anodisation layer that has failed/oxidised when the trim turns milky. So the only way you're going to completely polish the oxidisation away is to polish away the anodisation, which would leave bare, unprotected aluminium.