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  #1  
Old 30th May 2016, 10:01 PM
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YorkshireBloke YorkshireBloke is offline
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Angry Plastic chrome ext. bright-work milky/tarnished

Hi,

Finally got to detail the 3.7, first use of clay bar and haven't had a car worth waxing for years!

Thanks to tips on A8 owner's site the job went really well, reviving a neglected exterior and making a start on the interior.

Now I need a tip for reviving the chrome strips on the D2 or if not possible is replacement the only option?? The boot strip is really milky, I rubbed without abrasive cleaner but without any effect.

Thoughts?

Robert
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  #2  
Old 31st May 2016, 12:01 AM
Lee S Lee S is offline
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It's common and nothing you can do about it. Replace the parts with new if you can afford a second mortgage, but even those will go the same way. I think they're anodised aluminium so the tarnishing is permanent. I was going to get mine wrapped with some chrome vinyl... one day
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  #3  
Old 31st May 2016, 12:35 AM
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If the trims are polished or anodised aluminium this might do the trick
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161358861633...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Guys on 500E board say it's good havent tried it myself yet.
http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8032

edit: I see it's out of stock atm, which is a shame.

ahh here it is http://www.ebay.com/itm/221798363977...84.m1555.l2649
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Last edited by jza8; 31st May 2016 at 12:41 AM.
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Old 31st May 2016, 12:45 AM
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briang9 briang9 is offline
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looks like it might be available here too

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221798363977...84.m1555.l2649


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Alu...3D221798363977


might give it a try on the family wagon
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Old 31st May 2016, 08:38 AM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
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Suffering from the same problem I've been investigating this for years.
As suggested above, buying new (which WILL fail eventually) seems to be the only solution.

I think it's made from polished aluminium with a lacquer coating on top, and water is penetrating between. So any surface treatment is doomed to failure.
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2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions, ski hatch retrofit; extended leather. Aftermarket DVB-T, reversing camera and full XCarlink (Bluetooth etc.).
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (A much rarer model than a D2 S8 by the way!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one!
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. AgateGrey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon, Auto-dim mirror, Leather, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!
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Old 31st May 2016, 08:50 AM
Lee S Lee S is offline
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Hmmmm... Maybe that product is worth a punt. Worth the £20-30 if it does what it says. I have tried every polish, coating, and potion on the market to no avail. I may just order some up... Cheaper than a wrap and certainly a 20th of the price of new trims. Damn Audi...
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Old 4th October 2017, 04:32 PM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HPsauce View Post
I think it's made from polished aluminium with a lacquer coating on top, and water is penetrating between. So any surface treatment is doomed to failure.
I had a little experiment today and now think there are two problems, one of which is sort of fixable.

I've seen comments about people polishing the trim with just WD40 and have tried that myself. It works in some areas but not others.

Thinking about it, where it works the damage must be mainly on the surface, so I tried a test area with a thin layer of lacquer topcoat, having cleaned it thoroughly first and it worked quite well. It's the small shiny area in front of the mirror pivot in the first picture below. That trim on the drivers door is only slightly milky.

I think a fair bit of the trim on my car is just affected by surface degradation, so I plan to treat all of it, in stages, with clear lacquer.
I know some bits (notably the trim under my offside headlight) will not be improved much by that, but I'll give it all a go eventually, I don't have enough lacquer on hand at present to do anything other than small tests.
The second picture shows that headlight trim, it was all milky but I treated the centre and right areas. The right improved a lot but the centre highlighted the deeper damage that is shown by the obvious milky streaks.
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__________________
2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions, ski hatch retrofit; extended leather. Aftermarket DVB-T, reversing camera and full XCarlink (Bluetooth etc.).
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (A much rarer model than a D2 S8 by the way!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one!
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. AgateGrey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon, Auto-dim mirror, Leather, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!

Last edited by HPsauce; 4th October 2017 at 04:42 PM.
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  #8  
Old 31st May 2016, 08:44 AM
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moltuae moltuae is offline
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I've researched this a lot lately, and purchased numerous pieces of used aluminium trim to experiment but I haven't got a as far as actually restoring the trim yet.

As I understand it, the problem is that the parts are anodised and the anodised layer has effectively failed, allowing oxidisation to occur beyond this protective surface. Anodising is supposed to prevent the aluminium from oxidisation by giving it an impenetrable 'pre-oxidised' layer. The milky blemishes are the result of unwanted oxidisation within the anodised surface and no amount of polishing or buffing will remove them (unless you polish very hard/abrasively and remove the anodisation layer).

My conclusions so far is that there are 3 options:
  1. Replace with new.
  2. Strip and re-anodise.
  3. Strip the anodised layer and polish.

#1 is likely to be very expensive, if the parts are even available. I haven't looked into this option much though to be honest, so I would be interested if anyone knows the cost and availability of the various 'chrome' parts.

#2 is probably the best option, though I have struggled to find an anodiser who will strip and re-anodise the parts. Most aren't interested and seem to be involved in anodising new parts or anodising on an industrial scale. I still haven't given up on this option though, if anyone knows of anodiser who will do such work? It's also possible to re-anodise the parts yourself, if you're feeling ambitious.

#3 is an option that I originally dismissed but recently started to reconsider. The problem with this method is that the aluminium will quickly re-oxidise without any protective surface, requiring frequently polishing, and clear-coat/lacquers generally don't stick well to highly polished metal surfaces.

I recently came across this stuff however, which claims to be able to adhere to polished metal surfaces:
http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-glisten...art-946ml.html
http://www.por15.com/Glisten-PC-High...oat_ep_75.html

The idea is to remove the existing anodised layer using a caustic soda solution (or Lye, if you're American) like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BxFn0111Bk

... then polish the bare aluminium and use POR15 2K (aka Glisten PC) to protect the finish.
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Last edited by moltuae; 31st May 2016 at 08:54 AM.
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