chrome trim has gone milky?

[alefustec]

I have just had the S8 3 weeks now and tidying up trim etc - one thing is bugging me though, the chrome trim has white spots/milky look to it. Tried polishing and some of the marks faded but didn't really make much difference. Looked around the forum and seen that spraying them black is an option, but the car is silver and think it would ruin the look (plus want to keep it as original as possible).

Any ideas of how to bring them back to thier former glory? (obvioulsy buying all new trim sounds like it would be a VERY expensive option)?

[notorious]

Same problem here. I didn't see any write up how to change them. Heard changing those door chrome trims require complete doors disassembly from the inside, which is nightmare.

I wonder if this milky stuff is just a buildup on top of chrome (which should be washable or removable mechanically) or is it permanent damage to chrome, i.e. we actually see white plastic basement under the chrome?

[Conan_the_Librarian]

What you have is polished aluminium that has been anodised and covered with a lacquer. The milkyness is moisture getting into or under the lacquer. The only permanent method is to change or paint the trim.:(

[alefustec]

What you have is polished aluminium that has been anodised and covered with a lacquer. The milkyness is moisture getting into or under the lacquer. The only permanent method is to change or paint the trim.:(
thanks, that saved me many fruitless hours polishing to no avail!!

I wonder if i can get them chromed (not sure if its possible with aluminium?), but it sounds like removing them from the car is 'fun'.........hmmm could be a 'live with it' or back to the paint option.....i'm guessing this is a common problem?

[Conan_the_Librarian]

it is very common on cars that have spent a lot of time outdoors. Darrenjoe90 has done a thread on his attempts to cure the problem.

[Nollywood]

The only way to get the trims shiny once more, is to remove the protective lacquer, then polish the raw aluminium to a bright finish.

The problem is once the lacquer's removed, you'll have to keep on top of your polishing. It may however be possible to purchase clear vinyl, and cover the fresh aluminium, protecting it from the elements. (Audi use it on lower areas of the rear wheel arches on certain models vulnerable to stone / grit chipping).

[SilverS8]

Hi.

Got the same issue on mine 2... I did the metall polish and it looks great for a while then its back to the polish again..

Since black wont match a silver car i'm woundering about Gun Metall grey.. Maybe someone with good skills could do Photoshop of Silver A8/S8 from the side with gun metall grey trims? :)

Hm...Would 3M Carbon on all that trim be to much F&F ?:D

[Night Train]

I'm just wondering if a rub on 'gun blue' from your local armoury would work, just a thought...

[Dezzy]

The only way to get the trims shiny once more, is to remove the protective lacquer, then polish the raw aluminium to a bright finish.

The problem is once the lacquer's removed, you'll have to keep on top of your polishing. It may however be possible to purchase clear vinyl, and cover the fresh aluminium, protecting it from the elements. (Audi use it on lower areas of the rear wheel arches on certain models vulnerable to stone / grit chipping).

Varnish it, International Yacht Varnish or similar

[Architex_mA8tey]

Varnish it, International Yacht Varnish or similar

You'll be putting stripey boarding on the bonnet and boot next!! :D

[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. :o

[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) (http://www.mbcoatings.co.uk/products/national-motor-products/) you can buy it on eBay for £7.50 for a 750ml bottle (LINK HERE) (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NATIONAL-MOTOR-PRODUCTS-A-GRADE-CAR-POLISH-FINISHING-GLAZE-750ML-/180966190686?hash=item2a226cee5e)

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

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc110/ourclassiccars/Audi/P1010888.jpg

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


http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc110/ourclassiccars/Audi/P1060196.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc110/ourclassiccars/Audi/P1060199.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc110/ourclassiccars/Audi/P1060197.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc110/ourclassiccars/Audi/P1060198.jpg

[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.... :mad:

[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/chroming-freqently-asked-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.

[Goran]

Good info!
Sounds like anodising is the way to go, if its reasonably priced.

I thought chrome electroplating was tough, but maybe not? According to these links anodising is much tougher.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/79151/anodizing-vs-chromate-on-aluminum-sheet
http://www.finishing.com/145/50.shtml

[moltuae]

Good info!
Sounds like anodising is the way to go, if its reasonably priced.

I thought chrome electroplating was tough, but maybe not? According to these links anodising is much tougher.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/79151/anodizing-vs-chromate-on-aluminum-sheet
http://www.finishing.com/145/50.shtml

That confirms what I've been reading, and I've been told that neither polishing or chrome plating aluminium is durable. Aluminium will continue to oxidise under chrome, or so I've been told, whereas anodising completely seals the aluminium, preventing any further oxidisation.

Also there's anodising then there's hard anodising. I think the latter is probably what we need, to provide a tough weather-resistant finish, with the former being more suited to more decorative/cosmetic anodising applications, such a mobile phone cases, etc:
http://metalfinishingsltd.co.uk/treatments/hard-anodising/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcA7oE8yMvc

The anodisation process can also add colour apparently:
http://www.anodizing.co.nz/index.php/anodising-price-cost/20-services/anodising-colours
... very tempting! ... but I think I'll probably stick to the OEM look.

Now I just need to find someone who can do it .... else I may have to turn my cellar into an anodising factory and do it myself!

[David's8]

I did look at this for my trim at one point. Found a few anodisers but some were not keen on small stuff. With regards to colours here's some blurb from:
www.customcolour.co.uk

"Custom Colour Anodising offer not only a wide range of colour finishes such as Red, Black, Blue, Orange, Gun Metal Grey, Gold, Silver, Bronze plus many more and each colour can be available in different shade to customers own preference. We also offer Hard Anodising, Chemically brightening, Chromate conversion, PTFE Coating plus pre anodising treatments such as glass blasting, bead blasting etc."

[moltuae]

Found a few anodisers but some were not keen on small stuff.
That's what I'm finding. Most of them seem to be in the larger-scale manufacturing end of the market and not really interested in helping the crazy car enthusiast who's just looking to get some of his shiny bits shinier.

http://www.customcolour.co.uk/

That place is actually on my list. Haven't contacted them yet, but I did email this one today (http://www.aa-anodisingukltd.co.uk), which is just a few miles away from there (had no reply back yet). Perhaps the two businesses are be related.

[Lee S]

Is it possible to remove the original trim without damaging it though? Surely it is fairly prone to bending/twisting/creasing etc when removing and refitting?

[moltuae]

Is it possible to remove the original trim without damaging it though? Surely it is fairly prone to bending/twisting/creasing etc when removing and refitting?

I assume so, since I have an undamaged set that I bought from A8 Parts.

My plan is to have those restored and then swap them over (which I'll be asking my garage/body-shop to do).

[47p2]

If you remove the anodised coating and polish the aluminium it's then open to the elements of the weather and will quickly turn dull and black. Not a problem if you like to keep it polished every week or two. The other option is to have them polished and lacquered which will give you a couple of years before the lacquer starts to fail and then it's back to the beginning again.


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.... :mad:
I've seen quotes of almost £800 for the set :eek2:

[moltuae]

If you remove the anodised coating and polish the aluminium it's then open to the elements of the weather and will quickly turn dull and black. Not a problem if you like to keep it polished every week or two.

The other option is to have them polished and lacquered which will give you a couple of years before the lacquer starts to fail and then it's back to the beginning again.

Keep up ;)

We've moved on to re-anodising/re-chroming now :)





To be honest, I'm struggling to find an anodising company willing to do it. Most of them either don't seem to want the work or just can't be bothered to answer their emails :(

Anyone know of any more good anodisers to contact?

I'm seriously leaning towards buying a kit and having a go myself now:
http://gaterosplating.co.uk/Anodising-Kit.php

How hard can it be? :D

[Architex_mA8tey]

Keep up ;)

We've moved on to re-anodising/re-chroming now :)





To be honest, I'm struggling to find an anodising company willing to do it. Most of them either don't seem to want the work or just can't be bothered to answer their emails :(

Anyone know of any more good anodisers to contact?

I'm seriously leaning towards buying a kit and having a go myself now:
http://gaterosplating.co.uk/Anodising-Kit.php

How hard can it be? :D
if you get it right you may have the makings of a nice little business just doing all our A8 trims!! +++

[moltuae]

if you get it right you may have the makings of a nice little business just doing all our A8 trims!! +++

:lol:

With all the toxic chemicals and fumes, not to mention the hard work required to polish them before re-anodising, I'm still not sure I want to take on the work of doing my own trims, never mind anyone else's!

I'm still trying to find an anodising company who are willing/able to do it. If I do it myself it will be out of desperation, although admittedly it will be kind of fun and interesting to learn the anodising process.