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/791...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/trea...ard-anodising/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcA7oE8yMvc

The anodisation process can also add colour apparently:
http://www.anodizing.co.nz/index.php...dising-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!

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."

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.

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

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).

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.


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

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!! +++

: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.