I have removed the windshield trim from a 67 convertible. I am going to clean it up before I put it back on.

What do you suggest I use to clean and polish the trim?

Thanks

John

 

The trim is made of stainless and will restore too a lustrous chrome appearance using various fine grit sandpaper and a buffing wheel. There are plenty off shops that can do this for you, If you are not experienced using a wheel. This can be a dangerous job due to the small width and curves of the pieces, if the wheel catches the trim it can bend it or even throw it across the room.

 

i sent my trim from my 63 coupe to a company (Google Pauls Chrome). It is going to cost me about $1,100 in total. Your convertible should be about 1/2 of that.

Other wise, just clean them up with a good chrome polish like Mequiers (sp?).

If you polish it with a buffer wheel yourself, go very slow and you should not hav to put a lot of pressure on it. I believe that the important thing is how long you have contact to the buffer, not how hard you have it against the buffer.

Do a search here for trim, there are some good threads.

 

by the time you buy the correct types of wheels, compounds, etc and screw up the first piece and have to replace it......... i think its better to get a pro do it.......
my 66 vert was really bad. it looked more like flat aluminium paint than stainless. when i got it back from city bumper in Toronto it was pristine. it couldnt be better.......deep chrome type finish.......only richer.
total for my windshield surround and wiper arms was $500. I might have got it done cheaper, but certainly not better!!

 

I did mine on the car and avoided the risk of throwing the pieces. I used a buffing wheel on a high speed drill. You still have to be carefull not to let the drill get pulled around and hit anything that you don't want to hit, but if you take your time it can come out great.

 

Note that every piece of that stainless trim was smack-chromed after polishing to protect it; if you really want to polish the stainless, you have to get through or remove the chrome layer first.

 

Polishing is the simplest procedure in getting SS back to shine, it just takes time and patience. I have found getting the scratches and dents out are more difficult. You can use a 8S Scotchbrite 3M wheel to get the scratches out. Go to McMasters.com and you can purchase the wheel. There are different grades of the Scothbright wheels, but the 8S seems to work for our needs.
For you information these wheels are used to remove scratches from surgical tools used in Hospitials.
B4 the ss will look new the scratches havae to be gtround out with one of these wheels. Buffing alone will not get the scratches out.
Dents are another procedure.
George

 

John is right! All stainless trim is flash chromed originally. You can make some improvement in it with a buffing wheel, but you always stand the chance of buffing through the chrome layer. The polished stainless will have a slightly different look than the chrome, and if you buff through in some places and not in others, you will be able to see the difference.

When I restore trim, I always start out by removing all the chrome with a 2:1 water/mauritic acid. This will assure that you are buffing on nothing but stainless. The buffed stainless will have a very slight yellow cast to it, as opposed to the "icy blue" look of the chrome. That being said, almost no one will notice it. GM put the chrome layer on to make the trim no-maintenence and to make it match the chrome plated parts better, but the color difference is very slight, and very few people would notice. The polished stainless will continue to yellow from the nickle content, but a little hand polishing every few months will keep it looking like new.

For the truly ****-retentive, you can have the flash chrome replaced after polishing, but I only do this on judged cars, and only then on large parts like wheelcovers.

Buffing of trim is something that almost anyone can do as good as the professional after a little practice, but you will soon learn why they charge so much to do it! All scratches must be removed with progressively finer of sandpaper, and the true mark of experience is being able to look at a piece of trim and knowing which grit to start with. There are pieces of trim where I might just sand with 600 grit and go directly to buffing, while other pieces would need to start at about 200. Stainless is very hard, and tikes a lot of time to buff, but after some practice, you can get resullts as good as any professional shop.
The downside is that you have to invest a fair amount in a good buffer and other tools of the trade. The hardest part for the beginner is learning how to buff the parts against the wheel so that the part odes not go "over center" on the wheel and yank the part out of you hand and fling it across the shop.


Regards, John McGraw

 

John,

I read your thread that all windshield trim is flash chromed. I was told the outside trim pieces are stainless steel with no chrome and the inside pieces are flash chromed. The guy I talked to buffs stainless parts as a sideline. He suggested I have the inside pieces stripped of all chrome and have him buff the stainless. It should be as shiny as the outside trim and no one would really notice. Should I opt for the flash chrome on the inside parts or go stainless. Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks, Matt

 

Bob Mayles Stainless Steel Restorations has a excellent reputation and has been doing it for many years. He advertises on his site that he has a special going on for Corvette's,coupes $360 and verts $260. Phone 716-683-4018,in NY.

 

Bob is the man!!! Outstanding work and excellent prices. He has done all of my stainless and I send everyone I know to him, you won't be sorry...the stuff comes back looking better than new. He's currently on vacation and will be returning on the 21st