polishing chrome on these cars

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Pjackb
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by Pjackb »

The Neck wrote: Sun Mar 29, 2020 6:00 pm I love this thread.

I'm waiting for some axle parts and in the mean time felt like taking a stab at refinishing my tail lights.

After reading, I'm seeing a few different concoctions that are having some good results. I'm disassembling the lights currently, have two sheets of 1/16" rubber on its way for the gaskets, and I'm going to be working on the chrome in the meantime. I have a decent amount of pitting, and bumps throughout, and was wondering what the more tried and true plan of attack is with this.

I was thinking about soaking the rings in vinegar over night, then going at it with the diet coke and tin foil in the morning. Then once theey are looking nice and clean, hit them with some wax.

Does that sound like a good approach?

Here's a couple pics of the worst parts

https://imgur.com/gallery/PMlzlCO

Mike
I’m not sure what your expectations are but this will not buff out , there is way too much pitting and rust , The best you can expect is to stop the rust but it will just turn black and dull .

You could look at wrapping but again it takes a deft touch and even the very experienced wrappers shy away from rounded surfaces .

If you’re not planning to replace (cheaper then re chrome) and just want them to look better I would recommend painting them with a bright silver paint (VW Reflex silver, Miata Sunshine Silver)
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by C.Costine »

Mine were not as bad as yours, but had some rust and some dings. I bought new gaskets and had started to clean them up. I was watching on ebay for some decent ones and then a set of four new ones came up at a good price, so I jumped on them and sold the gaskets. I have bought a lot of parts off ebay over five years. Just repeatedly looking for what I wanted and putting in offers.
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by The Neck »

I think I wanted to get a realistic expectation of how this COULD turn out and the consensus is to replace the parts. I did have a member reach out about having a set of tail lights that I'm going to be picking up instead or attempting to refinish these. The pics shown are of the two worst ones, I'm not sure the others are nearly as rusted, but I wanted to have a good understanding of the hardest ones.
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by The Neck »

Here's a pic of the other lights. There are two that are in pretty rough shape, the other two and all of the rings are like this. I'm gonna run to an auto parts store and see what I can come up with.

https://imgur.com/gallery/jqRbrWC
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Pjackb
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by Pjackb »

The Neck wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:57 pm Here's a pic of the other lights. There are two that are in pretty rough shape, the other two and all of the rings are like this. I'm gonna run to an auto parts store and see what I can come up with.
Pick up some P21S it will tone down the pitting and shine it up enough to be usable
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by The Neck »

Pjackb wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:51 pm
The Neck wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:57 pm Here's a pic of the other lights. There are two that are in pretty rough shape, the other two and all of the rings are like this. I'm gonna run to an auto parts store and see what I can come up with.
Pick up some P21S it will tone down the pitting and shine it up enough to be usable
Is that the wheel cleaner they have specifically?
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by Solex68 »

Git yourself some of this and you will be amazed on the outcome. Nothing is going to help the one you photo'd here but if you use it on the ones I sold you. They will look amazing. Soak for 24 hrs, rinse as assess and maybe do another 24 hrs. Don't soak it to long as they will yellow a bit if soaked too long.
..
evaporust.png
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

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C.Costine
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by C.Costine »

Pjackb wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:51 pm
The Neck wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:57 pm Here's a pic of the other lights. There are two that are in pretty rough shape, the other two and all of the rings are like this. I'm gonna run to an auto parts store and see what I can come up with.
Pick up some P21S it will tone down the pitting and shine it up enough to be usable

TheP21S claims appear suspect to me. First they call it unique because it is water based. All polishes that I have ever used appear to be water based. Second, they claim no black on your fingers. Every metal polish that I have ever used cleans oxide from the surface resulting in getting black on my fingers.
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Pjackb
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by Pjackb »

C.Costine wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 7:00 am

TheP21S claims appear suspect to me. First they call it unique because it is water based. All polishes that I have ever used appear to be water based. Second, they claim no black on your fingers. Every metal polish that I have ever used cleans oxide from the surface resulting in getting black on my fingers.
I’ve been using it for years it’s far from miraculous but really does a good job
I originally bought it for exhaust tips where it excels but I’ve found countless other use for it
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by The Neck »

Solex68 wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:10 am Git yourself some of this and you will be amazed on the outcome. Nothing is going to help the one you photo'd here but if you use it on the ones I sold you. They will look amazing. Soak for 24 hrs, rinse as assess and maybe do another 24 hrs. Don't soak it to long as they will yellow a bit if soaked too long.
..

evaporust.png
Perfect! I'll order some now. Thanks again!
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by notoptoy »

+1 I am a huge fan and supporter of Evap-o-rust!! GREAT stuff
"When all else fails, force prevails!" Ummm, we're gonna need a bigger hammer here.

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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by Gregs672000 »

I always enjoyed trying different such products on the same task to compare how they work. We have a topic here on Products that Work. I always encourage posting reviews.
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by The Neck »

Gregs672000 wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 5:58 pm I always enjoyed trying different such products on the same task to compare how they work. We have a topic here on Products that Work. I always encourage posting reviews.
This is a pretty good idea, I'm currently browsing Amazon for a couple different options. Since I'm going to be cleaning up all the chrome on the car it's a great time to test a couple products out and go from there since we all have "older chrome" to some extent.

So far I have:

Evaporust - to soak in, I'm not sure what the after care idea is with this yet
Mothers Chrome Polish - obvious polish, maybe after it's been soaked or cleaned
P21s Polishing soap - same as the Mothers
Last edited by The Neck on Tue Mar 31, 2020 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: polishing chrome on these cars

Post by C.Costine »

I checked a little further into the P21S and found that it is acid based which will of course enable it to chemically dissolve rust as well as various other oxides. It appears to be not recommended for highly polished aluminum because it would dull it somewhat.
located in Chester NH
1967 1600 in restoration
2013 Arctic Cat F-1100 turbo
Ford F-350 6.0
Ford 9000 puller, Ford 960 puller, Ford 901show, Ford 971 worker, Oliver 70 waiting its turn
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