polishing grille on 65 ford
polishing grille on 65 ford
can you polish the grille and trim on a truck?
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shawns fords
- Posts: 1111
- Joined: March 31, 2007, 11:34 am
- Location: Foxfield Colorado
- Contact:
Qaulity work will cost you quality money.
I say this from experience. I had two taillight trim pieces done and it was $70. But that was polished and clear coated. I also had my rims done at the same time, and that ran up to the $240 range from the same people.
It all depends on whether you are going to do it yourself, or you're having it done.
Moose
I say this from experience. I had two taillight trim pieces done and it was $70. But that was polished and clear coated. I also had my rims done at the same time, and that ran up to the $240 range from the same people.
It all depends on whether you are going to do it yourself, or you're having it done.
Moose
American born, German blood, Texan attitude..... And people wonder why they call me "Moose."
66 F-100 Too much to list
05 F250 The Tank
66 F-100 Too much to list
05 F250 The Tank
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DanSanDiego2000
- Posts: 275
- Joined: August 14, 2006, 8:59 pm
- Location: San Diego
I thought it sounded easy until......
I bought a chemical stripper from Eastwood to remove the clear anodizing from my trim pieces. I had all the hood, door and cab corner pieces to polish, then buy new bed side pieces.
It turned out that to chemically remove the clear anodized coating took $40 or $50 worth of chemicals, then took hours of time with compounds and rouges on two different polishing wheels, all in order to achieve a far-less-than-ideal finished product. I scrapped those pieces (despite the investment of cash and time), and bought all new. Ouch $$$. The polished pieces looked nothing like the new pieces. The new outshined my attempt at polishing easily 10 times over.
These pieces were relatively easy to work with, too, because they are long, skinny and relatively flat. The grille has way too many twists, turns and hidden spots to ever reach into to polish, that is if you could get past that clear anodizing that is likely now half peeling off, and leaving milky, cloudy areas behind, too. I did have my steel grille rechromed, and it was stunning. I had an aluminum grille de-anodized, polished and reanodized professionally, and it was even better than the chrome. Stick with the pros.
(see pics in my gallery of how nice the grille turned out)
It turned out that to chemically remove the clear anodized coating took $40 or $50 worth of chemicals, then took hours of time with compounds and rouges on two different polishing wheels, all in order to achieve a far-less-than-ideal finished product. I scrapped those pieces (despite the investment of cash and time), and bought all new. Ouch $$$. The polished pieces looked nothing like the new pieces. The new outshined my attempt at polishing easily 10 times over.
These pieces were relatively easy to work with, too, because they are long, skinny and relatively flat. The grille has way too many twists, turns and hidden spots to ever reach into to polish, that is if you could get past that clear anodizing that is likely now half peeling off, and leaving milky, cloudy areas behind, too. I did have my steel grille rechromed, and it was stunning. I had an aluminum grille de-anodized, polished and reanodized professionally, and it was even better than the chrome. Stick with the pros.
(see pics in my gallery of how nice the grille turned out)
If you are strapped for cash you can do what I did. I used oven cleaner on my grill. Do it outside and wear some type of mask. I sprayed it on a few times one day. I then washed off the coating. On the long side trim and other side pieces I took a 4 inch pipe ,put a cap on it and filled with water. I then dropped some draino in it and set the parts in. I tied a string to the parts so I could get them out easy. Check it every so often. After a while that anonized coating will come off. I then cleaned it with some wadding compound you can get at walmart or advance auto. Its in a can and its brown material you tear. Its used to polish silverware and other stuff thats chrome. It cleaned mine and gave it a mirror like finish. You have to wax it like your truck if you do not readonize the trim. I also at that time took care of some dings,scratches and dents on the trim. I used a rubber mallet and wood that I had sawed to the contour I wanted .I then hammered to get it into shape. That grill in my truck was bent about 70 degrees one time when I steering went out.I wound up in a ditch and my fender went into the tire. The grill went with it and was bent also. I was able to get it out to where you can't tell it now. But it saves a lot of money if you do it yourself. Mines not a show truck ,I just wanted to fix it up and get it looking nice. Most of the work I did while I was laid off so I couldn't put a lot in it. I polished most of it about 2 years ago and it still looks good to me. You can see it at
http://fordtruk.com/forums/album_showpa ... user_id=25
http://fordtruk.com/forums/album_showpa ... user_id=25