'69 Coronet grille polish?

[Wietse]

Hello all,

I am looking in to doing up my chrome of the grille and around the head lights, but what is this?
Is this chromed or stainless steel?
I don't want to start rubbing with stainless steel polish and find a nice coat of copper after i am done.

 

[texas69bee]

Anodized aluminum that has been brite dipped.

 

[BeeKool]

Nice Car

See if a magnet will stick to it.
If not then it's probably stainless

 

[MarPar]

use this stuff and you wont have to worry....

http://www.quick-glo.com/

 

[Wietse]

See pictures of the fine scratches in the surface.
I will need to polish it quite hard to remove it so i am afraid i will remove the chrome...or whatever it is.

 

[MarPar]

try steel wool...

 

[BeeKool]

I would ask Bladecutter.
He's the man

 

[MarPar]

@Bladecutter callin for your vast knowledge!!!

 

[texas69bee]

You cut through the anodizing already. You can't polish that out. It would have to be completely stripped, polished, dipped then anodized. Those spots can be covered if they were painted correctly with silver argent paint.

 

[moparnation74]

X2 has to be redone.....

You have to be careful with anaodized alumnium. ECS wheel polish works beautifully to shine and protect a new finish...

 

[Bladecutter]

I'm pretty sure the grille & headlight surrounds are aluminum, so i wouldn't use steel wool. I've manually stripped anodize, starting with 220 dry, then wet 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, then polish using a medium coarse polish(Nu-Vite) & then a finishing creme(Nu-Vite).It's an arduous process.....a lot of finger ******* on those grille bars. But it looks absolutely bitchin if done well....of course it has to be maintained by intervals of polishing. However Nu-Vite has introduced a cleaner creme that will preserve the finish as it is when applied, will not discolor & it's a simple wipe on, let dry to haze, & wipe off. Otherwise, Your grille & headlight surrounds must be chemically stripped, repolished & reanodized. Quality Microfibre towels are the ONLY thing to use for polishing & cleaning. Best damn towel to use for drying Your car after washing too.....better than chamois. Use clean towels only....if You wash & reuse, wash in MILD soap solutions(so insured they rinse fully & no soap residue remains), NO fabric softener or other agents, tumble dry & NO dryer sheets.

 

[Bladecutter]

I would ask Bladecutter.
He's the man

@Bladecutter callin for your vast knowledge!!!

Thanks for the 'Props' You Guys!!

 

[MarPar]

I'm pretty sure the grille & headlight surrounds are aluminum, so i wouldn't use steel wool. I've manually stripped anodize, starting with 220 dry, then wet 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, then polish using a medium coarse polish(Nu-Vite) & then a finishing creme(Nu-Vite).It's an arduous process.....a lot of finger ******* on those grille bars. But it looks absolutely bitchin if done well....of course it has to be maintained by intervals of polishing. However Nu-Vite has introduced a cleaner creme that will preserve the finish as it is when applied, will not discolor & it's a simple wipe on, let dry to haze, & wipe off. Otherwise, Your grille & headlight surrounds must be chemically stripped, repolished & reanodized. Quality Microfibre towels are the ONLY thing to use for polishing & cleaning. Best damn towel to use for drying Your car after washing too.....better than chamois. Use clean towels only....if You wash & reuse, wash in MILD soap solutions(so insured they rinse fully & no soap residue remains), NO fabric softener or other agents, tumble dry & NO dryer sheets.

and there you have it folks...

 

[Wietse]

Guess the best option is to bring it to someone who can anodize it.
I am quite sure this process will cost a lot of patience and effort for a medium result.
Will have to look around for some shop in my area who does this.

Thx for the reactions folks!

 

[texas69bee]

Here is what it looks like with the anodizing stripped off. We're working on the same thing. I took mine to a plateing company near me. I'll polish them, then send them off to get replated. Not bad for $20.

 

[Bladecutter]

If it was me, bc i don't care about purism, i'd have it chemically stripped & have a reputable polishing house sand & polish them ultra brite & leave the natural finish. Anodizing, even clear powder coating will step down the glow. Nothing prettier than natural polished alloy.

 

[texas69bee]

If it was me, bc i don't care about purism, i'd have it chemically stripped & have a reputable polishing house sand & polish them ultra brite & leave the natural finish. Anodizing, even clear powder coating will step down the glow. Nothing prettier than natural polished alloy.

View attachment 513537

Beautiful work. Wish you were closer, I'd have ya do all my stainless trim.

 

[Bladecutter]

Beautiful work. Wish you were closer, I'd have ya do all my stainless trim.

Thanks Texas! I was born in San AnTone. Stainless is tough but fun cuz one can be more aggressive with it & the right effort produces Brilliant results. Again, far prettier than chrome & other platings/coatings imo.

 

[Wietse]

I just did one section up with some stainless steel polish, which cleans it up and makes it shine quite nice.
Scratches can still be seen but it looks better then before.

Anyway i will have some more stuff to be send for re-chroming etc. so guess i will get this all done in 1 go.

I agree with that, stainless fully polished gives the most deep shine, noting can beat that!

 

[CudaChick1968]

If you opt for the polishing / protection route, check out this stuff made by my favorite powder supplier. MC160 is the best thing I've seen for polished metals hands down.

https://www.clearcoating.com/products/MC-160/
https://www.clearcoating.com/products/MC-160/
I've used it on everything I've polished for the last couple of years and everyone is delighted with the results, including me (the toughest one to impress LOL).