Recondition stainless steel wheel covers

[Charger Too]

My wheel covers have some scratches on them. I assume they are stainless steel (1968 Charger covers). Are there any methods available to remove the scratches from stainless steel? Thanks!

 

[#41]

Buffing wheel and compound. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, there are still some skilled people around who refinish stainless parts and trim.... though they are getting harder an harder to find.

 

[493 Mike]

Plenty of elbow grease will be required.
Mike

 

[AR67GTX]

Some of them are flash chromed and can’t take much polishing without going through it and the surface appearance changes then. So you may have to buff them to completely remove the flash chrome and polish up the bare stainless. Which other than a lot of work, works out fine as the bare stainless will polish up just fine.

I don’t know if it’s possible or practical to have a chrome shop dip them to remove the flash chrome or not. Might be worth checking on if they have a lot of scratches and dings to fix.

 

[Charger Too]

Buffing wheel and compound. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, there are still some skilled people around who refinish stainless parts and trim.... though they are getting harder an harder to find.

Do you know of any shops that work on stainless steel?

 

[#41]

Do you know of any shops that work on stainless steel?

I believe the guy I have used in the past here has retired. He did stuff that I did not know was even possible.
If you use FB, find a local car group and pose the question. That's how I have been finding some local resources lately.

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

I used RK Miller in Utah for my trim rings on my 70 maybe he’d take your hub caps on? DM me for contact info

 

[gtx6970]

I did my wheel covers last year. Not fun but worth the effort once done.
Fortunately, I had spares to work with taking pieces from all of them to put the 4 best ones together and luckily none were dented up. So mostly just a good cleaning and polishing.

Took me a few weeks and lots of patience. Working maybe 2 or 3 hours ea day But IMO they came out great


Used a $100 bench grinder / polisher from harbor Freight and went at it
I taped them up, sprayed the area needed in low gloss black and took Q tips dipped in lacquer thinner to clear the raised spokes / ridges

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

Looks incrediable

 

[Coelacanth]

Nice work. Stainless steel is great because it can be fine sanded and buffed/polished...like an automotive clearcoat, it's just a much harder material. It's easier to work with than anodized aluminum, at least. That needs to be stripped of anodizing before you can polish it up.