$1340 to polish all outside stainless trim. Deal or no deal?

[65PlymSatellite]

Hey All,

I got quoted $1340 to polish all the stainless that surrounds my glass, plus two interior weatherstrip channels. Is this about right? Overpriced? Underpriced? I just don’t know what it costs to have some stainless polished nowadays. It’s about 30 pieces total.

Thanks for the input!

 

[dadsbee]

$18cdn per foot when my paint guy sent mine out in 2017 without telling me. Why I learned to do it myself on all the other projects!

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Do it yourself, you won’t lose any pieces that way.

 

[ruffcut]

It's a matter of, do you want to spend the time doing it, or spend the 1340 and have it done for you.

 

[autoxcuda]

Does that include any ding or dent removal ?

 

[dvw]

Dents and scratches are what takes the time. I taught myself years ago. I've done both stainless and aluminum. Stainless is easier to remove dings. It's also harder. So it takes time sanding in the opposite direction to remove the previous grit scratches. Only use a grit that is as coarse as the scratch depth. Once you are at 2000 the polish step is very easy. Tape long pieces to wood so you wont get them caught in the wheel (don't ask how I know). I straightened bent parts on my 64 that I thought would be scrap. Did My Challenger before the 64. It was all aluminum. It's time consuming but not hard. I bough a Harbor Freight bench grinder and mounted wool pads on it. The front fender spear and the 1/4 panel wrap around were both pretty beat up. The wheel well moldings on the Challenger had plenty of dents as well. Just depends if you want to spend the time and learn yet another hot rodding skill.
Doug

 

[493 Mike]

You can purchase everything you need to polish by yourself and still have all the equipment when you are done with this car. I did my 65.
Mike

 

[gkent]

Firstly, I would say its a fair price.

Secondly, do you have the time, skills and patience to do it yourself? It is a VERY tedious job and your shop will be covered in dust and fluff afterwards. The proper polishing equipment alone will cost you about a third of the quote you were given. Dent removal is a whole other skillset to just polishing.

 

[Part Stalker]

It doesn't sound bad to me as I spent a little more a decade ago doing my wife's Satellite. But that included some dent work on the wheel lip trim and included polishing the rocker moldings and grill. Grill looked good but didn't quite fit right as I think he beared down on it a little hard and flattened it a tad that I didn't notice until it was installed.

 

[SLANTFISH]

That is about what I paid 2 years ago to have all of mine done on my 70 Barracuda. Well worth the price to keep original pieces versus repros

 

[Rich H.]

That's a deal to do the entire job if every defect is repaired. If you get the trim back perfect in every way then it's a steal.

I didn't want to make mine perfect and was only looking for a solid shine up and to remove the swirls and micro scratches. I did end up sanding out some larger scratches, but the few tiny dents I had didn't feel like they were worth messing with. Mothers Mag wheel polish, using felt cones on a die grinder did the trick for me. Have to wear some thick gloves, alot of heat is generated.

 

[OMTWF-72SE]

Assume that at a minimum you'll spend 30 mins for every linear foot. This averages out based on width. For example a sill plate takes longer and makes up for the time of a wheel opening trim. Once you have the hours, add 20% then divide that into your quote.

The time might seem excessive but just wait until you lay the third polished piece next to the first and try to match them.

 

[Runcharger]

I polish my own. It takes time and patience but I find it rewarding and the material cost is low. $1300 can buy some parts for another area of the car is how I look at it. The decision hangs heavy on the current condition of the 60 year old parts however. I also try to keep quality to OEM specs not show car specs so that affects time spent.

 

[Davefinan]

Love that 65 satellite.
If the pieces come back looking excellent, I’d say it’s worth it. I’ve always done my own and it is definitely tedious.

 

[AR67GTX]

I polish my own trim and occasionally some pieces for friends locally. I believe that’s most likely a very fair price and doubt it includes much dent removal work so maybe your pieces don’t need it. You want to be very careful removing the trim as aside from dents a lot of the damage I deal with is from ham-fisted removal and trim stuck to the body with caulking.

 

[t.flatt]

I'd charge more than that! As others have said, its a very detailed and time consuming process. But, not difficult! It's even a bit therapeutic sitting at the buffing wheel for hours on end! Once you get the equipment no one is going to do a better job than yourself.

 

[furyus]

Here's the safety comment.
Study youtube videos. Learn how to do it right. Thick gloves face shield, respirator. Mount the piece to a board,

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Here's the safety comment.
Study youtube videos. Learn how to do it right. Thick gloves face shield, respirator. Mount the piece to a board,

Followed by this warning... I have a friend who polished his own, but while polishing the buffer grabbed a piece of trim & ripped it from his hands... Wadded the trim up which is a bummer but far worse it sliced three fingers to the bone cutting flesh, tendons & muscle.... He was off work for months.... $1340 would seem like a bargain of that happened to you...

I've polished lots of trim... But I can't get the level of polish depth that my trim guy does... So between the fact I can't get the same level of shine plus I'm not risking my flesh... Last two cars I've paid to have it done...

 

[Mopar Hunter]

but far worse it sliced three fingers to the bone cutting flesh, tendons & muscle..

It cut through his gloves?

 

[1 Wild R/T]

It cut through his gloves?

Like they weren't even there... It was a headlight bezel, so a circular part, as the wheel grabbed it he tried to hold on instead of letting go... Once he committed it was all over...

He had about forty pieces of trim... He'd finished about thirty over the course of two days.. So he was thinking "I got this" & a second of daydreaming turned into a lot of pain & suffering...

When doing that sort of work you tell yourself buff this direction, use the bottom of the wheel, a faction of a second of inattentiveness and all of what you thought you were gonna to goes out the window...