Collector Car - Polishing Stainless trim without removing it

**gardenut** · 02-06-2012, 02:30 PM

I've got a '56 Ford Fairlane and all of my stainless trim is on the hazy side. Hand polishing just isn't making much of a difference. Anyone have experience using an electric buffer / polisher to polish up the stainless without removing it ?
I'm not getting any specific recommendations from any searches here on the site.
Can someone make a good recommendation for soemthing for the polishing that I could then also use as a general buffer later ?

**eaglefan** · 02-06-2012, 04:14 PM

I would love to hear ideas on this also

**oldmodman** · 02-08-2012, 12:24 AM

Drill motor with very soft cotton or felt wheel. Start with softest buffing stick and begin on a hidden or nearly hidden area. can also use a Dremel with their soft cotton wheel.

**BillE** · 02-08-2012, 08:16 AM

Second that vote for using a Dremel...just go gentle.

Bill

**Nappers** · 02-08-2012, 08:30 AM

Kevin Brown did a write up that I can't find at the moment....

I believe he straightened the stainless, sanded the surface until the blemeshes were out then polished with M105 on a rotary with either a foam or wool pad.....

I am a chicken with wool, I did my former Stepson's trim with a rotary and foam pad with NXT and M105 and they turned out not too bad.....

Metal Trim

I must admit, after 7, 12 hour shifts at the klink, I didn't read the whole caption. Without taking it off.....

Tape up around the trim and either polish by hand or machine, start least aggressive first. I have sucessfully polished trim on a vehicle.....

Metal Trim Swirled

Mike Phillips · 02-08-2012, 08:44 AM

Normally if I'm already buffing the paint out with some type of quality compound or even medium cut polish I'll buff the stainless trim at the same time, always seems to work pretty well. In the car restoration world most guys that restore stainless steel trim pieces use bench top mounted or pedestal mounted motors with cotton and felt buffing wheels and specialty compounds that come in the form of a brick.

In this thread,

1956 Pontiac Star Chief Convertible

I documented before and after results from buffing out the stainless steel fender skirts...

Here's Max checking out Earl's new addition to his car collection...

Neglected stainless steel fender skirts

There's a lot of stainless steel on this car including the fenderskirts... no black or gray pebble textured plastic trim to be seen...

We're going to see if we can restore some brilliance to the stainless steel...

Side-by-Side

After

Much better...

Mike Phillips · 02-08-2012, 08:47 AM

We have the cousin to your car coming up on the second season of our TV show...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...-s-garage.html

1955 Ford Crown Victoria

**vegasbigron** · 02-08-2012, 10:23 AM

Having owned a showcar for over ten years I can tell you maintaing stainless trim is a bear.Whatever you do don't attempt to use a drill to polish the trim on your car.It will tear through your protective tape in a second.Hand polish and tape all areas around your trim as to not scratch your paint.You will not remove scratches, but will brighten the stainless.My car has been a SEMA showcar for five consecutive years and it appears in Mike Phillips book.I speak from experience.BE CAREFULL. I have made many mistakes on the care of stainless,using a drill was one of them.

Mike Phillips · 02-08-2012, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by vegasbigron

Having owned a showcar for over ten years I can tell you maintaing stainless trim is a bear.Whatever you do don't attempt to use a drill to polish the trim on your car.It will tear through your protective tape in a second.Hand polish and tape all areas around your trim as to not scratch your paint.You will not remove scratches, but will brighten the stainless.My car has been a SEMA showcar for five consecutive years and it appears in Mike Phillips book.I speak from experience.BE CAREFULL. I have made many mistakes on the care of stainless,using a drill was one of them.

Hi Ron,

It was a pleasure meeting you at SEMA and for everyone that has a copy of my book I think it's the picture on page 83

Yancy took "Beauty Shots" at the 2010 SEMA show and used some in the book to add color and break up the text.

opie_7afe · 02-08-2012, 11:57 AM

as mike said the best way to get the trim looking its best is to remove and use cotton and felt buffing wheels on a stand/bench mounted grider using a bunch of different rouge compounds, some do to metal what m105 does to paint some do to metal what po85rd does to paint. it takes hours to polish up metal using one but the results are worth it, if your just looking to bring back some shine what mike suggested would work, however if its scratched and swirled and want to remove the swirls/scratches you will need to remove trim. polishing metal is dirty work but its so worth it when you see the results. good luck!