Polishing Plastic "Chrome"

[swanicyouth]

I'm wondering if anyone has had success with this? My grill surrounding trim was pretty beat, so I figured I would try polishing it, the OCing it. I figured if it ruins it, I'll just replace it and coat the new one before I install it.

Well, it ruined it. It came about with tan dots all over and it lost some of its reflectiveness. I guess this material can't be polished? I used 3" HT pads on a GG6. First I tried Optimum Polish II. That wasn't working, so I went to Compound. That wrecked the finish.

Anyway, I ordered a new one. This one is matte black, so hopefully it will hold up better and is likely polishable.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows why it didn't work?

[hernandez.art13]

You polished the chrome trim?

Was it real chrome or painted plastic?

Subscribed btw

[Rsurfer]

I'm wondering if anyone has had success with this? My grill surrounding trim was pretty beat, so I figured I would try polishing it, the OCing it. I figured if it ruins it, I'll just replace it and coat the new one before I install it.

Well, it ruined it. It came about with tan dots all over and it lost some of its reflectiveness. I guess this material can't be polished? I used 3" HT pads on a GG6. First I tried Optimum Polish II. That wasn't working, so I went to Compound. That wrecked the finish.

Anyway, I ordered a new one. This one is matte black, so hopefully it will hold up better and is likely polishable.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows why it didn't work?
The plating is just too thin.

[XSSIVE]

I polished the chrome clad (Dodge's fancy term for faux chrome plated plastic) wheels, grill slats and large tailgate handle on my Truck with Meg's D300 on their MF cutting pad with my 3" griots and it got rid of all the water spots and the majority of the scratches with no problem and didn't harm it at all. Didn't even need to follow it with a finer polish.

[SYMAWD]

APC on a MF towel has always restored my plastic chrome. The APC I use is acidic if that has anything to do with it removing the water spots.

[Edse30]

I just did the chromed plastic grill and headlight souronds on my 87 S10 with 000 steel wool as suggested online since I couldn't get all the oxidation, water spots, rust stains, etc off with any compound or polish. Figuring it was an old truck I wouldn't mind if it was damaged.
Well it turned out AWESOME, if anyone is going to try it make sure to do a test spot first.
I wish I would have taken before pics because the difference was huge, it really looked like new.
I went on and did my metal chromed bumpers and it worked awesome, then did the chromed wheel well arches and it didn't help any- although it didn't damage anything either.
Btw, it works great to remove sticker residue off glass too.
Again, do a test spot before you do the whole thing.

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[KillaCam]

I just did the chromed plastic grill and headlight souronds on my 87 S10 with 000 steel wool as suggested online since I couldn't get all the oxidation, water spots, rust stains, etc off with any compound or polish. Figuring it was an old truck I wouldn't mind if it was damaged.
Well it turned out AWESOME, if anyone is going to try it make sure to do a test spot first.
I wish I would have taken before pics because the difference was huge, it really looked like new.
I went on and did my metal chromed bumpers and it worked awesome, then did the chromed wheel well arches and it didn't help any- although it didn't damage anything either.
Btw, it works great to remove sticker residue off glass too.
Again, do a test spot before you do the whole thing.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

Have you looked at it under the sun or a good light source? All I can think is you scratched the crap out of it with that steel wool.

[davidc]

I have used P21s soap with great success.

Dave

[RMM]

APC on a MF towel has always restored my plastic chrome. The APC I use is acidic if that has anything to do with it removing the water spots.

Are you sure? All APCs tend to be alkaline.

[evo77]

I've wondered what would polish out water stains on my plastic chrome too. Except I wanted to avoid any white liquids that would work its way under the crevices and stain the black grille.http://image.automobilemag.com/f/reviews/editors_notebook/1102_2011_chevy_cruze_ltz/31950556+w968/2011-chevrolet-cruze-LTZ-grille.jpg

[SYMAWD]

Are you sure? All APCs tend to be alkaline.

Adam's is acidic. How acidic I don't know.

[swanicyouth]

You polished the chrome trim?

Was it real chrome or painted plastic?

Subscribed btw

Plastic as the tittle states. I don't think plastic "chrome" is painted, as it doesn't act like paint. It won't really chip from small rock impacts, even though its on the grille.

If love to know exactly what that plastic chrome is, since it doesn't seem like paint.

[Bunky]

Chrome plastic is just chrome electro deposited on a plastic substate (usually something like ABS). The bond between the thin chrome and plastic is not as strong at say chrome on steel.

[BillE]

Try a gentle application with a cleaner/wax...been working for me a long time.

Bill

[Don M]

I just did the chromed plastic grill and headlight souronds on my 87 S10 with 000 steel wool as suggested online since I couldn't get all the oxidation, water spots, rust stains, etc off with any compound or polish. Figuring it was an old truck I wouldn't mind if it was damaged.
Well it turned out AWESOME, if anyone is going to try it make sure to do a test spot first.
I wish I would have taken before pics because the difference was huge, it really looked like new.
I went on and did my metal chromed bumpers and it worked awesome, then did the chromed wheel well arches and it didn't help any- although it didn't damage anything either.
Btw, it works great to remove sticker residue off glass too.
Again, do a test spot before you do the whole thing.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

I just did the same on my MIL's Ford Edge. The rims were horrible and nothing else would touch the build up, so I used steel wool with LOTS of soap and water to lubricate things. You can tell these are the 'plastic chrome' that is becoming so common and I did check under the sunlight and it did not scratch.