Collector Car - Polishing Stainless trim without removing it

[opie_7afe]

edit: forgot to add that come rouge compounds are like sandpaper in a paste and with an abrasive buffing wheel like a sisal wheel can "polish" right through the trim. that rouge is meant for polishing cast aluminum and removing really deep scratches. a good place to get the buffing wheels for mounting on a drill or bench grinder(both ways i would remove trim would be easier in the long run) and the rouge blocks would be caswellplating.com. again good luck !

[gardenut]

Mike;
You say you "buffed" the stainless fender skirts - was that buffing using the stand mounted buffing wheel, hand rubbing using different rouges, dremel, or power buffer ?

Are you also not recommending a power buffer ? Other responses state to NOT use power drills, but some recommend Dremel.

[vegasbigron]

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.

It is an honor to have my car included in your book Mike.Not only is it on page 83 but on 117 also.It was great meeting you ,Todd and Nick.Nice people very good company.I have used Black Fire for many years and the compliments never stop.Quality people with quality products unmatched combination.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike;
You say you "buffed" the stainless fender skirts - was that buffing using the stand mounted buffing wheel, hand rubbing using different rouges, dremel, or power buffer ?

Are you also not recommending a power buffer ? Other responses state to NOT use power drills, but some recommend Dremel.

We don't have the traditional style bench mounted or pedestal mounted motors for polishing metal like trim pieces, it's not really a part of our core market.

I used what I had... a rotary buffer and if I remember correctly a wool pad and a metal polish from Gel-Coat Labs.

The stainless didn't come out perfect but I think the pictures show the stainless came out dramatically improved.

[gardenut]

Thanks Mike;
Then to push you just a little further down the line, I don't have a rotary buffer so which one would you recommend I purchase specifically for this task, but for longer term usage in buffing my ride which was just repainted last year ?

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks Mike;
Then to push you just a little further down the line, I don't have a rotary buffer so which one would you recommend I purchase specifically for this task, but for longer term usage in buffing my ride which was just repainted last year ?

If you're working by hand, any good quality medium cut or fine cut metal polish plus some elbow grease will clean the stainless and restore some level of clarity, shine and brilliance.

Wolfgang
Flitz
Blackfire
Mothers
Meguiar's
Optimum


They all make good metal polishes, more important will be the elbow grease and some terry cloth towels.

See my article here,

Put a little passion behind the pad - Mike Phillips

[gardenut]

Greatly appreciated and I thank you for not making a recommendation just to sell a piece of hardware. I just thought a buffer would save me work & time, but, as pointed out, too much aggression / power could cause major damage to both the stainless and my paint job.
I'll still tape off around my side molding to play it safe, roll up my sleeves, and start rubbing in a lateral motion.

Thanks for the advice.

[opie_7afe]

can get a cheap harbor freight rotary, i use one only downside is the lack of an electronic speed control so when you put pressure down it will slow so you need to bump speed up. but for once in a while use the cheap one will work, you could get a DA and use that but i don't know if it will have the "power" to polish metal that is bad off. if you can take the trim off you can use a drill mounted buffer, even though a previous poster said not to use one with trim on the paint, as for something like that the right wheel will go right through the tape and can mar up the paint even burn into the layers of paint. so if you take it off there's really no damage that can be done minus too much pressure or bending it in half or something that extreme. i use my dremel for some polishing of metals just with the dremel the attachments are too small for certain things and will take forever. caswell plating should have a kit including rouge compounds/polishes. they also have wheels to fit on the rotary polisher. just depends on what route you want to take,how much time you want to spend, and how much defects you want removed from the metal.