How to restore stainless steel and aluminum trim

In the process of restoring my Corvair I discovered and wrote up a paper on the restoration of Stainless and Aluminum trim. I'll be using the same on my Dauphine.

What is nice about stainless is that it is almost indestructible. It is relatively easy to take really damaged pieces or scratched pieces and make them like new.

You can download the pdf here:http://www.widman.biz/Corvair/English/Links/Polishing.html

This is how my windshield trim turned out:
stacks_image_166_1.png


It actually started out like this:
stacks_image_167_1.png


The rear trim started like this
stacks_image_172_1.png


And ended like this
stacks_image_176_1.png


Aluminum is softer, and has to have the anodizing removed first (but that is easy too). Here is a headlight bezel before:
stacks_image_182_1.png


And after
stacks_image_181_1.png



Hope this helps. Sure is cheaper than replacements... and in many cases there are no replacements available.
 
Click to expand...
Oil give a good shine, but it attracts dirt. We used to use an oil based polish on the Stainless in the restaurant industry, but also because it helped clean oily fingerprints without the full stripping process.

I prefer car paint products on the cars. Currently Meguairs.
 
Thank you for taking the time to document this! I have an annoyingly scratched-up piece of SS trim on my driver's side door glass trim from the previous owner and am looking forward to some warm weather so I can try this out! Thanks again!!

~Michael
 
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