Hey, I'm new here, finally decided to become a member, there is a lot of great info on this website.
I have a question, it is covered in this forum already, it's not very detailed and I'm looking for some more in-depth info.
I have a 77 Ford F-150 4x4. (Ranger XLT) that I'v had for about a year now.
I am almost finished restoration on the truck (I started in april) and it's almost time for assembly. Im getting the truck back from the paint booth in 5 days
Ok...there's my life story, here's my question.
All the chrome trim on my truck is faded, and full of specs and junk, and I want to get it to look like new again. I'm having a tough time with that.
Here are a few pic's I just snapped:
I already went over everything with very fine steel wool, I want to bring the chrome look out.
So if you guy's know of any products or techniques that would help, that would be great.
I'm not familiar with that year truck, but the pictures look more like Aluminum or Stainless than Chrome.
If it is alum or stainless, you can bring the pieces back to life. If its chrome, the only thing you can really do is have the pieces re-chromed or paint them.
Hopefully someone with better knowledge of that year truck will step in here soon.
Sorry but some of us have to work at work and then work at home and then do the cooking & cleaning.
Polishing aluminum to a chrome look is messy and time consuming. I should know since I polish the dump box on our Kenworth about 3 x's a year. There are all kinds of polishes on the market but the one I found is called Busch's. There is a polish and then a wax sealer. It still needs to be kept up with no matter what you put on it unless you have it professionally clear coated. Another polish I really liked but can't find anymore is BlueMajic in the paste form with silicone in it. Whatever polish you use, be sure to wear gloves as the black residue doesn't come out of the finger nails to easy. Rub the polish in until the black begins to disappear then wipe any additional residue with a terry cloth. The more often you polish, but brighter the shine.
The trim pieces in your pictures look like they will clean up nicely with little effort. The grill almost looks as it has limerock or concrete splatter. I can't tell if its pitted or not. If not, will also be an easy clean up. If it is pitted, try polishing it anyway and see if you can live with the results. Even if a little black remains in the pits immediately after polishing, after a few hours the black will fade away any you may not notice the pitts as bad.
Only option I know of it is pitted and you want to fix the pitting is sanding, sanding and more sanding. With as delicate as the pieces look, you will have to be extremely patient to not cause worse damage in trying to make it look better. Its been awhile since I've sanded the rims on the KW, but if I'm not mistaken, I began with like a 100 grit and worked up to a 1500 grit. I didn't want to use anything heavier in fear that I might over-sand and not be able to get back to the smooth finish.
Well, thats all I can think of at the moment.
Also, there are a ton threads in this forum about polishing aluminum. Just do a search of this forum only with only the word "Aluminum".
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