Hi, what have you guys and gals used to polish the XLT exterior trim?
Trying to avoid from replating... mine is dull after 35 years I tried aluminum wheel polish no success.

thanks

 

Someone said pour soda (coke inparticular) on it then rub the shinny side of tin foil across it..... I havent tried it and dont see why that would work but doesnt hurt to try And im sure someone has a better answer and ill get crud for this one but hey never know, maybe it works

 

The aluminum trim is clear anodized to keep it from corroding.
To polish it, you need to strip off the anodized coating. Soak the parts in Easy Off oven cleaner. Rinse with water and polish.
Once the anodizing is removed, you'll need to either have it re-anodized or pay close attention to keeping it polished. Bare aluminum corrodes very quickly.

 

I used rubbing compound then blue magic metal polish it worked really well on the grill shell and side trim. I used a rotary buffer but it could be done by hand with a lot of rags and rubbing.

 

In my opinion, the easiest route to go is a chrome powder coat. I get lots of things powder coated for my business and the powdercoater showed me some wheels he powdercoated chrome and I thought they looked great. Just throwing out another option since it hadn't been mentioned.

 

Use some over cleaner like "Easy-Off" to strip the anodize coating then polish using rouge and buffing wheels. Shoot clear to preserve it. Oven cleaner is caustic so take proper safety precautions.

Leaving it uncoated but polished requires regular maintenance.

 

I use a real fine steel wool and WD-40. Cleans well and leaves a rust protective coating.

 

so brillo pad to course ,I should not use?

 

I use Brillo pads on chrome that is pretty darn bad off just to save it a bit longer, it works pretty well, never tried it on aluminum trim, might try it of a scrap piece first.

 

Mr Clean magic erasers work very well to clean them as well.