today i picked up a second grill shell for my 1979 f250. The price was right at 0$. their are no scratches or dents, but its really oxidized its like a milky white in some spots. bought never dull,aluminum rubbing compound by mothers, and some chrome polish, spent 5 hours on it, and nothing, its shinier, but still milky white in most places. So what will fix this problem, if anything can, and since my dad and uncle and i are painting my truck, should I have him paint it body color? The color is dark grey, and the insert is black... I have another grille shell that is nice and shiny, but it was hit on the passenger side, any ideas on what you think i should do???

 

cheap solution would be to CAREFULLY strip the ALL of the anodizing (the white milky surface) with EasyOff, then polish with your Mothers, then spray with clear lacquer. the lacquer will eventually yellow in a few years even if waxed

 

The grille is clear anodized. Anodizing is literally a part of the surface of the metal. It's usually about 0.003" thick. The milky surface you're looking at is likely a part the anodizing. You'll need to strip off the anodizing to effectively eliminate the milky surface. Wet sanding will do it, but that's a lot of scrubbing. Use oven cleaner. The lye kind of dissolves the anodizing. I'll reiterate though that the anodized surface is a part of aluminum. The oven cleaner is literally getting rid of the surface of the aluminum. If you leave it on after the anodizing is gone, it will keep eating your aluminum. Wash it off once your anodized surface is gone.

After this step, polish the grille and get 'er shiny. I always polish using Autosol and then Mothers. Think of it as sanding. Start with gritty paper and end in fine paper. Autosol is gritty. Use it until your surface is as mirrored as possible, wipe it all off, and then use Mothers until it's an even better mirror. I've never been disappointed with this two stage process. Polished aluminum does not stay shiny though. Clear coat it with paint, powdercoat, or anodizing and it will maintain its shine.

I work in a CNC machine shop and we do a lot of anodizing. If you have any questions, I can at least try to answer them.

 

Thank you sooo much, i will definently do this, its too nice to paint...

 

yellowing isnt that bad, i would try to re do it every so many years thanks, i wouldve never tried easy off, but it must work well

 

Easy Off oven cleaner is one of the stronger degreasers out there. It'll strip off any dirt, grease, paint, chrome, or anodizing.

 

take plenty of pics throughout so we can check it out

 

gangstakr (posts in the 1961/66 & 1967/72) forums, is the FTE guru when it comes to polishing aluminum.

He buys faded grilles and etc from junkyards, strips off the anodizing, then polishes the aluminum.

Most of these finished parts are then sold at local vehicle swap meets and on ebay.