Evening all, I have taken the grill pieces off the front of my 66 Fairlane wagon, and have started polishing them up. I have started using Autosol metal polish, which has been working pretty well, but I am on to the bigger parts, and that have more substantial oxidised deposits on it. What is the best (and least painful/labour intensive) way to get these off? Can you use a scourer pad (or steel wool) gently to get the worst of it off, and polish it out afterwards? Here are a couple of pics, you can see the bit that I have done (bottom left of the gril), and some of what I am up against. The dark patches you see are built up, not pock marked out. There are slightly blemishes, but not to bad for a 50yo. Any thoughts greatly appreciated. cheers
If the anodized aluminum has turned kind of a milky white at all, then the anodizing needs to be stripped from the metal to get a bright chrome like appearance. I used anodize remover by Blue Lightning and it worked pretty well. Previous attempts were very labor intensive with buffers steel wool etc. This actually worked pretty well. Once the anodizing is removed, the metal is unprotected so you either need to have it re-anodized, or just be prepared to buff it clean often if the car sits outside. I guess you could spray it with a clear coat but I didn't think that would look good. http://www.blulightning.com/product/ADGL/ANODIZE-REMOVER.html
Great thanks Jim Yep, it has started to go milky white, and a few of the smaller bits I have polished it off to a bright chrome, but for the bigger pieces, I'll track done some of the anodize remover. The next bit about the metal being unprotected was interesting. I was thinking it would have been best to remove all the 'anodising', including all the bits you can't really see, (its never going to be a concourse car, or anything similar, just old and original). In terms of preserving the metal long term, should I leave the anodized metal alone where the bright and shiny is not required?? The car does live outside, under a waterproof cover. cheers
I'm fixing up 66 Fairlane club coupe. I tried stripping the anodizing from the grill, but eventually gave up. I took the grill and headlight door to a powder coater. He did silver with a clear coat. The parts look great.
Yep, its a lot of work, thats for sure. I've done the horizontal 'vanes', now onto the grill proper, with all the fiddly little details. I'll see how long the patience (and beers) last today!! If not, off to the shop to get it done. cheers
I use SOS pads on my wheels and bumpers. Has anyone tried the coke and tin foil method? https://www.google.com/search?q=coke+and+tin+foil&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=coke+and+tin+foil&tbm=vid
