Best way to clean up old chrome (dull and rust)

I bought some old chrome pieces for my '55 chevy pickup. A grill, some headlight bezels, and a rear bumper. each piece has a different set of cleaning needs.

1. The grill- It's just dirty but has some rust in places.
2. The bezels- Mostly dirty, no rust but slight pitting in places.
3. The bumper- Nice old factory chrome with lots of typical scratches on a 55 year old piece.

So what's the best way to make each of these pieces look as best as they possibly can? I don't have a buffer wheel. Assume normal items like steel wool and nevrdull and the like are readily available to me. I've heard WD40 can help rust in conjnction with steel wool but have no idea how to proceed. So tell me how to get some shine.


As always, thanks in advance for the help and thanks for this great forum.

 

steel wool and a big quantity of elbow grease. Apply elbow grease liberally

 

I have used fine steel wool and metal polish,Lots of elbow grease.

 

yep steel whool and some chrome polish you'd be suprised how some stuff will shine up...jones

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I have a question though. I've done the steel wool thing before trying to remove some thin paint off chrome and went through the chrome. What grade steel wool is best for this? 000, 00? And in regards to the polish, do you put the polish on and then use steel wool on the haze, or use steel wool to get off everything you can and then polish like normal? And what about the rust on the grill specifically?


Basically, be very specific and pretend I've gone full retard.

 

Steel wool will scratch the chrome that is there, bronze wool won't, get some at the marine supply store... if it's pitted, and you want to sell it or make it look decent at a car show, rub the area with crumpled up aluminum foil and wax over it.

 

yup, or a bronze wire brush just like new.

 

Apply a nice coat of chrome polish. let it dry to a haze. 0000 steel wool. repeat.

 

Nuff said

 

agreed.It works for sure.Lowes and Home Depot has it.ask for quadruple zero stainless steel scrubbers.good luck

 

I got an awesome deal on the pieces, $40 for all. Couldn't pass it up. At least I can be a little shiny for now, lol. This truck is gonna be a full on kick ass truck. Eventually. Until then, I like to look as good as I can.



Thanks again guys for the help. I appreciate it.

 

Steel wool will ruin the chrome. Period. I'm ashamed that so many of you have already suggested it, I don't give a flying fuck how many "ought" it is, you're rubbing steel against chrome plating.

Go buy yourself some cheap buffing compound, I like Wizards Turbo Cut because it's not real abrasive and it smells good. It takes a lot of polishing, but you'll be shocked at the quality you can get. I did half of this tail light as an example for someone a while back, I maybe spent 2 minutes on it. Steel wool would have destroyed the finish on it. Sure it'll get shiny, but it will not last since you've scratched the surface of the plating off.

NO STEEL WOOL! What the hell is wrong with you people?

 

SOS soap pads work well. 4x steel wool and polish as stated above. The FOGGER

 

I was thinking the same thing but I didnt want to sound like a dick, not saying you are.

 

i use 0000 steel wool never had a problem with it scratching chrome. stainless on the other hand...

 

I probably was being a dick with that last comment, but it's worth being a dick to save someone's chrome.

I rarely can afford new chrome for any of my projects, so I usually have to work with what I can find, and stuff that's been scrubbed with steel wool, even once, is ruined. I've saved some really horrible looking bumpers and trim using the buffing compound, learned that trick from my old boss at a body shop.

Just look at the picture and see what I mean. It works. I'd like to take a picture of something cleaned with steel wool as an example, but I don't have anything chrome laying around that I'm willing to ruin to make a point.

 

Been using steel wool on my chrome and stainless for over forty years. If it's good chrome, it will work just fine.

 

Rust Eze medicated bumper ointment for rusty cars................

 

0000 steel wool has never caused any problems for me, especially on older chrome pieces. I use the stuff like crazy for tons of projects. Heck, I've even used it to remove bugs and tree sap from windshields and headlights (real glass ones), and use it with Mothers Mag Polish on the rims of some vintage Torque Thrust wheels. 0000 stainless is more harsh but the mild steel version is OK.
Chrome and glass, OK ..... painted surfaces, NO.

 

I'd never use steel wool either. Clean them first with soap and water to get the dirt off, then use a metal polish like Simichrome or Flitz with a cotton rag.

 

Nevr-Dull,,,is the product that won't scratch the surface.

We use it to polish brass,,it's a cotton wading that contains some sort of chemical and does a great job on chrome also. HRP



And it's traditional too!

 

Two questions, where do you get Wizards Turbo Cut and how do you polish it? Buffer wheel (I don't have) or a nice clean cloth or something else?

And thanks for the advice.

 

I got it at our local automotive store, we have Automotive Supply but it's just like a Napa or an Autozone without the electric scooters and light up plastic scull hubcaps.

You could use a different brand of buffing compound, the 3M stuff is kinda pricey though, Wizards is only like $16 for the bottle and it lasts a long time. I'm not real fond of it to buff paint which it's intended for, but it makes great chrome polish.

I've used Simichrome and it is also an excellent product, but it's really expensive, a little tube the size of a travel toothpaste is like 8 bucks. Worth it if you can afford it, I've never used Flitz but I assume it's similar. And that NeverDull wadding works nice on stainless but I've never tried it on chrome, might work great, I don't know.

I just used a terrycloth rag to do the polishing, like a cut-up old bath towel or something. No buffer necessary. Doesn't hurt to put some wax on it when you're all done, like Rain Dance or something.

I promise you, promise, that you'll get way better results with the compound or a similar chrome polish than you'll get with any kind of steel wool. And a bottle will do 10 trucks worth of chrome at least, well worth the $16 or whatever it costs.

 

wish i could remember the name of it, but some vendor at a show was doing a demo on some old chrome....stuff worked well....at the show. bought some of that bull**!! for a hefty price and took it home, didnt work for sh!!. lesson learned.

that said, i second the never dull stuff. it works like a champ!

 

Try a little spit and aluminum foil. An old farmer showed me this trick and I have to say it works well..........lol.............no.......... BS

 

I like it wet. so SOS or brillo whatever I see on the shelf first.

they may not fix everything but they are perfect for that Schwinn Bike chrome. that's heavy duty chrome and many times liooks real good under the rust.

 

Thats pretty good but I've got one you wouldn't believe. Take a rusty piece of chrome out back. Grab an old bowl, a handful of fine dirt and add a little water. Yes we're making mud here. Grab a soft terry cloth and rub the mud in a continus up-down pattern. Don't talk shit until you try it!

 

Ketchup and aluminum foil

 

Try "Navel Jel" its design to remove rust, brush it on leave it on for a minute then hose it off, any hardweare store has it, this shit works.