Grill Turned Green

On my 52 Chevy the grille has a lot of rust on it but the center bar that the teeth are on is a dull green. is it possible to remove the green? I tried some polish real quick by hand but it didn't really do anything to it. I know it is probably going to have to be stripped and rechomed or something but was curious and the green.

Thanks,

 

The green is probably caused by the original chrome plating's layer of copper that is now oxidizing.

 

the green is the tarnished copper that is typically beneath the nickle and chrome plating.

you will need to have the chrome redone.

 

I know it may sound crazy but try some bar keepers friend. That stuff works miracles!

 

Thanks, I figured it would trashed but wanted to make sure. I did pick up a bar from a 56 Chevy I am thinking of using to maybe make some kind of custom grille later on.

 

Depending how much chrome is left, it might clean up decent, but its not likely at this point.

It is most certainly the copper oxidizing through the chrome. In many 52 and 53 model year american cars, the grill pieces did not get any nickel plating because of rationing. If they did get nickel plating, they didn't usually get copper unless they were diecast. So it most likely has no nickel and needs new plating to look decent again (unless it's been rechromed in the past, then there is any number of different layers of surprise.)

The funny thing about the nickel free plating on these parts, is that they typically look really bad aesthetically, but replate nicely because they were clearcoated front and back at the factory. Most likely this was to compensate for the lack of durabilty omitting nickel plating will do. The difference with the clearcoat is that it coats the backside of the parts much better than electroplating does, therefore they rarely rust out from the inside (very common issue with sheet steel grill parts.)

 

Wow, i've seen it a lot on stuff and figured it was old caked on crap, then i wondered why it was a bitch to get off!! I didnt realize the copper could do that!

 

Buff it good,see what it can look like,may need to take it apart to buff. Ya can't hart it by buffing to as good as ya can. wroth a try.

 

i use 000 steel wool or finer, works great..

 

Barkeepers Friend then a good coating of wax. You will have to keep up on it or it will just come right back.