Stainless grill bars - not chrome?

[stevenelle]

Saw on another thread that the 4 grill bars are stainless steel and not chrome plated. I was thinking about getting mine chromed but did not want to pay the price. Two of mine (the top two) still look good. Nice finish and even shiny on the back side. The other two longer ones had been painted black many years ago and the back side is rusty. If they are all stainless, why did two get rusty and two did not? How difficult is it for an average guy with a buffer wheel on the grinder to shine these babies up to where they look decent. Tony Urwin - do you have some pointers for trying this at home?

[Merle Coggins]

Some are stainless steel and some are painted sheet metal. It sounds like you have a mix.

Merle

[ggdad1951]

ALL metal corrodes, just some less than others. Stainless by definition is a low corrosion metal, but it CAN corrode. 316L is a great stainless metal that is used in applications such as the food industry for this reason, but over time with water, acids and salts, it can corrode.

Depending on the grade of stainless, you get more/less protection from corrosion. So you might either have a lower grade of stainless, or you have chromed carbon steel. I'm sure the guys here have a better idea of what stainless grade was used in these trucks.

[Tony_Urwin]

Restoring a stainless piece is a series of steps.

1. Hammer out the dents
   
2. use a file to bring the piece back to perfect shape
   
3. sand the piece with progressively finer paper
   
4. buff to the final shine with stainless compound and jewelers rouge
   

A grinder might work in a pinch, but a larger 1/3 to 1/2 hp motor makes for much better buffing. You need eye protection, usually a full face shield. You also need leather gloves because 1) the metal gets extremely hot, and 2) the pieces can get ripped out of your hands. If your attention slips, the wheel can grab the stainless and the trim becomes a sword or spear in a nanosecond.

Restoring stainless or aluminum trim is not rocket science, but it is dirty, time-consuming, and extremely hard on the back and neck. If you have some experience doing hammer & dolly bodywork, it is a lot the same, just on a smaller scale.

[JoelOkie]

I bought a 3/4 hp buffer, stand, buffs, and lots of compound from Eastwood's , and started doing my own stainless resoration/polishing several years back. As Tony said, there is a knack to it, like anything else, and it is hard work. If you decide to do your own, I would hunt up whatever odds and ends of bent, dented, or scratched pieces of trim you can find to practice on before trying to work on any important items. My experience with the Dodge truck grill bars is that there is a lot of meat there to work with, but you can go through it, or any trim, if not very careful. I also saw where Tony offered to do some grill work a day or two ago, and having personally endured the backache he mentioned, his price sounds very reasonable to me, for anyone looking to hire the work done.

These bars were all beat all to pieces. I ended with two the same size, so figured what the heck, and found one more, and did my own interpretation of the front view. Joel

[stevenelle]

More on stainless vs sheet metal - and trying to make them shine without cost of chrome. All of my four bars are magnetic, so I guess that means they are not stainless steel. Yet two are shiny and two are ugly. Were the bars on some models chrome plated from factory or is that after market?

Question: If I shine up the ugly ones with buffing and polishing, will a clear coat of some sort discourage the formation of rust.

[razerface]

All of my four bars are magnetic, so I guess that means they are not stainless steel.

do not rely on a magnet to determine stainless. 400 series stainless is magnetic and is probably used more then any other stainless for manufacturing. It can be heat treated.

300 series stainless is non magnetic. In the 300 series,, 304 is the most common in manufacturing unless it is the food industry, then 316 rules.

What this tells you,,is there is a certain amount of iron in 400 series, making it magnetic, and also it will rust. If you will notice, stainless guns rust,,,,

It is hard to say without touching them and eyeballing,,but if the rust is heavy and completely covers the metal,,chances are they are mild steel. Do you have any experienced machine shop buddies? A good toolmaker or sheetmetal man can tell you what they are. Chrome and stainless look different.

Edited August 24, 2010 by razerface

[ggdad1951]

do not rely on a magnet to determine stainless. 400 series stainless is magnetic and is probably used more then any other stainless for manufacturing. It can be heat treated.

300 series stainless is non magnetic. In the 300 series,, 304 is the most common in manufacturing unless it is the food industry, then 316 rules.

What this tells you,,is there is a certain amount of iron in 400 series, making it magnetic, and also it will rust. If you will notice, stainless guns rust,,,,

It is hard to say without touching them and eyeballing,,but if the rust is heavy and completely covers the metal,,chances are they are mild steel. Do you have any experienced machine shop buddies? A good toolmaker or sheetmetal man can tell you what they are. Chrome and stainless look different.

with a strong enough magnet and a "feel" you can tell the difference between 304 and 316 as well. My first job outa college we had a welder who taught me that trick.

[JoelOkie]

More on stainless vs sheet metal - and trying to make them shine without cost of chrome.

Question: If I shine up the ugly ones with buffing and polishing, will a clear coat of some sort discourage the formation of rust.

You can shine them and get them to look, (if not as shiny), very close to the others, and clear coat them. The thing is you may have to be willing to do it again when the clear coat gets polished, worn, or washed off, which is not a big deal, I don't suppose.

One of these bars is plain steel, (which I wasn't able to tell until after I got it through the mail ) that had originally been painted. Once I got it I figured what the hell, might as well try it, and it did buff up pretty nice. I put a light Eastwood's clear coat on it. I keep the truck out of the weather , for the most part, so can't tell you how long this will last without having to have more attention. I intend to keep looking for a stainless one in the meantime. Joel