what's a good way to remove scratches from trim

[p15estep]

what is the best way to remove light scratches from the outside trim pieces.

[greg g]

Stainless or chrome or chromed pot metal????

[p15estep]

the trim is off a 1947 Plymouth, guessing chrome

[BobT-47P15]

Should be stainless. An electric, bench mounted buffing wheel with jewelers rouge and patience. Also gloves to hang on when the buffer tries to whip the piece out of your hands.

I intend to practice on a box of old trim when I get a round tuit. A friend buffed a whole batch of trim for me a while back.....gave it a great shine.

[Frank Blackstone]

touch the rough litely to the turning buffing wheel. A little goes a long way and too much will load up the wheel. then touch the metal litely to the turning buffing wheel. then gently add pressure to the metal against the wheel. It will get hot to hold so I use heavy gloves.

[mackster]

Norm the other Norm where are you we were just talking about this, I will let Him ell ya, but if He don't show I will fill in later the info. Norm does it real simple and it works just fine....

MKSTR!

[Normspeed]

Mackster, I was just talking thru my hat but I do have a book called "How to Restore Auro metal Trim", it covers stainless repair pretty well. For anyone that would like to check it out, it's yours for the postage to you and return when you're done with it. It's 100 pages. If you don't return it you save on postage.

PS, definition of a buffing wheel is a tool that snatches your workpiece from your hands and hurls it, at the speed of light, into another dimension.

[Dennis Hemingway]

I did mine with a mini Dremal and green jewelers rouge while it was still on the car.

Dennis

[thedahmer]

when in doubt just buy NOS- sometimes it is cheaper than having it fixed-- superior in Nashville TN will repair it for $18 per INCH!!!

[Allan Faust]

$12.79 new at Amazon.com..... for the auto trim book... want to buy that one myself....

Allan

[Guest india76pd]

Years ago I ordered a book and video from Bright Works, (I think you can find them on the net). I learned alot and still order from them from time to time. There are special compounds for stainless and color buffing. (Color is the final step). If the scratches are deep, you can hand sand with #400, #600 then #800 wet, (pain in the butt). Or you an order buffs and different greeseless compounds, #80, #120 and #300 will bring SS to a soft sheen. Then buff with the SS compound and color buff.

One thing to keep in mind...Standard grinder/buffers are about 3000 rpm. This is too fast, especially for aluminum or other soft metals. About 1850 rpm is optimum and won't mar the metal with medium pressure. Buy a 1/3 hp or greater motor and 8" buffs work great. Wear cotton gloves or you'll get burned.

My D-24 SS trim looks like chrome!