Have any advice on polishing chrome?

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11Silverado

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I cannot find a solution to this. My truck has chrome bumpers, running boards, etc. like most of the new trucks these days do. They have swirls in them and for the life of me I cannot remove them. I have tried menzerna fg400 and sf4000 on cutting pads and finishing pads. The last thing I can think of to try is carpro essence (I have not purchased this yet) and hope the correcting and filling capabilities will work, but I am not too optimistic based on my results thus far. It is a bummer knowing I can correct the paint, but then I am left with swirled chrome. Any ideas? Or has anyone tried using carpro essence on chrome?
 
Once it is scratched you need to rechrome. You need to be very careful with chrome during the washing and drying stages. Maybe if you took the chrome parts off and took it to a buffer wheel with various stages of compounding and rouge you may have a chance but the layer is very thin to being with.

Give the Essence a shot.
 
If OCD gets to you (I can relate), how about vinyl wrap it. It's probably the next best thing to rechrome. Pricing depends on the place, but less downtime & hassle for sure.
 
It's a super hard surface to polish. I too have tried many products to polish my chrome wheels with no success. 0000 steel wool and Never Dull actually dulled the surface.
 
Chrome or any metal (not clear coated) doesn' t respond to paint correcting compounds.

You need buffing wheels and metal compounds and rouges.

You can get a starter kit for your drill that works surprisingly well from local auto supply.

Caswell has a good website for more info.

After you get the swirls out then AG has msny polishes to choose from to keep it looking good.
 
Try Flitz. Pretty amazing stuff and it. Contains no abrasives so you can't scratch the surface. Just make sure the surface is cl3an to work on. A drill with a powerball makes it go a lot faster.
 
rmagnus said:
Try Flitz. Pretty amazing stuff and it. Contains no abrasives so you can't scratch the surface. Just make sure the surface is cl3an to work on. A drill with a powerball makes it go a lot faster.
Click to expand...

If it has no abrasives, how will it remove scratches?
 
It won't remove any of the scratches/swirls. The chrome is a very hard material to begin with, and once you induce swirls the best way is usually to have it re-chromed.
 
Thanks for the responses. Not what I wanted to hear, but it is what I expected. I don't think I want to try and use a compound or polish anymore in fear of doing more damage. I think I'll try a glaze and see if that helps hide the swirls.
 
74 thing said:
Once it is scratched you need to rechrome. You need to be very careful with chrome during the washing and drying stages. Maybe if you took the chrome parts off and took it to a buffer wheel with various stages of compounding and rouge you may have a chance but the layer is very thin to being with.

Give the Essence a shot.
Click to expand...

Never use a buffing wheel on chrome parts, take it from someone who learned the hard way. All it does is put a haze or light scratching in your chrome and once chrome is scratched it needs to be re-chromed,you can't get scratches out of chrome. When I first started polishing I made the mistake of buffing one of my chrome door handles, it put micro scratches all over and left it cloudy looking,more or less ruined it.....
 
Rsurfer said:
0000 steel wool and Never Dull actually dulled the surface.
Click to expand...

That's because contrary to popular belief, you're supposed to use 00 not 0000 steel wool for chrome, or any other bright metal if you're looking to polish or restore it.
 
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