Polishing Plastic "Chrome"

swanicyouth

swanicyouth

New member
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
9,388
Reaction score
0
I'm wondering if anyone has had success with this? My grill surrounding trim was pretty beat, so I figured I would try polishing it, the OCing it. I figured if it ruins it, I'll just replace it and coat the new one before I install it.

Well, it ruined it. It came about with tan dots all over and it lost some of its reflectiveness. I guess this material can't be polished? I used 3" HT pads on a GG6. First I tried Optimum Polish II. That wasn't working, so I went to Compound. That wrecked the finish.

Anyway, I ordered a new one. This one is matte black, so hopefully it will hold up better and is likely polishable.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows why it didn't work?
 
You polished the chrome trim?

Was it real chrome or painted plastic?

Subscribed btw
 
swanicyouth said:
I'm wondering if anyone has had success with this? My grill surrounding trim was pretty beat, so I figured I would try polishing it, the OCing it. I figured if it ruins it, I'll just replace it and coat the new one before I install it.

Well, it ruined it. It came about with tan dots all over and it lost some of its reflectiveness. I guess this material can't be polished? I used 3" HT pads on a GG6. First I tried Optimum Polish II. That wasn't working, so I went to Compound. That wrecked the finish.

Anyway, I ordered a new one. This one is matte black, so hopefully it will hold up better and is likely polishable.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows why it didn't work?
Click to expand...
The plating is just too thin.
 
I polished the chrome clad (Dodge's fancy term for faux chrome plated plastic) wheels, grill slats and large tailgate handle on my Truck with Meg's D300 on their MF cutting pad with my 3" griots and it got rid of all the water spots and the majority of the scratches with no problem and didn't harm it at all. Didn't even need to follow it with a finer polish.
 
APC on a MF towel has always restored my plastic chrome. The APC I use is acidic if that has anything to do with it removing the water spots.
 
I just did the chromed plastic grill and headlight souronds on my 87 S10 with 000 steel wool as suggested online since I couldn't get all the oxidation, water spots, rust stains, etc off with any compound or polish. Figuring it was an old truck I wouldn't mind if it was damaged.
Well it turned out AWESOME, if anyone is going to try it make sure to do a test spot first.
I wish I would have taken before pics because the difference was huge, it really looked like new.
I went on and did my metal chromed bumpers and it worked awesome, then did the chromed wheel well arches and it didn't help any- although it didn't damage anything either.
Btw, it works great to remove sticker residue off glass too.
Again, do a test spot before you do the whole thing.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
 
Edse30 said:
I just did the chromed plastic grill and headlight souronds on my 87 S10 with 000 steel wool as suggested online since I couldn't get all the oxidation, water spots, rust stains, etc off with any compound or polish. Figuring it was an old truck I wouldn't mind if it was damaged.
Well it turned out AWESOME, if anyone is going to try it make sure to do a test spot first.
I wish I would have taken before pics because the difference was huge, it really looked like new.
I went on and did my metal chromed bumpers and it worked awesome, then did the chromed wheel well arches and it didn't help any- although it didn't damage anything either.
Btw, it works great to remove sticker residue off glass too.
Again, do a test spot before you do the whole thing.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Have you looked at it under the sun or a good light source? All I can think is you scratched the crap out of it with that steel wool.
 
I have used P21s soap with great success.

Dave
 
SYMAWD said:
APC on a MF towel has always restored my plastic chrome. The APC I use is acidic if that has anything to do with it removing the water spots.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? All APCs tend to be alkaline.
 
I've wondered what would polish out water stains on my plastic chrome too. Except I wanted to avoid any white liquids that would work its way under the crevices and stain the black grille.
2011-chevrolet-cruze-LTZ-grille.jpg
 
hernandez.art13 said:
You polished the chrome trim?

Was it real chrome or painted plastic?

Subscribed btw
Click to expand...

Plastic as the tittle states. I don't think plastic "chrome" is painted, as it doesn't act like paint. It won't really chip from small rock impacts, even though its on the grille.

If love to know exactly what that plastic chrome is, since it doesn't seem like paint.
 
Chrome plastic is just chrome electro deposited on a plastic substate (usually something like ABS). The bond between the thin chrome and plastic is not as strong at say chrome on steel.
 
Try a gentle application with a cleaner/wax...been working for me a long time.

Bill
 
Edse30 said:
I just did the chromed plastic grill and headlight souronds on my 87 S10 with 000 steel wool as suggested online since I couldn't get all the oxidation, water spots, rust stains, etc off with any compound or polish. Figuring it was an old truck I wouldn't mind if it was damaged.
Well it turned out AWESOME, if anyone is going to try it make sure to do a test spot first.
I wish I would have taken before pics because the difference was huge, it really looked like new.
I went on and did my metal chromed bumpers and it worked awesome, then did the chromed wheel well arches and it didn't help any- although it didn't damage anything either.
Btw, it works great to remove sticker residue off glass too.
Again, do a test spot before you do the whole thing.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

I just did the same on my MIL's Ford Edge. The rims were horrible and nothing else would touch the build up, so I used steel wool with LOTS of soap and water to lubricate things. You can tell these are the 'plastic chrome' that is becoming so common and I did check under the sunlight and it did not scratch.
 
Bunky said:
Chrome plastic is just chrome electro deposited on a plastic substate (usually something like ABS). The bond between the thin chrome and plastic is not as strong at say chrome on steel.
Click to expand...

Forrest from Mother's talked about this in another thread...I think most of these trim pieces today aren't really chrome plated in the classic electroplating manner, but are vacuum metalized (PVD) or wrapped with a chrome-like film. Neither of them are going to like to be polished.
 
KillaCam said:
Have you looked at it under the sun or a good light source? All I can think is you scratched the crap out of it with that steel wool.
Click to expand...

Yep, zero scratches. Actually, I tried my hardest to scratch it in an area that would be covered anyways and I did get it to scratch. So I scaled back a little and continued onto the whole thing.
That's how I learned wo use a rotary. on an old fender, I kept it in one spot till it burned through, so I would have a reference point of when it would do damage, then scale back from there.


Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
 
Well first off there is no such thing as "plastic chrome"
It's chrome, period. What ever is under it has nothing to do with Chrome.
When you "Chrome" something, metal, plastic, wood, glass or anything, it still goes in a nickel bath. period.

Now the "amount" of chrome is the real concern here.
Chrome plated plastic has very little nickel content in it and is only one thin layer.
So that was your problem, you attacked the "fragile" thin layer and ruined it.
I will "polish" these with a cleaner wax and maybe a polish but that's it.
The Chrome Plated Plastic is like a Chrome Plated Bumper that has at least two layers of Chrome on it and a higher amout of nickel in it, therefore it can be polished with a dedicated metal polish.
 
Edse30 said:
Yep, zero scratches. Actually, I tried my hardest to scratch it in an area that would be covered anyways and I did get it to scratch. So I scaled back a little and continued onto the whole thing.
That's how I learned wo use a rotary. on an old fender, I kept it in one spot till it burned through, so I would have a reference point of when it would do damage, then scale back from there.


Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

lol, great idea! How long did it take to burn through with the rotary? I've never used one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top