Chrome Polish?

[Mike_O]

So I wanna polish the chrome on my 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis LS.

Can anyone recommend a product for getting the job done?

Bear in mind I'm relatively new to car maintenance stuff.

[MattsLincoln]

turtle wax chrome polish works very good.

[gadget73]

I've had good luck with Brasso. Much of the trim on the car is actually aluminum though. The chalky look is the anodizing thats put on to protect the trim. Once that gets cloudy, it doesn't really shine up much.

[turbo2256b]

I use semichrome pollish works on all metals. Mostly use it on unpainted aluminum surfaces. California aluminum polish is another I use. California also offers a deoxidizer that removes the haze and most spotting on aluminum making it look more like chrome. The pollishs mentioned will work on many plastics to remove scratchs and pollish up clouded headlight covers.

[gadget73]

California also offers a deoxidizer that removes the haze and most spotting on aluminum making it look more like chrome.

Have you had good luck with that on the Panther trim? If so I might have to pick some up. Most of my trim is in pretty decent shape but its a little cloudier than I'd prefer in some places.

[Mike_O]

Well, considering I don't live anywhere near California, I guess I'm out of luck.

[turbo2256b]

Have you had good luck with that on the Panther trim? If so I might have to pick some up. Most of my trim is in pretty decent shape but its a little cloudier than I'd prefer in some places.

I have had some mixed results on some of the cromish trim on the sides of the car. Begining to wounder if its coated or how its chromed is an issue. It is worth a try some places it helped some it dint seem to do much. There are no miricals but it does its job better than anything else I ever used and the california stuff leaves the brightest and easyest to use.

http://www.californiacustom.com/purple_metal_polish.html

[gadget73]

its supposed to be anodized aluminum, may just be a clearcoat. I'm told that oven cleaner will take the coating off so you can polish it, but then its raw aluminum. You know how quickly that corrodes. I guess the only permanant fix would be to get the coating off, polish the aluminum up real good, then re-clearcoat it.

[turbo2256b]

Yes I have been polishing aluminum for some 40 years. Did a lot of wheels and intakes and such for show cars. The Cali stuff took spots I couldnt remove pollishing the crap out of it with the semi chrome. Some of the cali oxidation stuff and the pollish it was gone in a few rubs. Dont discount the semichrome though its sometimes needed in the polishing process when starting with a rough casting.

It was easy for friends to see the difference in my wheels on one side of the car done with semi chrome and the other with the cali.

Notice how shiny the panel in front of the rad looks. Took hours of hard rubbing withthe Semichrome. Second pic from a differt angle you can see the spotting that couldnt be rubbed out. The cali stuff tok the spots of using the oxidation stuff and there polish in 15 min or so. It also polished the spoting on other aluminum on the engine. Drove the thing last wither till just after Xmass. Used it on some of the chrome. It also claims to remove some rust from chrome.

[pantera77]

I've had good luck with Brasso. Much of the trim on the car is actually aluminum though. The chalky look is the anodizing thats put on to protect the trim. Once that gets cloudy, it doesn't really shine up much.

Bah, the trim on all 3 of my cars is terrible. The 87 and 89 are actually the worth. Especially the granny trim along the bottom of the 89, it drives me crazy And both the aluminum bumpers on the wagon's asses look terrible.

[turbo2256b]

Bah, the trim on all 3 of my cars is terrible. The 87 and 89 are actually the worth. Especially the granny trim along the bottom of the 89, it drives me crazy And both the aluminum bumpers on the wagon's asses look terrible.

The waggon bumpers have some kind of ferrous metal flashed onto them as the outside of them are slightly magnetic the inside isnt.

[Grand Marquis GT]

I saw someone use the oven cleaner trick on an F100 grille, and polished it with a machine afterwards. I am going to do this.

[79lincolnlover]

Especially the granny trim along the bottom of the 89, it drives me crazy

You should remove the granny trim.

[Mike_O]

I've had good luck with Brasso. Much of the trim on the car is actually aluminum though. The chalky look is the anodizing thats put on to protect the trim. Once that gets cloudy, it doesn't really shine up much.

I bought some Brasso. I was going to do the front and rear bumpers, the headlight frames and the hubcaps. Maybe the hood ornament, too.

Should I avoid anything in particular on my car?

[MrMarquis]

http://www.flitz.com/

I use Flitz on EVERYTHING. Non-abrasive, no acid, and works on almost any surface and goes a loooong way. Some amazing stuff. For best results you gotta use it like a wax. Use a paper towel to rub the surface with Flitz, then use a dry one to polish it up.

I think the only surface on the car I had a hard time removing it was on the rubber bump trim. But if you wanted to, you could clean the entire car with it.