Scatches in Real Chrome

[Awesome_SS]

I have some chrome parts on my engine and engine components. Some have scratches that are not deep, but visible when looking up close, especially visible outside in the sunlight. I tried Adam's Metal Polish #1, but I think I need something a little more abrasive to remove them. I spent some time working the polish, but it is not making any improvement.

 

Any suggestions on type of polish and any procedures that have worked for you would be appreciated. Thanks.

[THE Mook]

So, if you were to do this again, would you use the less abrasive one first?

 

Sucks you ate some Chrome up.....looks nice though.

[arfnsx]

You got an engine under all that chrome?

 

Yes there is an engine under all of that.

 

Adam thank you for the offer. I didnt move forward with it because I thought it was intended for CheckmateSS and I didnt want to step on his toes but thank you for extending the offer to the both of us. I will order it today!

 

[arfnsx]

I just placed the order...

 

Either way I am sure it will be a great product to have to keep all of my chrome looking good!!!

[Awesome_SS]

How's this, I will make the offer valid to both of you, as long as you order, get, use, and post the before, during, and after photographs before January 31, 2011.

 

Since you are attacking different types of chrome pieces, both of your write-ups will be very interesting, and valuable.

 

Good plan?

 

Caswell is a USA made product supplier as well, and if I had some chrome with scratches, I'd do the write-up myself! Fortunately, or unfortunately, all of the chrome in my world has been re-plated recently, and the old chrome on my bicycles doesn't seem too scratched up.

 

Thanks for doing this, and it's a win-win from my perspective!

 

 

Okay, I purchased and received the Caswell polishing kit a few days ago. I was able to give it a try today and I have some results.

I have several pieces of chrome inside my engine compartment with scratches. The piece I posted (see picture at the beginning of the post) with the scratch is the worst one that I have. I did not demonstrate on this one due to the fact it cannot be removed without damaging it and besides that, it is a curvature piece. Since it is my first time doing anything like this, I decided to use something flat and straight forward. This scratch is almost as bad and is on a removable component. Plus, it would be easier to photograph and position while sitting at my work bench.

NOTE: This is my first time ever doing something like this on chrome, so the following steps and procedures should be taken as what I experienced. Use it as more as a reference.

 

 

Instructions that was sent with the kit. I was hoping for a little more explanation, but it seemed straight forward enough.

 

Accessories in the kit.

 

Blue and White polishing bars with liquid polish that came with the kit.

 

Tools used: Electric Drill and Dust Mask.

 

 

The scratches are near the inside corner of the chevy emblem. Right above the camera lens and slightly right of it. The scratch looks worse in person than in the photograph. I did try some Adam's polish and the liquid polish that came with the kit to work it by hand. The scratch is just too deep to work it like that. Unless you have years of time to kill and you want your fingers a few inches shorter.

 

Step 1. The white bar is the most abrasive, so I decided to try it first with some caution and light pressure. I chose this polishing wad, because it felt like it would do the best job at working the scratch out.

 

Result 1. I did not clamp this piece down while polishing. Just the weight of the polishing wad and maybe part of the drill weight was the only pressure. Applying too much pressure would have moved the piece around. This is the only way I can describe it as far as pressure. It appears that the scratch is gone and now I need to work out the polishing scratches. I spent less than 5 minutes with this step.

 

Step 2. I decided to move to a less abrasive bar and more of a softer polishing wad.

Result 2. Not much difference at all. About 10-15 minutes of work. I decided the wad needed to be a little tighter.

 

 

Step 3. So, I decided to use a tighter wound polishing wad and move to the finer liquid polish to be conservative.

 

Result 3. It appears I am getting somewhere. Maybe 10 minutes of time on this step. But, it looks as if my polishing scratches are moving outward and the center looks free from them. The center appears to be bronze and not chrome.

 

Step 4. I decided to continue on and try to blend in the remaining area using the same wad and polish in the previous step. About 15-20 minutes here.

 

 

Result 4. Looks like there is a slight discoloration where I polished and tried to blend it in. The black specs that can be seen is from the wheel getting clogged. It wipes off with a little rubbing.

 

Result 4a. Top view looks fine. Let me see if I can just buff it and bring the chrome back with a lighter polishing wad and using the same liquid polish.

 

Step 5. About 10 minutes of polishing. I added small amounts of polish when the product disappeared. Repeated process over. Discoloration not evident when looking from the top. Hmm...

 

Result 5. The discoloration is there when photographed or viewed at an angle.

 

I plan on calling the company Monday afternoon, so maybe they can tell me what is going on here. I could be doing something wrong or maybe I am starting to break down a layer of the chrome.

I'll post their comments as soon as I find out.

 

Hey, the scratch is gone!

[arfnsx]

Thanks for the follow up. I have not received my kit yet but before I do, I think I might call the company to get the proper directions.

 

Keep us posted.

[Awesome_SS]

Spoke with technical support at Caswell. He didn't act like he knew exactly what i was talking about, but he thinks that I may have burned through a layer of the chrome, but if that is so, then it must of been one thin layer. Besides, the majority of the time I spent polishing was using the Blue Begone and if you notice the pictures the discoloration was spreading using it. I could see that happening if I was using the white bar the entire time.

Anyway, I sent him some pictures and told him to ask around to give me a more accurate analysis. Hopefully, I will hear back by tomorrow.

[Awesome_SS]

I got a response from Caswell for a fix. But I just don't see how I took that much off. It must have been a real thin layer. In this case, I wouldn't recommend it unless you can try it in an unseen area first.

Here is Caswell's response and solution:

"It appears that you have buffed through to the copper. You can use a plug'n'plate kit to fill in the area."

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/plugnplate.htm

PNPCC28 Copy Chrome Plating Kit $34.99

[Superdutytd]

It appears that the first buffing application was pretty hardcore. It appears to have scratched the surface up quite a bit.

[Chewy]

Yeah, chrome is VERY thin... Especially on parts like that. If you had it custom chromed, it would have been MUCH thicker.

[GXPaycheck]

Not to hijack your thread but my chrome is doing the same thing. Do you think the SHR and the metal polish will work on this?

 

 

 

You got an engine under all that chrome?

[Awesome_SS]

The scratch was kind of deep, but I did not think it was deeper than the layer of chrome. The first step of the process removed the majority of the scratch and the second step removed the scratch entirely.The key here is to notice that I was using the finer polish with the less abrasive wheel to try to even out the discoloration over the entire area. So, I did not use the abrasive polish or wheel on the entire area. The layer had to have been really thin.

 

If I could have done it differently, then yes go with the less abrasive first and just leave the scratch there and hope the scratch is not as noticeable.

 

I haven't decided if I am going to buy the repair kit yet, but if I do I'll post my results.

[Adam]

Wow, that's some serious polishing! I would think that using this system on a piece of chrome would not have gone through so quick, but that depends on the depth of the scratch certainly.

 

Jeff, I just got your email, and indeed, email or by phone is the best way to get through to me.

 

I used to get PM's here, however, it seemed that I was getting confused with over a hundred PM's per day, and on top of the 2-300 emails that I read and reply to daily, my head was spinning!

 

Now, I email, and live with less insanity.....

 

We will get you that $50 gift cert, and I doubt that will cover the cost of re-chroming that piece unfortunately!

 

Let me know if my offer is still fair.

 

Thanks for your write-up, and I am sorry the results were not better!

 

[Awesome_SS]

Thanks Adam!

I understand about getting large amounts of pm's and e-mails. I don't have that much, but I can imagine what you go through. It is like that for me at work and home when I come back from a 2 week vacation. LOL

 

Still tying to decide what I am going to do with it. I may try the repair kit, but I am trying to take a breather from it and think it through before doing so. I'll post up results, if I decide to do the repair kit or some other means.

 

I can only hope that it will help or at least through caution when using the kit on possibly thin chrome or scratches too deep. This Forum and all the people that have contributed information has saved me money and time. So, I am not too upset about it. Hopefully some one will read this post and benefit by trying another approach or do it in a not so noticeable area first. My contribution?

[Team Adam's]

Definitely looks like you started to get thru to the copper plate.

 

The problem with polishing chrome is that it is a very thin coating somewhere in the range of 50 microns or less as I've been told. With an aggressive polishing approach like this it wouldn't take long at all to cut down into the the nickel or copper stages.

 

You have to think of it as a very similar thing to polishing clear coat paint... you only have so much to work with and in order to remove a deeper scratch a substantial amount of material will be removed.

 

The upside is chorme is hard making it more resistant to scratching in the firstplace. Interesting results Jeff... thanks for taking the time.

[Awesome_SS]

Well, the funny thing is that I was using the less abrasive wheel and polish for 3/4 of the area to try and blend in the area that had the scratch & blotchy area you see at the first set of pictures. So, it must have been very very thin. I think my approach was not aggressive at all, but not exactly conservative either because I would have been at it for several days. You guys definitely have your pad system and polishes set up right for us rookies to where we can't fail. I have come to an even better appreciation for what you guys have done on the R&D side of your products and for keeping the customer experience level in mind.

[arfnsx]

I also purchase the kit and I am scared to attempt this polishing.

 

Either way I might have to rechrome these pieces so I guess it wouldnt hurt to try....

 

what would you do?

[Team Adam's]

I have come to an even better appreciation for what you guys have done on the R&D side of your products and for keeping the customer experience level in mind.

 

LOL... yea the whole system and the ease of use part goes greatly overlooked until you come across something like this.

 

I also purchase the kit and I am scared to attempt this polishing.

 

Either way I might have to rechrome these pieces so I guess it wouldnt hurt to try....

 

what would you do?

 

If you're gonna rechrome anyways I say go for it... nothing to lose, but a lot of learning to gain.

 

The drivers side of my truck is going to be reshot by the bodyshop, until then I'm using that part of my truck for all manner of mad scientist experimenting.

[Awesome_SS]

I also purchase the kit and I am scared to attempt this polishing.

 

Either way I might have to rechrome these pieces so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try....

 

what would you do?

 

Hey, you might have better luck than I did. It would be interesting to see if it is operator error, thin chrome or the kit is just too aggresive. You also may just have a better touch than me. I swear, I could tear up an Anvil.

All kidding aside, I would probably reverse the approach(to be on the overly conservative side) or start with the fine polish and medium fine wheel to see where that gets you. Post up the results if you do.

[ArmyAcadia09]

**** I want to know if that works too. And Adam that is an awesome offer!!

[GTO Guy]

try SHR followed by revive followed by metal polish. should work out.

[Chris@Adams]

How deep are they Jeff? Any pics?

[Awesome_SS]

Not deep. Maybe slightly worse than a fingernail scratch, but not deep to hang your fingernail on. Tried taking pictures, but could not get a good shot, because of the reflections or the scratch was not noticeable in the photographs after taken. I do have one scratch that is deep and that one shows up in the photograph, but i know I will never get that one out. The others look doable and not as bad as the one in the photograph. I was just looking for some methods and products that you guys have had success with using.

 

Appreciate the help!

[w0lfy]

I would suggesting getting a set of the focus pads (& use only for metal) , you may have to do a lil bit of disassembling to get to all the areas, SHR, FMP, revive && metal polish....this has worked great for me thus far on all kinds of metal surfaces of cars....even tough truck bumpers.

[arfnsx]

Not to hijack your thread but my chrome is doing the same thing. Do you think the SHR and the metal polish will work on this?

 

 

[Awesome_SS]

:jawdrop:And I thought I had it bad with just a few scratches.