Cleaning Aluminium Trim

[MichaelSB]

Can anyone recommend a method for cleaning the aluminium trim around the roof/doors that seems to be dull on my car?
Thanks
Michael

[BrianG]

Michael, it's not aluminium trim, it's chrome plated plastic. After a few years it goes all milky looking and dull. Don't try to clean it with metal polish or similar - that will just tend make it look worse. On my previous 350 with this bright trim I found that a gentle wipe over with a rag moistened with some light oil made it look a lot better (fortunately my current XJ sport has all-black trim so does not have this problem).

[MichaelSB]

Thanks Brian
I was sure it to be cheap aluminium, you learn something every day.
I will try your tip.
Michael

[ptjs1]

Michael,

I thought I had repled to this last night but it seems to have disappeared! Bizarre!

I wrote almost exactly the same as Brian. Mild abrasive polishes will make the milkiness worse. This might sound strange but I used to wipe mine with ATF and it definitely looked better! Yes, you have to redo it every time you wash the car but it does improve things.

The other alternative is that you can buy very good "chrome" adhesive tape. It's a bit fiddly to get it perfect but it stretches and you can get very good results. Worth a try if yours are bad.

Paul

[MichaelSB]

Thanks Paul
Interestingly I saw a guy who used brake fluid on his merc, I don't think I'm brace enought for that but his trim was aluminium.
I will try the ATF
Michael

[PaulGover]

Using brake fluid on trim sounds decidedly dangerous, given it's known effectiveness as paint stripper! I might try 3-in1 oil, as I have a very old tin of same.

[merlinengine633]

Hi The trim you refer to is Anodised Aluminium (sometimes spelt Anodized) whichever dictionary you refer to. It is the Anodised coating which goes milky with age.
I used to have an electro plating company and have re plated these parts off the car in the past.
Re plating is very difficult because the Aluminium is very thin metal and after chemically stripping the old Anodising off the bare metal is left
rough with an etched finish. The trim has then got to be polished on a machine to a mirror finish before new Anodising can be applied.
The trim gets very hot under the polishing friction and can buckle if not left to cool between operations of polishing, a very difficult job.

What I now do with my X350 is to use Mothers Aluminium polish with 0000 gauge wire wool 2" wide roll both from Ebay.
Mask off the surrounding areas either side of the trim, then cut 2" off the wire wool roll then dip it into the Mothers polish cream
and rub Two hundred times left and right rubs (I.E. 100 left 100 right to and fro at the same time with plenty of pressure) If the wire wool starts to dry up dip it into the Mothers cream again.
I do about an 8" section like that at a time then buff off with a microfibre cloth. Then do another 8" section the same way, and keep moving along the trim 8" at a time. It is very boring to do like this and can take several hours, but the results are excellent. When the whole trim is finished I then spray it with Meguiars quick detailer and buff up with a Microfibre cloth. Every time I wash the car I apply the Meguiars quick detailer again. I last did mine with the wire wool & Mothers 12 months ago and they are just starting to go a little cloudy now. I will give them the same treatment again this month.
I hope this helps