[bcuz1998]

Does anyone have any tip/tricks to clean and shine up the door sill plates?
Thanks

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

Depends on how bad they're scuffed, but Mothers aluminum rim cleaners and a buffing wheel or a hand full of towels will do the trick

 

[66 Fastback]

+1 on the Mothers...swear by the stuff. However, those scuff plates get torn up...hence the name. Give it a shot trying to clean them up, but you may not get the results you want due to the years of abuse they have suffered.

 

[arnoldtx]

If these are for a Mustang replacements are cheap.

 

[gurney7040]

I used Super Clean on my door sill scuff plates to clean them. Spent some time using a small hammer taking dents out. Then screwed them to my work bench edge and buffed them out with a buffing wheel attached to my drill. They still have scratches and some small dents, but look much better then they did. I used mothers on two of them and the foam ball that comes with the kit, They cleaned up okay, but the buffing wheel and compound worked much better.

 

[bcuz1998]

Ok, thanks. Unfortunatly, these are for Galaxie, and they don't repop them for my year

 

['66 LTD]

Just to be sure, this is a 1970, right?

 

[jerrym3]

I could swear I read a link once that recommended using hair and grease remover followed by Mothers Mag Wheel cleaner.

But, I haven't tried it yet on my Galaxie's grill.

 

[70XL]

Hair and grease remover???? LOL

Maybe you shouldn't have used that Rogaine on your car's grill?

 

[jerrym3]

Hair and grease remover???? LOL

Maybe you shouldn't have used that Rogaine on your car's grill?

For your viewing pleasure:

63 impala video 49? POLISHING TRIM SECRET - YouTube

 

[63glacierblue]

Jerrym3--thanks for posting that video. I saw it on here months ago and was just thinking about it the other day. I've been polishing my trim with unsatisfactory results, but I couldn't remember what the name of that product was.

By the way, I love the soundtrack to that video.

 

[redlehr]

I n the short time I've had my 64 Galaxie, I've polished the grille, all the bezels,and misc. trim, and I used the Hair and Grease method. I really think any paint stripper would work to get off the original coating on the aluminum. It's tough to get out the big rock dings in the grille ,but I worked my way up to 800 grit paper sanding out some scratches. I used some of the Eastwood compounds to smooth out the sanding with the buffing wheel on the drill.
If you do not have to sand anything, just use a nice soft buffing wheel and the Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish,that does a pretty good job. One thing to remember, work the Mag polish wet, don't let it get too dry as you are buffing it, stop when it starts looking dry, wipe it off and put more polish on and go at it again.

 

[jerrym3]

I n the short time I've had my 64 Galaxie, I've polished the grille, all the bezels,and misc. trim, and I used the Hair and Grease method. I really think any paint stripper would work to get off the original coating on the aluminum. It's tough to get out the big rock dings in the grille ,but I worked my way up to 800 grit paper sanding out some scratches. I used some of the Eastwood compounds to smooth out the sanding with the buffing wheel on the drill.
If you do not have to sand anything, just use a nice soft buffing wheel and the Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish,that does a pretty good job. One thing to remember, work the Mag polish wet, don't let it get too dry as you are buffing it, stop when it starts looking dry, wipe it off and put more polish on and go at it again.

Was that a thumb's up on the Hair/Degreaser method?

 

[kemp]

220, 400 and 600 sandpaper and then buff.

 

[randy chesnutt]

What you need to do is deanodize it first. Sok it it in Drain O. This will deanodize it. After this sand it down with 320 and work your way up to 2000. And get you a good s.s and chrome compund and polish it out. This is what i had to do to all my interior peace and the grill to get them shining better than new. I purchased a buffer motor from East wood.

 

[redlehr]

Was that a thumb's up on the Hair/Degreaser method?

Oh yes definitely, I have a gallon of in waiting ! You can't start to shine the aluminum until you get the anodizing and clear coating off of the aluminum. I thought I messed up the first bezel I did,not realizing there was a clear coating on the aluminum bezel.You can tell when the coating is off when the aluminum piece starts to shine.

 

[jerrym3]

Oh yes definitely, I have a gallon of in waiting ! You can't start to shine the aluminum until you get the anodizing and clear coating off of the aluminum. I thought I messed up the first bezel I did,not realizing there was a clear coating on the aluminum bezel.You can tell when the coating is off when the aluminum piece starts to shine.

I have an old, spare 64 grill in my garage.

Think I'll give it a try when fall breaks.

 

[redlehr]

I have an old, spare 64 grill in my garage.

Think I'll give it a try when fall breaks.

Make sure you do it outside or in a very well ventilated area ! the fumes are bad....I did my grille, and it takes a lot of time,but very well worth it. I polished it all by hand, a buffing wheel on a hand held apparatus would speed things up .

 

[randy chesnutt]

I got me the 1 hp, duel speed buffer from eastwood and that was well worth $375.00 i ever spent. I have done all my S>S trim and interior trim. It all shined up better than new. The 65 have about 40 peace. If you go to my web site rcchesnutt.smugmug.com and click on r galaxie you will see the buffer and my polished trim. I have been polishing my friends trim and made my investment back.

 

[jerrym3]

Make sure you do it outside or in a very well ventilated area ! the fumes are bad....I did my grille, and it takes a lot of time,but very well worth it. I polished it all by hand, a buffing wheel on a hand held apparatus would speed things up .

Thanks for the tip.

Since I plan to only do the grill, I'll probably go "manual" instead of buying a buffing machine.

(I'm retired; got plenty of spare time.)