Trim Polishing
 

One of my winter projects is to polish the trim from my 67 GTO. I've done some trim polishing years ago using a small bench grinder. I am planning on buying a polishing motor with longer shafts than the small bench grinder. I'm undecided if I should get 8 inch or 6 inch. Is it easier to polish with a larger wheel? As most of us that have tried to polish trim, I have learned about the hazards of wheel grabbing part causing flying trim, bent parts, and sliced fingers. Is a larger wheel less hazardous? Any experience and advice appreciated.

Steve

How bad is it.....?

I did mine with 0000 steel wool, and then just Flitz Cream....

Depends on how strong the motor (amps) is, with the 8 inch wheel and a weaker motor it may slow the wheel down to much when you lean into it. You want to keep the speed on the polishing wheel up enough so you can actually polish. Also get an assortment of the polishing compound sticks.

Get the larger wheel, with the motor to go with it. http://www.tarheelparts.com/

If the wheel has a proper dressing and the right amount of polish, it shouldn't grab. It's somewhat of an art, and takes a certain touch, takes practice.

Depending on the part, wheel size makes a difference for getting into contours, etc, so it's not a matter of grabbing the part, it's getting into all the nooks and crannies. Proper amount of polish and pressure are the key to prevent grabbing.

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polishing parts
 

You will want to wear some gloves on both hands when you take your parts 'to the wheel' !

I dont know what kind of chrome your polishing but we get windshield chrome people polish that comes back really bowed and bent sometimes. I was at a polishing shop and this old guy had some oak strips he used to clamp a pieces of chrome to so it doesn't loose it shape and he could really lean into it.

Another tip: The guy who does my polishing is 86 years old and has polished literally 10's of thousands of pieces of trim. He tells me the 67 GTO rocker molding is one of the hardest pieces of moldings to do; especially get all of the stone chips out of and not bow it.

Yeah, I can imagine. I polished all of my '68 trim using a friend's equipment and the rocker trim is almost impossible to get really shiny. After all, it's been sandblasted for 45 years. At least on the '68, you just about have to have the car on a lift or be lying on your back before it's very visible. The '67 rocker trim is really in your face comparitively....
By the way, one more hazard you'll find out about with the larger motor....that stuff gets HOT!

i first sanded it with 1200 paper to remove scratches, you may have to remove dents, just turn it back side up, using a piece of 2x4 covered with a towel, tap the dent from back to front, and sand the bump, just like doing bodywork. I did mine with 6in wheels black and white polishing bar to (load) the wheels. when you like the finish, use Flitz or Blue Magic metal polish

what car and what trim, i have a lot already polished.

Ummm not to scare you or anything, but you want to be extremely careful. You might want to read this post before proceeding, check out what happened to the guy's hand:

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.ph...polishing+trim

Thats gonna be a big ugly scar. Should have had a plastic surgeon stitch that up. A good buddy had a cut like that, the Nurse Practitioner did the whole job, no Doctor. Now he looks like a real bad ass. Always wear a leather glove, leather on top and bottom.

Wow, that hurt!:(

It's like any one of the many hazardous tasks we perform every day in this hobby.....You have to be very, very, VERY aware of what you are doing for every second you are doing it. Pull the work AWAY from the direction of rotation...Never push the workpiece INTO the rotation, use safety glasses, heavy leather gloves and first and foremost....FOCUS on the task!

A few years back I bought a 1/2 horse set-up from Eastwood as a kit. Motor, wheels and compounds. Also came with a face shield and leather gloves. It's a BEAST!! Does an awesome job and yeah.... It takes practice. If not careful it will, at will, rip parts right out your hands. Basically what everyone said so far is true. As with any restoration application, it is an art and to be respectfully careful with. Once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun. Amazingly, you can take your car to the next level with stainless polished like chrome. All I can add here is: when your polishing, take your time, there is no short cuts and being in a hurry is either an accident waiting to happen or poor results. HTH, Mike

One of my spare bedrooms is dedicated to a refurbished parts area.

As part of my ground up resto, I have shined up 75% of the stainless trim, the other 25% I’ll have to buy new. I found that no machine could do as well as “by hand” because hand work seems to get the sanding media in all the small areas a machine can’t reach. This work takes “HOURS” for a small section but it’s good beer drinking work. For most of the trim I started with a 100 grit (depending how bad) and gradually worked my way up to a 2000 grit. Lastly I would work the piece with a 3M polishing compound.