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I've been trying to clean and polish my 64's aluminum tail light bezels. These are quite oxidized. From what I've read these are stainless aluminum. I've read on line what some people have used but seems quite costly. Any suggestions from the forum would help, thanks, Larry.
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Have a few used sets here Larry . Can check the condition if you wish . -
"Stainless aluminium". No such animal. They are anodized aluminum. Manufacturers started substituting stainless steel (like all the window trim in our cars) to anodized aluminum some time in the early 60's. When new it looks like stainless, but it oxidizes after several years. Unlike stainless which can be aggressively machine polished to a mirror finish and last basically forever, anything more than a careful hand polish on aluminum will remove the anodized finish and you will be left with bare aluminum.
It's important to understand the difference because our cars have a mix of these materials. The outside trim is mostly stainless; the inside trim is mostly anodized.
Bare, polished aluminum can be as shiny as stainless. So some guys using caustic chemicals (oven cleaner) to remove the anodizing and then polish the bare aluminum. However this is a short-lived solution because bare aluminum will oxidize in weeks or months, so you will be polishing often.
Anodizing is an quick and cheap process but on small orders to "re-anodize" is very expensive. You have to completely strip the old finish and polish the part then anodize it immediately. I've looked into doing that at home but the electro-chemistry is beyond me.
Another option is to paint them with "chrome" paint, which is actually aluminum. It won't be as nice as a freshly anodized piece.
For me, I just user Never-dull. It has a cotton wadding that has a mild abrasive and leaves a waxy film that brightens the anodizing a bit and helps protect it.
You want to make an anodized piece shine for a car show? Wipe on some WD-40.
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Thanks, dark soul for the correction on " anodized " aluminum. Where did you get Never Dull so that I may buy it? Thanks, Larry. And OUR58TBIRD, Please let me know the condition of the bezels and what price, thanks, Larry.Comment
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Any of the medium box auto stores will have it. Or Walmart. Amazon has it too.
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I'ts the larger ones that go around the tial lights not the smaller ones that attach to the tail lights, thanks Larry.Comment
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