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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Polishing Stainless Steel Trim?

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Polishing Stainless Steel Trim?     RAK402 05-23-2022 @ 1:39 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 456 Joined: Jul 2015 How difficult is it to properly polish stainless steel trim? I have a 1940 Ford Sedan, which has many pieces of stainless trim on the body, doors and hood? Is this something I could do myself with a bench mounted buffer/polisher (like Harbor Freight sells)? What type of compound would I use to do this? Thank you all in advance Jacques1960 05-23-2022 @ 2:30 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 201 Joined: Aug 2020 Flitz, Wenol, Nevr Dull all work well Peter in NH 05-23-2022 @ 2:32 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 45 Joined: Oct 2009 Restoring and polishing stainless is an art that you'll have to acquire. It takes patience and perseverance. I would suggest you experiment on some small pieces to begin with. In this day and age, if you go to You Tube and type in restoring stainless steel you'll find an array of info but, like everything else, you'll have to slowly teach yourself the ins and outs of this endeavor. Also try going to a web site like Eastwood. There you should be able to get needed info concerning the different types of necessary polishing sticks and buffing pads. Good luck. 1940 Tom 05-23-2022 @ 4:18 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 267 Joined: Oct 2009 I've used Simichrome Metal Polish in the past. Works well on stainless steel and other metals too. What's the judging standard for body side moldings? I was always under the impression that the 40's stainless steel body side moldings did not need to have a blinding shine put on them for correctness. As long as there are no dings or dents on them, and no dirt trapped between the ribs, I always considered that to be an acceptable standard. I agree with Peter. Be very careful when you're cleaning/polishing the moldings. Tom 51woodie 05-24-2022 @ 7:00 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 561 Joined: Jan 2017 Peter NH has good advise. I did a lot of the trim on my '46 Coupe by myself with guidance from You Tube. Trim for the lights came off, got polished and put back on. With the side trim, I masked off both sides of the trim to protect the paint, then used a 4" buffing wheel with polishing compound to polish the trim. Removed the tape and it looked real good. Simichrome (sp?) works well on a rag, to get into places where you can't get at with the buffing wheel. As Peter posted, be patient, and it take time to get good results. TomO 05-24-2022 @ 8:30 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7385 Joined: Oct 2009 The 1940 Ford trim has grooves in it that make it difficult to polish. Polishing stainless requires using multiple buffing wheels and changing the direction of the buffing to remove the scratches made by polishing. You would start out using a sisal pad and emery compound to remove the deep scratches. Just like sanding, you would go across the scratches to make them less noticeable. When you think that you have the scratches removed, you would use a sewed buff and the emery compound to remove the scratches from the sisal buff. Next you would use a sewed buff and stainless compound to remove the scratches from the emery compound. When going across the grooves the trim piece can catch on the wheel and twist it or throw it across the room. If you do not hold the piece in the correct position on the wheel, it can catch and bend the piece. The pieces get very hot when buffing, so you should use leather gloves for protection. Due to the difficulty of polishing the ribbed stainless, I would just use a hand polish and brushes to polish it. If the trim is on the car, mask off the painted surfaces with a double or triple layer of 4" wide tape. Start with a stiff brush, like a parts cleaning brush with a handle like a tooth brush. Use a terry cloth towel to remove the excess polish. When you have reached the point where you like the look, spray a liquid detail spray on the trim, wipe it with the terry cloth towel and then use a soft toothbrush and the detail spray to remove the excess material left. Remove the masking tape and using a clean soft toothbrush and detail spray, clean the edges of the paint and trim. Finish off with the detail spray and a microfiber towel. Tom RAK402 06-08-2022 @ 10:33 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 456 Joined: Jul 2015 Thank you all for the great replies. The trim is all off the car, so I will be purchasing a buffing wheel. Looks like I will have quite a bit of hand polishing to do as well! Thank you all again!

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