Restoring interior shiny parts (with pictures)

[Mister]

I'm looking from some advise on improving the look of the various silver trim pieces in the interior of my 41-year old Oldsmobile. Over the years, many different chrome-like surfaces, both metallic and plastic, have corroded, and lost their original gleam.

I would prefer "elbow grease" solutions over "replace" solutions or anything that requires partially disassembling the interior. Here are a few examples:










For more of the ugly details, you can see the original photos here: https://people.creighton.edu/~cjw84423/Car/

I know I'm not the only one here who doesn't think the "weathered look" is stately when it comes to automobiles. What have you all done to restore your car's interior luster?

Mister

[Mister]

One more picture, for good luck (ignore the streaks on the windows -- using a flash from the inside of the car when the windows are damp makes weird effects)



Mister

[scrappie]

Sorry to say there is no "do it yourself" remedy for the likes of chrome pitting and fading. You might get lucky and find a parts car with better pieces than yours or you can possibly find some new or repro stuff or spend a small fortune having the pieces professionally restored. Good Luck.

[Oldsfan]

Your first picture - they only way to take care of this is plastic re-chroming. There are places that do that. You could try to repaint them with that chrome paint that is available. I've never used it, so I don't know how it'll turn out or how it'll hold up.

Your next 3 pictures. Those items are pitted. The only thing to do with those is send them out to be rechromed, or replace them with parts that aren't pitted. Watch eBay. You could polish these items with a chrome polish and that will brighten them up, but it won't get rid of the pits. In fact, the polish will get in the pits and make them more noticable.

Your last picture - you might get that chrome piece with a replacement weatherstrip, but I doubt it. Again, you'll either have to have it re-chromed or watch for a better piece to become available.

Paul

[2blu442]

So what year/model of car are you working on? I agree with the other posts, repo parts for the plastic would be the easiest way to make them nice, used metal parts that aren't corroded to take care of them. I just got a catalog from Paddock, don't know the quality but chrome/plastic arm rest bases are $29.95 a pair for the 1964-67 Cutlass/442 front and $39.95 for the rear. If the quality is good, that would be a simple way to make that nice. My 2 cents. John

[Mister]

Hello again,

Thanks for the advice. It's odd how technical specs and all sorts of anecdotes about restoring engines and bodies on old cars are readily available on the Internet, but details on interior parts are much more rarified.

Right now I'm concentrating on fixing the car faster than it breaks, so non-breaking things like astrays will have to wait until I win the lottery. For what it's worth, the car is a 1966 Oldsmobile Starfire. I'm sure there are a lot of interior parts that are common to all the full-size Oldsmobiles of that era, but I would need a very detailed parts-interchange book before I take my chances on buying a part advertised as being for a Delta 88.

Anyway, thanks again

Mister

[keith6989]

you can almost get rid of rust and pits with never-dull, it is a maricle in a can in my opnion it is one of THE BEST products on the market, you simply rub it hard and then shine the surface with a cloth...Good luck

[keith6989]

Do you have any more pics of your car??? I would love to see them.

[frdmftr]

I agree with the previous comments too. I have a 67 Delta 88 convertible with lots of extra chrome, stainless, and aluminum in the interior, some with mild pitting or tarnish. I've been in aviation for over 28 years, playing/polishing with lots of different metals.

You got pits, you got permanent damage. NeverDull is good at nuetralizing the corrosive action and bringing back some of the shine. On aluminum, it works very well, as long as the scratches are very small. Large ones will be enhanced by the darkening of the polish. I opened up my wallet at a car show the other day and purchased a tube of 'Flitz' metal polish. I was not satisfied with the results of Mother's or NeverDull on my stainless. Flitz works on all metals (claimed) and the demo I did at the show had promise. In a side by side test of my aluminum door sill (very tarnished), the Flitz worked faster, with less effort than NeverDull AND produced a brighter shine. The NeverDull appeared 'darker' and showed the scratches I mentioned. The Flitz was far better. It also works well with the Mother's 'balls' for large areas (bumpers). I also like how it polished up the set of Toro window cranks I picked up off eBay. I just wear latex gloves and use my fingers to work the polish in, then buff with terry towel. Another part it works very well on is the plastic lenses (tail light, turns) I'll try to get images showing the results/comparisons.

Dave

[Mister]

Originally Posted by keith6989

Do you have any more pics of your car??? I would love to see them.

I haven't taken any external pictures since the car was repainted about a month ago. Once I give it its first wash, I'll be sure to take some glamour shots and post them here.

And thanks for the miracle-in-a-bottle recommendations. I will have to look into those.

Mister

[keith6989]

I will have to try some flitz if it works better than never-dull, I didn't think it worked as good as the advertisement showed. But I am eager to se what it will do to the stuff on my car. If it works better than never-dull, It must really be somthing.
Thanks

[frdmftr]

Their website is www.flitz.com

They have a small tube of polish (1.25 oz I think) that is very cheap. I bought the larger tube (20 oz I think) and it actually goes a long ways.

Dave

[ijasond]

It's not the best idea for maintaining shiny new chrome, but on old pitted, corroded, tarnished metal, rub on a bit of the polish & go to town with some steel wool. Your chrome is gone, so there's no hope for that, but the steel wool will remove an impressive amount of the rust & what-not. (don't use this on those plastic chrome armrests!! but try it on those ashtrays & window trim.

[olds307owner]

I dont know if this is what you want, but another option could maybe be sand the pieces until they are smooth and paint them the same color as the car. This will look okay but of course will not outdo chorome

[keith6989]

I was hearing about some type of foil you can apply and it will look respectable, but I have never tried it, there is a post somewhere here, if i find it i will let you know...

[olds307owner]

Now that you mention the foil I did use the kind of aluminum tape used for air conditioning ducts to cover some flaws in my car. I covered the front olds emblem on the grill which was all cracked. THat tape works pretty good because you can polish it with aluminum polish and it gets a good shine

[thunderdan]

check this site out. they may have aftemarket parts for your vehicle:

usaautoparts.com

The best to you.

[markowyo]

The plastic pieces were originally chromed (a thin layer of chrome electronically deposited). You can have them rechromed, or you can buy new. If you try to elbow grease them, you will only wear off more chrome. You could try a chrome paint (after cleaning well with a wax/oil remover and using Bulldog as a preparation layer), but it won't look as good as chrome. Sorry.

As for the metal, it too was chromed. Humidity has caused metal ions underneath the chrome to migrate toward the surface (the rusting process), and these are actually pushing up and through the chrome layer, and is called "pitting". Polishing (e.g. OOO steel wool) will only wear off the up-pushed chrome. You can try polishing carefully and get some shine, but be careful.

Cars in the drier climates (e.g AZ, CA, NM, CO, WY, MT, SD) don't have this pitting problem due to humidity. So junk yarding out here will yield you parts that shine like the day they were made.

Hope that helps.

[Oldsguy]

Mark, I have been reading your comments. Sounds to me like you are educated about some physics. Are you in the automotive paint business?

[markowyo]

not in automotive paint. But I am an engineer and scientist, so these processes and chemical materials make sense to me. I also have friends in the auto restoration business who are experts in paints and other.

Do you have a technical question(s) needing addressed?

[Oldsguy]

Oh ok then. I thought your responses reflected some knowledge in those areas. Cool.

(I could have looked at your public profile I guess)