Does anyone have an idea on how I can clean up the trunk light and make it look new, but keep the matte finish? I don't want to polish it and have it look shiny. As you can see, the finish is blotchy and uneven.

 

Just a thought. Use a light wire wheel to clean up the surface. Mask off the bulb area and spray it with some matte clear finish. Would prolly do the trick.

 

can do what Allan said or you can try to wetsand it down with some 1500+ grit wetsandpaper then proceed with masking it off and clear matte coat

 

You may be able to sand it down and clear coat it but I doubt that you'll be able to achieve the original look since I believe it was zinc coated and sanding it down would remove that coating. If you're serious about it, you might look into getting one of the plating kits from eastwood or having someone re-plate it for you.

 

I took off the top and on the inside I tried both the wire wheel and the 1500 grit sand paper. In my opinion, it won't give the "new" look without damaging the finish. Has anyone tried the Eastwood Zinc Plating Kit?

 

Zinc plating will change the color of the metal. Is that what you want to do?

 

No, I don't want to change the color of the metal. I'm just trying to make it look the way it did on day one when it came off the showroom floor.

 

plate it. forget the eastwood kit. check out caswell plating

 

How about a light glass beading to clean then a matte clear to protect.

 

Would the glass bead damage the surface?

 

if you glass bead it, then spray it with a matte clear, it'll be gray.

 

A skilled stripper (not a pole dancer) can clean delicate surfaces without damage. My aluminum intake came out great. No loss of detail in the lettering or the snowflake. When I detailed my air cleaner (the vacuum actuator, which was rusty) I wire brushed it then scotchbrite . Then I used some form of acid that etched the surface and left a nice natural finish. Trying to remember what it was but that was as least 20 years ago.

 

So I combined a few of the tips from a couple of the posts on this thread, and added a few of my own ideas, and finished my trunk light. It may not be perfect, but it looks a lot better than it did before I started.

 

Looks good. What was the magic solution?

 

yeah it looks great man.. the picture makes it look perfect but in person i guess its not "perfect"

 

Thanks for the comments. There was no real magic solution, just some trial and error. I figured if worst came to worst and I screw everything up, I could just have it plated and be done with it, but I thought I would try a few things myself. First I used lacquer thinner and tried to thoroughly clean it. That only worked a small amount. Then I blasted it with baking soda, which cleaned up some of the grime, but didn't really leave a clean surface. Then I tried rubbing compound, and that cleaned it up quite a bit, but made it too shiny. So I thought I would put it in my vibratory tumbler with the green media and a little white vinegar. I left it in for about 3 hours and that totally cleaned everything up. Then I put it in the dry brown fine media, and that finished the cleaning. It left it too shiny, so I researched what frankr442 said about the etching with acid. The research said to use phosphoric acid. Since Naval Jelly says phosphoric acid on it, I brushed on an even light coat and let it stand for 15 minutes. Then I rinsed it off, dried it, and lightly rubbed it in a uniform direction with the Scotch-Brite Ultra Fine Scuff Pad 3M 37448. Then I sprayed it with two very light coats of Rust-Oleum’s Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover 2x Matte Clear. The only flaw is there is a very small indentation on the top which I repaired as good as I could, but didn't want to mess around with too much and end up making it worse. I am probably the only one who will know it is there. This might not be the best way to finish this light, but I am pleased with how it turned out.

 

awesome.. you went to town on that thing great results though!!