Richard,
The stainless trim on your Imperial is not chrome plated. I suspect what may
have happened is that the polishing was too intense and overheated the metal. I
don't know what you can do to correct this after it has happened, but I have
been cautioned about how over aggressive polishing can over heat and discolor
the trim.
Paul
In a message dated 12/31/2003 5:58:52 PM Eastern Standard Time,
lecrown60@xxxxxxxxx writes:
> Hi everyone.
>
> I have started the restoration of some stainless on my 1960 Crown. I have
>been sanding and buffing and the metal has changed color. I swear I have
>taken off a thin layer of chrome plating! Has anyone else experienced this?
>I have restored a '52 Pontiac which was covered in stainless and that
>stainless looked nowhere near as bright after 40 years. My Imperials' side
>trim especially looks more like chrome than stainless, the reflections just
>look more clear than what I would expect to see in stainless.
>
> When I have sanded or buffed out damage I swear the metal has gone from a
>blue cast to a yellow cast. I thought it was just that I had not buffed with
>the final rouge and that the color would match the original once that had been
>done. It didn't. Specifically, my car had some body damage between the
>bumper and trunk lid and at some point this was repaired. Whoever did it hit
>the stainless over the bumper with their sandpaper. I hit this with the
>buffing wheel and swear I have gone through chrome and now I have a yellow
>spot. Now I have to rechrome pot metal and stainless too?????? The small
>piece of trim on the gas door is chrome plated pot metal and I am thinking
>they plated the stainless to match it in color? I have witnessed this
>phenomenon on each piece I have done. I sanded the rear fender-well shield to
>remove rock damage and the color changed there too. It looks very nice
>finished, like newly polished stainless should, but I swear I can see a
>difference between the sanded and unsanded areas. Am I insane or did Imperial
>really chrome the cars' stainless? I had to spend over three hours on the
>fender shield before I was happy with it. Should I keep on polishing or do
>these pieces need to be rechromed? There is a very good chance this could all
>be in my imagination. Say it ain't so Ethel!
>
> Richard Burgess
>
> '60 "LeCrown"
>
>
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