Hi everyone,
What is the process for reapiring stainless that has been heat damaged? I
have a 1951 Imperial convertible that has damage to the windshield trim.
Anyone know of a safe process or good shop to fix this problem? The rust
spots are coming out now and I can not find replacement trim for my car.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Cord Scott.
neezer78@xxxxxxxxxxx
>From: richard burgess <lecrown60@xxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: IML:Chrome Plated Stainless
>Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 18:44:24 -0800 (PST)
>
>Hi Randall and all,
>When you take the trim off your '60 you will find that the back does look
>like stainless which adds to the confusion. To get chrome to really
>"work" the sub surface must be highly polished and the back side of the
>trim would obviously not have been polished. Thus you get a "flat" look
>that again resembles stainless. Secondly this is not chrome plating in
>the common sense but flash-plating. A plating so thin you can take it off
>with a buffing wheel. Therefore it would not be subject to cracking as it
>has not cracked on bent pieces that I have. One thing I discovered when
>buffing and sanding is that the original chrome surface is harder and more
>resistant to scratching than the bare stainless. I think this may be the
>primary reason for doing it, that and weather resistance. Of course this
>would make even more sense if a part were subject to abrasion like a
>rocker, as you mentioned. My other cars' stainless dulled over the years
>but not the trim on my Imperial, the stuff
> looks like a mirror after 44 years. To add to the confusion you can't
>tell by just looking. You have to actually do some sanding or buffing on
>the piece to expose the stainless and even then you have to hold it in the
>sunlight to see the difference. I would tell you to not do anything more
>abrasive than a hand applied creme polish and some elbow grease to clean
>these parts. Just use caution unless the piece really needs repair work as
>some of my parts did. Once you have gone through this finish there is no
>going back. Thanks to everyone for the input.
>Richard Burgess
>1960 Imperial "LeCrown" Sedan
>lecrown60@xxxxxxxxx
>
>RandalPark@xxxxxxx wrote:
>Today I drove my '63 Imperial to my body man for an estimate on some work.
>I mentioned to him the ongoing discussion about Imperials having chrome
>plated stainless steel trim parts. He is familiar with polishing stainless,
>but his shop would normally send this type of work out to be done elsewhere
>since it is too time consuming. He said that he didn't remember this about
>Imperials, but he hadn't worked on very many Imperials other than mine.
>
>He inspected the chrome on the '63 and concluded that in his opinion, the
>stainless steel trim probably was not chrome plated. He gave three reasons
>why he believed this.
>
>They are:
>
>1) Highly polished stainless trim will exhibit a sheen when examined under
>certain lighting conditions and at certain angles. Chrome plated parts
>typically do not share this characteristic unless they have been rubbed
>(incorrectly)with a fine abrasive and, even then, the sheen is noticeably
>different. On chrome plated parts this would look like fine scratching
>rather than a sheen. He added that this sheen produces reflective qualities
>that contributes to the beauty of the trim pieces. This sheen will always
>be present in polished stainless.
>
>2) In areas where there is damage, a plated part would exhibit splitting or
>cracking of the plating depending on the type of damage, where as polished
>stainless would simply bend, and possibly become scratched. The difference
>between scratched stainless and split plating is obvious and easy to see.
>
>3) After years of weather, plated surfaces show evidence of spider webbing.
>The extent of this is dependent on the amount of exposure to the elements,
>but is almost always present in some degree in older chrome plated parts.
>Polished stainless does not age in this way.
>
>After inspecting various trim pieces on my '63 he determined that the
>stainless trim on my car was not chrome plated. He felt that he could be
>about 75% sure of this without taking the parts off the car and inspecting
>them closer. He also believed that chrome plating stainless would be
>unnecessary in most cases since it can be highly polished anyway, and
>actually the plating would be more susceptible to weathering.
>
>One area where he thought that there may be plated stainless on my car and
>he has seen it before on other makes, is on the rocker panel molding. This
>would help to provide extra resilience to damage that could result from
>small stones, although marks would still be produced, it would take longer
>to become dull looking. Polished stainless that has been pelted with stones
>a great deal will become very dull and look almost like tarnished aluminum.
>Chrome plating could delay and possibly prevent the part from becoming
>completely dull.
>
>He also said that if the parts are removed from the car, the back of the
>parts would usually look "plated" and this would be easy to see. This
>coming summer I plan to remove some of the trim from my '60 LeBaron. It
>will be interesting to see if this plated look will be visible.
>
>Paul
>
>
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