Aluminium trims and weather seals??

Marc-M

Marc-M

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Dear All
I am just wondering what would be the best route for the refub of my all thin trim that wraps around the car.
The aluminium trims looks to be anodised and wonder if anyone has had them re anodised and how they came out?
Or is there any way of making them look better..

Or would it be best to have them polished and lacquered???
The other question is about the weather seals and rubber that are attached to the chrome trims for the front and rear… are they still made, or do I need to cobble up something – they look to be nonstandard ….

Thanks for looking

Marc
 
Waist trim

Marc, I did quite a bit of research into this at the time of restoring my car in 2012. I found a firm in Dudley, West Midlands, which did re-anodising of metals mainly in the aero industry. First off, I took with me the near-side door waist trim which they simply stripped of existing finish in a rotating bath. The trim came out "surgically clean" but every minor imperfection in the surface finish blared out. They said that the section would now require professionally polishing and then bringing back to them for re-anodising. I had this done. Still, imperfections showed in the form of small "stars" within the surface. They could not be detected by feel but just by angles of the light. I tried again, going through the whole routine again and using a different firm of polishers. Same result. I ended up by having the entire anodising stripped off all sections, polishing them (myself, painstakingly) and giving them a coat of Diamond lacquer which, so far, has stood up. The overall finish is distinct from anodising but is better than my attempts at re-anodising. I will be interested to learn of similar attempts by others. I suspect that it can be done successfully but the devil is in the preparation. Best wishes and good luck, John.
 
I tried the stripping, polishing and re anodising route and can also report it really can't be done successfully.
I ended up buying new.... But, if you end up doing this be warned the new trim will more than likely need some "tweaking" to get it to fit properly, it seems over the years the correct shapes for the new trims have be lost a bit.
The worst offenders are the front nose trim and the rear side trims where they have the curve to match the body shape.
You can tweak, bend and twist them around to fit, BUT, the nice new anodised finish will end up with tiny fine hair line cracks in it form doing this, having said this, they are pretty hard to notice unless you get really close to look.
As for refinishing the old... I just don't know?
Some guys strip, re polish and wax, leaving the trim as raw alloy, this requires constant maintenance.
Polish and clear coat, probably a good option, but I think long term the clear could get chiped and start to peel in places (especially the front where exposed to stones etc from other cars)
Or one of the fancy automotive ceramic type coating you can get done these days, I think this is possibly a pretty good solution.

Others will pipe up with these recommendations and experience hopefully.

Good luck
 
if it can be bought new, buy it.

If it's stainless, you should have no problem polishing the heck out of it.

If it's aluminum, and not anodized, you can polish it but you have to be careful not to overdo it.

True, anodizing won't hide any issues if the part is imperfect.
 
trim re-furb

I stripped the anodizing in a long cardboard box lined with thick Home Depot clear plastic sheeting, had a kid that does motorcycle parts polish the trim parts, and then waxed with carnuba wax (inside surfaces too)...that way I can always re-wax, (or use Mother's aluminum polish if necessary and mask off the paint.., and then re-wax)...Too many horror stories about dirty anodizing tanks, lacquer turning yellow or taking nicks and peeling, etc. I may experiment with some extra parts with some tung oil (worked well on the Great Wall of China...) but I decided to keep it simple. Still looks great after about six years, but it spends no time in wet weather, and is garaged...
 
finish

i took all my aluminum off the entire car
sent it all to johnson plating in oakland to
polish every pice including the bumpers
just need to keep polishing now and then
looks fantastic
also i sprayed clear coat on the pieces looks perfect
need to use automotive clear the really good stuff
 
Aluminum can be electroless nickel plated. I had the valve covers and the pots from the SU carburetors on an old XKE I had done and it had an appropriate shine. When I did this, it was done by a highly regarded chrome plating shop. There are also a bunch of people who advertise in Hemmings Motor News who do metal trim resytoration
 
teahead said:
if it can be bought new, buy it.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily agree with this advice. I have heard on more that one occasion that the belt line trim pieces being offered by BMW do not fit properly and in some cases are too long.

Many of us have had our belt line trim polished and clear coated. This seems to be the best solution to restoring the belt line trim. Just make sure you do your research on what will adhere best to aluminum and won't yellow with age.
 
See http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12452

Several members recommend
Speedway Metal Finishing
1979 S. Ritchey
Santa Ana, CA,
92705-4802
714-542-7778
 
time

speedway is but takes forever to get it done they are incredibility
slow took me 3 months for a plate frame
 
Speedway and clear ceramic coat is the way to go. I know several award winning coupe owners who have done that, the results are spectacular.

Speedway restored my dented nose trim and cannot tell where the damage was.
 

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Thanks to all – I think the way is to go the strip off the anodizing and get it polished – and apply a clear finish .

Most have use lacquers – has anyone tried clear gloss powder coating? – I’m just wondering if this would give a better fire and forget finish, all be it may be too thick..
 
i sent my belt trim to speedway a few weeks ago ... spoke to them the other day - i will get it back right after the new year. great guys + they quoted a very reasonable price ... a lot less than i could get it done in atlanta - even with 150 rt shipping.
 
Forget the powder coating, it's too thick and because its a cast part the gasses escape during the process and leaves little bubbles in the finish, I tried it and ended up having to sand it all off. I'm leaving mine raw and just polishing as needed.

John
 
I purchased all new trim, my old trim was not in a fit state to refurbish. However, one of the door trims is not been available for a few months.
 
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