Chrome Polish Advise

[salvatori]

Hi,

The chrome on my W126 S Class has been stained from the salt on the roads and after washing the car thoroughly there are still some tiny specs on the chrome.

If I was to apply some chrome polish would this get rid of the dotted specs from the salt and grind from the roads, and restore the chrome back to its original state again?

If so, what chrome polish should I use?

Any advise would be much apperciated.

Sal

 

[Matt Crooke]

Autosol every time. Its quite expensive for a toothpaste tube sized pack, but it never fails to impress. If you are doing a large area it might be worth while popping to Halfords or similar and buying a buffing wheel that fits to the end of your drill.....mirror finish guaranteed!!

I do the complete exhaust system on my bike with is, and it removes minor blemishes, and the marks that road salt leaves very easily....

 

[Malcolm Brown]

I agree with Matt about Autosol. It is excellent for most metal polishing applications, especially chrome. However, if the problem is with the anodised trims round the windows, you might not get great results. I know I don't on mine, and I haven't yet found anything that will do the trick.

 

[salvatori]

Thank you for your replies.

The only areas affected are on the bumpers (especially the rear one and some tiny specs around the grill).

When applying turtlewax polish to the paintwork I had applied some onto the chrome on the bumpers which actualy helped to remove the stains.

Regards,

Sal

 

[Nik_Codling]

chrome polish

Hi guys,

I personally would never use Autosol on anything other than bare metal, if I was polishing aluminium or stainless steel. for example. I have found that on chrome it will lightly score the surface, and leave it prone to further attack of corrosion.

By far the best thing I have used on my car is Autoglym glass cleaner. It's not so abrasive, and won't leave tiny scratches. It's superb on the front grille (which is actually stainless steel) and works well on the bronze-coloured trim strips too (I have an '89 300CE in silver).

I used to have a motorbike with big chrome headlamps and I tried Autosol on those - it wrecked them! Left loads of little scratches in the surface, I was a bit miffed! The Autoglym glass cleaner was much better.

As with any Autoglym products, highly recommended.

Nik

 

[salvatori]

Thanks for the advise Nik.

Its just as well that I havent already applied autosol.

So basically, if I use some good quality glass cleaner that should help to remove the light stains from the chrome?

Sal

 

[Nik_Codling]

chrome polish

No probs Sal, happy to pass on my experiences.

I have certainly found that the Autoglym stuff is ideal for chrome. My girlfriend used it on her MGB, and it was ideal for chrome or stainless steel. Obviously if you have deep surface blemishes then something more aggressive is required, but for most applications I have found the Autoglym to be ideal.

Nik
Who needs to clean his Mercedes....

 

[Matt Crooke]

Im surprised to hear that about Autosol, ive used it many times, most of them on my bike exhausts and ive never noticed any abrasions....

Although as i say, i generally use a buffing wheell, which are always very very soft.