Side molding restoration

[Maggro]

Has anyone had any luck restoring the original faded scratched or peeling trim or molding on your truck. I was hoping to keep the original molding and would like to find a way to polish and repaint it if possible.
Thanks
Posted via Mobile Device

[jocko]

I wasn't going for show, so I thoroughly cleaned my stainless, masked and painted (then used the quick rag on a block to remove the proper areas along the center splines. Then I moved and had it shipped. Not sure what happened, it had lasted fine for about a year, but when it showed up on the moving truck, it looked like he was doing about 200 mph and the paint had peeled away. So, maybe I didn't have it clean enough! Rat fart.

[jmking9]

I stripped and restored the trim that is on my truck. The set I bought was in decent shape, but I was going for show quality. I started by stripping the black paint off with regular aircraft stripper. Before you can start the process of fixing dents and sanding out scratches, you have to strip the anodizing off of the aluminum. To do this, I built a trough out of a long piece of 6" PVC with caps on each end. Then I cut an opening along the entire length of the PVC. I then filled the pipe with several bottles of hair and clog remover from Home Depot (or anywhere I think) I would put each piece in the trough individually making sure to completely submerge the entire piece. Once the anodizing is removed I rinsed the pieces off with water. Then, using a trim restoration kit I got from Eastwood, I worked out all of the dents. (there are several good videos on youtube that show how to do this) Once the dents were out, I sanded each piece starting at 600 or 800 grit (depending on the amount/depth of the scratches) working my way up to 2000 grit. Then a 3 stage polishing process to get that mirror finish. I don't remember the exact wheels and compounds I used for each step, but if you're interested, I may still have it wrote down somewhere. For painting the black I used SEM Trim Paint that several others had recommended. I taped off the trim and did each stripe individually. This whole process takes MANY hrs but was well worth the effort in my opinion. It just takes a lot of patience.

[Maggro]

Wow, thank you for the response and the detail on how to do this. I sincerely appreciate the time you took to explain this process and offer to find further information on this if I needed. I know this process will take time, but really do think it will be worth it. I do welcome any other information you can provide when you have the time.
Thanks again Sir, Mondo
Posted via Mobile Device