Hello,

I posted on how I restore chrome in another thread and Frank asked if I would include it here. We were discussing 240z bumpers in that thread, but it will work for pretty much any chrome on steel. (Don't use on aluminum)

What I do to restore old chrome:
1) Scrub or soak with oxalic acid and water. I usually make a paste with the powder and scrub it with a green scrub pad (not steel wool) on big parts. On areas that have a decent amount of rust you need to scrub and then let sit for a while and then scrub again. Going back and forth on the part as you scrub the whole piece. The oxalic acid will completely remove the rust. When I feel the hole piece is done I leave it to sit overnight.
2) The next day the piece will have a greenish slimy residue all over it. Completely scrub all the residue off the whole bumper using lots of fresh water. The last time I did this I did it in my bathtub with the shower running. Oxalic acid is not a very bad acid, but using gloves is important as well as doing it in a well ventilated area.
3) Wash the whole piece with soap and water to neutralize the acid.
4) Throughly dry the piece. I usually use a heat gun to do this quickly. A hair dryer would work too.
5) Use aluminum foil to rub in Mothers mag and wheel polish. I think it says it's for aluminum, but it works awesome on chromed steel too. You really want to rub this stuff in until it is turning black (it starts out white). You are essentially compounding/polishing the surface when doing this.
6) Wipe off all the polish. I use paper towels for this step. First I'm trying to rub most of it off, then with a clean paper towel you lightly polish it to a shine. It should look great at this point, but isn't protected yet.
7) Apply your favorite wax to protect the finish and prevent the rust from coming back.

Oxalic acid is sold as wood bleach at Ace or True Value. It's usually in the paint section. Comes in a small plastic container, maybe a pint. Attached is a picture of oxalic acid because a lot of people have a hard time finding it most of the people at hardware stores will have no idea what your talking about.

I don't have many before and after pictures of the process or any during. Below is a picture of a header I recently purchased that I did this exact process on. If you look closely at the pictures you will see some areas that the chrome is completely gone and it's bare metal underneath. The process will remove all the rust, but it can't put chrome back that is already gone. I did this to temporarily protect the header from continuing to corrode until I could get it powder coated.

If you are doing small parts you can dilute the acid in water and soak the parts. It works just as good, and a lot less elbow grease, but for large parts you would need a big container and a lot of acid. It might be worth it if you are doing a lot of parts though.

This is very similar to using Coke like Frank mentioned, but you can control how concentrated to make the solution. For me, coke just wasn't as strong and fast enough.

Hopefully this can help someone here.

Rob

_________________
Rob
1971 240z

Ohh Mannnnn, you are SO hired.

Can we just start sending our stuff to you?

Frank T

_________________
1970 240Z

Frank you're funny!

I wouldn't mind helping someone out if they really didn't want to do it, but it isn't that hard at all. I think virtually anyone can do it and it will come out really nice.

Rob

_________________
Rob
1971 240z

I must be a cave man-- even I could do that!! (As long as I had nice
detailed, step-by-step instructions like Rob provided.)
~Rick~

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)