Re: Chrome polish

Posted by Ross On 2011/5/11 15:35:17

I agree with Al--nothing will bring up dirty chrome like some 000 steel wool. Works terrific on glass too, just make sure there's no grit present. Steel is softer than either chrome or glass.

But chrome is porous, so I like to seal its little pores with some carnauba wax after cleaning.

Further, much of the chrome from the Korean war period did not have any nickel plated under it. The nickel serves as a weather shield to the copper plating and base metal underneath that. To make up for the lack of nickel, the pieces were clearcoated. This worked very poorly. You should have heard my father go on about the 52 New Yorker wagon he bought new for my mom. It looked BAD after a year.
Once the clearcoat is gone you can't hardly keep that chrome nice no matter what you do--except get it plated.


You'll want to avoid regular use of pastes like simichrome as they are abrasive and will wear off the already thin top coat of chrome.