Hazed chrome, what will fix it?

A

AnthB

New member
Hello, I finally got away from my apartment (evil places that make taking car of your vehicle impossible) and bought a place with a garage. So of course I went to the store and bought a bunch of washing and detailing products intent on making my truck look nice again. One of my purchases was a Mother's Powerball Mini. I hit all four wheels and both bumpers with the Powerball and some chrome polish. Well what I ended up with is a very clean surface that looks hazy. Close inspection reveals thousands of fine scratchs wich is creating the haze. I'm beginning to think that the chrome might be clear coated after doing some research on this site. Either way it makes me cringe everytime I look at it and I don't even want to drive my truck until it's fixed. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
I'll try to capture what I'm talking about in a picture but it may be tough. I'll definately give it a shot though.
 
What's the year, make and model of your truck, and what brand and model of wheels do you have?



Some pics may be helpful to at least identify the finish.
 
It's a 2004 F-150 with aftermarket MB Motoring Blitz wheels. The surfaces were clean and I used the slow speed on almost all of the pieces in question except for the front bumper where i think i cranked it up to high speed. Both bumpers look the same though. I'm going to try to get some pics up but I may have to wait until the weekend when i can take a pic in the sun.
 
Once chrome scratches, you can't really remove the scratches -- in other words, you can't polish it out like you can paint.



Chrome polish products are effectively a cleaner of stains, a brightener and a protector -- they are not a scratch removal product.



Unfortunately much of the modern chrome is fairly soft, and once it's scratched, it's scratched.



I can't speak for MB wheels, but there are many brands of wheels out there that have soft chrome. Soft chrome scratches easily, and if polished too aggressively, can even wear through to the nickel or copper.



As for the bumper, while they are chromed, there tends to be scratches in the base metal from the manufacturing process and the chrome is plated over them, so they can appear scratched when it's basically just the way they are.



It is possible to scratch chrome while polishing, but it's fairly rare, and it generally happens if you get debris in your polishing cloth or ball (microfiber is a debris magnet), or the chrome is dirty or dust blows up during the process.



It is also very possible to scratch chrome during the washing process.



Without good photos or more details, this is just speculation.
 
Well it took me a while but here's a pic of the bumper. The swirling in the pic looks blotchy like it's only happening in a few spots but this isn't actually the case. The whole bumper has that swirling if you're looking at it at the right angle.



hazychrome.jpg
 
If you used an aggressive polish or if soils (grit) were introduced, you will get areas that might look like that. How did it look before you polished the bumper?



My questioning is partly to help establish what created them, which can help a lot with how to get rid of them, if that's possible.



You mentioned above that you "cranked it up to high speed" on the bumpers, so there must have been a reason. The PowerBall doesn't need to go at high speed (whatever that is), and it's probably not that good for it anyway.





Again, what polish were you using -- and what happens if you apply it gently by hand and remove it by hand?
 
The best polish I have used for "cleaning" metal is Eagle One Nano polish. It is a blue gel sort of liquid with no real abrasives in it. It does clean though, and provides protection from corrosion.
 
Jim D. said:
If you used an aggressive polish or if soils (grit) were introduced, you will get areas that might look like that. How did it look before you polished the bumper?



My questioning is partly to help establish what created them, which can help a lot with how to get rid of them, if that's possible.



You mentioned above that you "cranked it up to high speed" on the bumpers, so there must have been a reason. The PowerBall doesn't need to go at high speed (whatever that is), and it's probably not that good for it anyway.





Again, what polish were you using -- and what happens if you apply it gently by hand and remove it by hand?
Click to expand...



This is the first time I did anything to the chrome on the truck besides wash it. The swirls could well have been there beforehand but I didn't notice them until after I polished everything. The slow speed polished chrome looks just like the high speed polished chrome (two speeds on my makita drill 1 and 2). Also the entire surface is uniformly swirled it's not just in some areas. Kind of looks like someone washed it with a scrubber pad or steel wool or something. I was using Mothers chrome polish and another one called Black Magic. All the chrome looks the same regardless which product I tried. I've tried altering my polishing technique and doing it by hand on the front bumper with nothing gained. FWIW it definately looks repairable to my novice eyes but something stronger than regular chrome polish and a powerball mini is going to be needed. I just don't know what. Thanks for your time.
 
I would use white diamond it will solve your problems' that is what i use an imo the best.anything that can clean by hand a aluminum rim that is raw an no clear to a shine is the one for me.
 
you can polish taht out i think...try some megs 83 and then 80, then a chrome metal polish. I have done it on bumpers before and it came out pretty well. I think other have used menzerna IP and FPII with sucess as well...
 
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