Chrome trim and aluminium roof rails......

[DALE_AVANT]

Hi all.

Has anyone found an effective way of restoring the chrome window/grille trim and the aluminium roof rails?

 

[yy54cnk]

Werstatt Prime, the acyrilic one sorts out the trim and roof rails:icon_thumright:

 

[DALE_AVANT]

Good stuff, thank you for the recommendation.

Does this remove the water stain marks (that's what it looks like?) from the plastic chrome and the alu roof rails?

I was tempted to give Autoglym Super Resin Polish a gentle go to see if this would do the trick.......

Any other tried and tested methods/products?

 

[DALE_AVANT]

Anyone have any thoughts on the Autoglym SRP?

 

[Wozski]

Bump...

 

[Juicy Jen]

Try a small area first but it should help and then get some sealant on to help protect

 

[DALE_AVANT]

Try a small area first but it should help and then get some sealant on to help protect

Do you mean the Autoglym SRP Jen? Suitable for both plastic chrome trim and alu roof rails?

 

[Juicy Jen]

Yes

 

[DALE_AVANT]

Good stuff, I'll give it a go and report back to all. If that doesn't work then Werkstat Prime Acrylic will be my next port of call. Cheers

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Any luck with this? My chrome trim around the windows is quite hazy and looks like its turning white.

 

[scotty76]

Any luck with this? My chrome trim around the windows is quite hazy and looks like its turning white.

This has happened to our VW Jetta and won't polish out so I assume something has got underneath the surface of it. Best suggestion is to try some polish and see it if helps. It won't make things worse.

 

[johnnythepie]

The milky appearance of a chrome trim is due to water ingress/ageing.No amount of polishing will sort it as it is underneath the clear plastic top layer.Only replacing will fix.I had two bits go on a 12 month old car that were done under warranty, but in your case itll be new ones.Soz.

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Anybody know what kind of difficulty I would be looking at in changing these? I've heard the ones around the small window of the rear require the glass coming out?

 

[DALE_AVANT]

Hi all, an update.

In the end I made gentle use of Autoglym Paint Restorer on the chrome trim and roof rails. Brought everything up a treat

 

[scotty76]

Ah, interesting. I'll give that a try.

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Thanks for that, will give it a go and maybe post results too if I remember.

 

[DALE_AVANT]

No problem.

If you use two ordinary polishing cloths, rub the polish gently onto the rails and trim until you see the water stains disappear. Let it haze then buff off with the second cloth. Should be nice and shiny after that.

Prob should use some sort of wax/sealant after but I'm no expert on that

 

[scotty76]

Prob should use some sort of wax/sealant after but I'm no expert on that

What do you have to hand? Nothing special needed, any kind of wax/sealant would offer some protection and will be better than nothing. Slap it on.

 

[DALE_AVANT]

I have nothing to hand haha, would need to buy something for the job

 

[JDM82]

I had this problem with my chrome window trim on my A4. I bought the replacment trim, which was very expensive and very very difficult to fit so instead I choose to sell the trim and go the vinyl wrapping route which was definately the way to go. I had all my trim wrapped in gloss black. Including my grill. I got a professional wrapper to do it and all in cost £100. That was a year ago and all's well.

 

[A4_MaJiK]

I had this problem with my chrome window trim on my A4. I bought the replacment trim, which was very expensive and very very difficult to fit so instead I choose to sell the trim and go the vinyl wrapping route which was definately the way to go. I had all my trim wrapped in gloss black. Including my grill. I got a professional wrapper to do it and all in cost £100. That was a year ago and all's well.

You got any pictures? I was thinking about this too but unsure on the final outcome and if it would look tacky around the edges where the wrap finishes.

 

[A4_MaJiK]

So had a spare 10-15mins yesterday and decided to give it a try. Here are the results after one hit of AG Paint Renovator:

BEFORE

AFTER

May give it another try when I get some time. Any other ideas anyone? How much do you think it would cost getting them replaced?