The Chrome trim around the Windshield and Windows on my car is all cloudy looking and non shiney. Ive tried Chrome polish on it and after a ton of scrubbing and it made nearly no difference. Curious if any of you have had success with some product.

 

My understanding is that it is some kind of plastic coat on aluminum. The cloudiness is probably soaked into the plastic, which is porous. There are other posts on this forum discussing possible solutions.

 

 

You are correct, these parts are clear coated over anodized aluminum. They are not chrome and they are not plastic, which is what I originally thought.

Forget wiping them with tranny fluid to clear them out, you won't. The clear coat has separated (lifted) from the aluminum.

You have few options.

Replace with new, or used from a salvage yard. Salvage yard parts will also do the same thing eventually or you may already be separating when you receive the part. So if you buy used, best to inspect personally.

Or do the following, professionally or yourself, depending on your skill set:

Remove the trim, sand off the clear coat (I used 2000 grit wet paper followed by 4000 grit paper if memory serves. It will take a few hours (per side) to get the clear coat off but you will see it coming off and know how far (long) you have to sand to get to metal.

Then you can polish with aluminum polish. You can reapply clear coat or just polish a couple times a year. Clear coat over anodized aluminum isn't the best use of clear coat and fails often. Not sure why Jaguar did this.

You can also have them nickel plated yourself if you like the chrome but the polished aluminum works for me.

You want to spare the clips when you are pulling the trim. They break pretty easy but can still be reused with automotive tape.

 

If all the separate pieces are removed, it might be better to try a strong paint stripper to get the plastic coating off, as it won't touch the metal underneath.

However, be aware that I have not tried this myself. I'm only posting because I'm working round all the doors in our house (all 9 of them!), to refurbish the polished brass door handles. These also are coated with some sort of varnish or clear layer, and are looking really doggy. I have so far been successful in removing this layer and polishing up the handles, However to avoid constant need to get out the "Brasso", I've recoated with auto clearcoat aerosol spray. This is used after a base coat is applied to give the shine. It seems to work wonderfully well on my polished door handles !!

 

Good point Fraser. In the for what it's worth category, I tried two different paint strippers and they didn't make a dent. Maybe get a recommendation for stripper from a body shop Catsgame.

I used a vibrating sander. Took too long. Boring time but effective.

 

Gone are the days of polished stainless trim on my XJ-40.

 

I used Mothers Mag wheel polish for aluminum wheels on an A8 and XJR. Takes a couple applications to get lasting results.
It removes a black material, aluminum oxide. Seems to be no clear coat remaining on either 10 year old vehicle.
The bare polished aluminum does not shine like chrome. But looks fine. It requires reapplication after a couple months.

 

I have to agree that paint stripper is not what it was !! Nitromors used to have a lot of methylene chloride in it and went for anything, but the stuff you buy now still says Nitromors on the tin, but seems to have lost the methylene chloride. It was this stuff that really took paint off pronto !

 

Yep. Gone are the days when we could freely and knowingly buy highly carcinogenic products off the shelf.

Now days you really have to hunt for the ole skull and crossbones on a label

 

Agreed Panel. If you're seeing black on the rag, the clear coat is gone.