Trim piece materials?

[Rosco]

So I need to have some small repairs done on the headlight retaining rings. Should be a pretty easy job - have to have the ring re welded where the factory spot weld is, and was wondering what the metal actually is? stainless, aluminium?
Also wondering what all the other different pieces of trim are made from? Like the grill trim, window surround trim, etc? Stainless, tin/aluminium, chrome plated something?

[bill440rt]

The headlight trim rings are stainless, and can be re-welded.
Most of the exterior trim is stainless: windshield, back window, door/belt moldings, vinyl roof along the quarter, etc.
Pot metal: vent window frames, vinyl top trim "spears".
Anodized aluminum: grille trim.
Depending on the year, the tail panel trim can be a combination of stainless and chrome plated pot metal.

[Dino]

Bill, is all the trim for the grille the same?  Somehow I thought the C corners were different than the straight trim pieces.

[bill440rt]

All the trim for the grille ('68-'69) is anodized aluminum. Emblems are pot metal.
In '70, there is no grille trim other than the emblems (also pot metal).

[Dino]

Good to know!

I was looking at my grille the other day and although I am not willing to remove it until it's resto time, it would be easy enough to soda blast the whole thing while it's in the car and repaint it.  Seeing all the trim is anodized I likely won't have a good shot at making it look like new without removing it.  Easy off cleaner may take the anodizing off so I can polish the trim and clear coat it but I think I'm opening a can of worms here.   

[bill440rt]

Dino, not to derail the thread but I've done the polish/clearcoat deal on the aluminum trim before. Unless you are able to get the clearcoat perfectly smooth (NO orange peel dirt nibs, etc), then you will see it. It will look like painted metal. I wasn't overly thrilled with the results, and ended up sanding/polishing them again to get the clear flat enough.
It can be done but it's a lot of tedious work.

[Dino]

Yeah, I'll just make it look as clean as possible.  It's not bad now but it is starting to show its age.  I'll do it right when the time comes.

Back to our regular scheduled programming!   

[Rosco]

Thanks guys. And thanks Bill tote info on the grill trim. I'll keep that in mind when I get to that, cheers

[twodko]

Dino,

I de-anodized the grille trim with EasyOff then began the dent repair/polishing process using Eastwood polishing/buffing wheels and their compound sticks plus very fine wet/dry sand paper grades. I bought an inexpensive "6 buffing motor from Harbor Fright and worked it. Important suggestion.....behind where you setup your buffing motor, hopefully on a pedestal for ample work space, hang a moving blanket on the wall. As careful as you plan to be, pieces will fly outta your hands. The blanket will save your ass.

I searched aluminum trim repair/polishing on the web and used these techniques to fix all the dings I had on my pieces. If you follow the buff/polish wheel & compound sequence your trim will shine.

I considered both clear coating and clear powder coating but the former wasn't appealing and the latter beyond my budget. I ended up just waxing them with a carnauba wax based product and reinstalled. That was almost three years ago and it still looks great. I re-wax and polish once a year when I lightly wax the entire car and, granted, the weather elements here in NorCal are not nearly as harsh as many parts of our country but this method worked well for me. 

[Dino]

Dino,

I de-anodized the grille trim with EasyOff then began the dent repair/polishing process using Eastwood polishing/buffing wheels and their compound sticks plus very fine wet/dry sand paper grades. I bought an inexpensive "6 buffing motor from Harbor Fright and worked it. Important suggestion.....behind where you setup your buffing motor, hopefully on a pedestal for ample work space, hang a moving blanket on the wall. As careful as you plan to be, pieces will fly outta your hands. The blanket will save your ass.

I searched aluminum trim repair/polishing on the web and used these techniques to fix all the dings I had on my pieces. If you follow the buff/polish wheel & compound sequence your trim will shine.

I considered both clear coating and clear powder coating but the former wasn't appealing and the latter beyond my budget. I ended up just waxing them with a carnauba wax based product and reinstalled. That was almost three years ago and it still looks great. I re-wax and polish once a year when I lightly wax the entire car and, granted, the weather elements here in NorCal are not nearly as harsh as many parts of our country but this method worked well for me. 

Tom, thanks for all that info, much appreciated!   

The blanket idea is great, better safe than sorry.  I was wondering if a good wax would work.  When I clean my cast iron table saw top, I rub it with furniture paste wax which keeps it looking like new without leaving a residue so I'm happy to hear carnauba works on that trim.

Weather gets a bit more ugly here in SE Mi but I don't drive the car when there is ice, snow or salt on the roads.  I do drive it in pouring rain a lot but I do make it a habit to run the car through the touch less car wash from time to time, especially because they have a great undercarriage spray.  Once I do that all I have to do is re-wax it so that's no biggie.

[twodko]

I do the same thing with my table saw, jointer, bandsaw and thickness planer too. I also use a squirt of WD40 on those surfaces during a project if things don't slide smoothly.

[Dino]

I do the same thing with my table saw, jointer, bandsaw and thickness planer too. I also use a squirt of WD40 on those surfaces during a project if things don't slide smoothly.

I do the same thing.  I've also used dry Teflon with great results.  I'm pretty sure it was a Dupont brand.  Sometimes I just don't want the smell of WD40 in my garage.