Anyone ever "brush" a trim ring?

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Thinking of making my chromed trim rings "brushed"  Anyone ever do this before?   Is is as easy as scuffing them up with some steel wool or a Scotchbrite pad or is it a major P.I.T.A. and Im only looking for trouble?

[mikepmcs]

One potential issue I see happening is the non uniform pattern your hand is going to create when you put the scuff to it.  I'm afraid it's going to look all scratches one way, scratches another, etc.....

I would want to find something that will put an even pattern on the ring.  So my first reaction is you are looking for trouble but it could be done with like say a buffer put on slow speed with some heavy cut abrasive.  Actually an orbital buffer would work better for less swirl marks.

BTW....WHY?? Originality??

[Charger-Bodie]

I think you could make it happen. Just jack up the back end , let it run in gear (so the wheel is basically a lathe)and scuff them ,moving courser in grit until you find the "scratch" that best duplicates the brush look.

[mikepmcs]

Definitely a good idea Brian!!

What are you going to do with the center star pattern though? Leaving that chrome?  That's a good idea on the lathe action but that wheel center is gonna tear you a new one.

[resq302]

Chris,

You have seen the trim rings I did on my charger right?  I restored them and during the process, I had to get the brushed area polished in order to get all of the sand marks out from the expanding wheel sanding belt.  Once it was polished and looked like a mirror I then mounted each of them one at a time onto a rim that did not have a tire.  Also, make sure the valve stem is out.  You'll find out later.  I then jacked up the back of the charger and removed the rear wheels and put the rear axle on jack stands.  I now installed the bare rim with trim ring onto the hub and started up the car.  Since the rear of the car was in the air, I could let the clutch out in first gear causing the rear to move and have the axles spin.  I then took either a red scotch brite pad or some 220 grit sand paper (can't remember which) and using light pressure, placed it onto the area of the trim ring that was supposed to be brushed and held it in one place.  The spinning of the rim allowed a nice uniform coverage of the brushing from the sand paper or scotch brite pad.  I changed out the sand paper with every ring I did to ensure the grit was nice and sharp so it did a good job.  One area to be extremely careful when you do this is where the hole for the valve stem is.  I caught my finger in there a couple times when the wheel was going around and left some nice car bites into my skin.

I would make sure that your trim rings are made out of stainless steel material first before you do this cause if the trim rings are chrome plated you will only sand off the chrome and may show a different layer underneath.

hope this helps.

[resq302]

damn, guess I took too long typing the reply.  3 posting responses while it took me the time to type out my one reply.   

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Crap....after reading Brian's reply sounds like a major P.I.T.A.


Hmmm.....

[resq302]

Chris,

that was the easy part for me.  The PITA part was all the dent and scratch removal that had to be done to EACH trim ring.  The good news is that I hear that there is someone that now restores trim rings for something like $55 each from what I remember.  I will have to go back and check my print outs.   Down side is that those trim rings are a one year only item for 1969 and I still need to do a whole second set for my rims with the radial tires.

Hmmm.... lets see... restoring each trim ring took me 40-60 hrs on each trim ring.  This was before I had a house and a child.  Yeah, I might be done with them in two years.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Sometimes at my work we need to "Fix the grain" on one of the brushed areas of the stainless steel cabinets that we make.

The girls use a course grey scotchbrite pad, on a flat handle thingie and get to rubbin'

All in one direction,of course.

If I were going to attempt this, I would chuck an old spindle and hub in my bench vise, bolt up a plain steel wheel, pop on a trim ring and turn it by hand while holding the scotchbrite against the trim ring with the other had...

I might even make a little wooden handle thingie, shaped like the contour of the trim ring, to hold the scotchbrite...

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Another course of action I can take if I wanted would be to buy the repro 15x7 brushed rings that Mopar makes now.....at $90 a piece I dont see that happening in the near future

[mikepmcs]

I bet you could sell those chrome ones for close to the cost of your soon to be brushed ones.  It's a thought anyway.

[Ghoste]

90 dollars for a single trim ring?   Worse yet is that Chrysler is probably just middle-manning them from some repro place who are getting them done in China for 3 bucks each.