vinyl top trim issue

[c00nhunterjoe]

I'm polishing my top trim. The long outer peices and mirror finished however the peices that go behind the sail panel are not in good shape. Appears to be plated metal and its all bubbled up and pitted. What are my options? No amount of rubbing will clea them up. Should I sand blast them and try to paint them with chrome paint? I realize that will look nothing like the stainless but sending them out to be redone is out of the budget

[jaak]

If re-plating or buying repops (usually anywhere from $150-$200 on eBay, depending on vendor) is in your budget, I honestly would just clean them up the best I can with 000 steel wool and install them. I think clean pitted would look better than painted ones.

Also I would keep an eye out on eBay, etc. One of mine looked rough, and I found a pretty nice original (minor pitting) for $15. I took it and the other side I kept, cleaned them up with steel wool and a little chrome polish and they look nice from 5 feet away.

Jason

[c00nhunterjoe]

They are really bad. I will snap some pictures. Wonder why those are chromed and the rest is stainless

[68blue]

Had the same problem with the pitting, ended up buying repos after working on them for a while. I noticed when putting my car back together that what I called "quality creep" affected my decisions. You get a new part to replace one that was gone and it makes the others next to it look shabby. I had to draw the line somewhere.

[c00nhunterjoe]

I'm in no way building a show car at this point. Working in the driveway without a garage is quite limiting. My goal is stop the rust, fix what I can on a budget, and enjoy driving the car until I can build a garage in a few years. If it comes down to it then I will buy repos, the outer trim is show car quality. I was amazed how they cleaned up.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Uploading and posting pics from my phone is a bear.....

[bill440rt]

The repops have come down quite a bit in price, you should be able to find a set for around the $150 range.
If that is not realistic, then maybe try to find a set of used ones in nicer shape.

[c00nhunterjoe]

150 isn't bad. I might have to go that route