Armrest Base Clearcoat

[HeavyFuel]

Were the armrest bases originally clearcoated after the silver plating?

When I went after mine with hot soapy water, an amber colored film came off, and what remained was a brighter silver plating.

If so, has anyone re-clearcoated theirs?  Any brand recomendations?  I was thinking about using the Diamond Clear from Eastwoods.

The top side of the door bases are very worn, but the bottom is perfect, so I'm just gonna switch them from one side of the car to the other, and see if that'll get me by.

[Dino]

Were the armrest bases originally clearcoated after the silver plating?

When I went after mine with hot soapy water, an amber colored film came off, and what remained was a brighter silver plating.

If so, has anyone re-clearcoated theirs?  Any brand recomendations?  I was thinking about using the Diamond Clear from Eastwoods.

The top side of the door bases are very worn, but the bottom is perfect, so I'm just gonna switch them from one side of the car to the other, and see if that'll get me by.

Vacuum metalizing is done with aluminum and the clear coat protects it from oxidizing.  Without it it wouldn't last long as you can tell by the disappearing chrome once the clear coat breaks down.  I didn't have a lick of chrome on mine anymore so I bought a new set.  I forgot what I paid but it wasn't all that much, well worth it and for the price I wasn't going to try and restore them.

If you simply want to flip yours around and the chrome is still good I would leave it alone.  The new clear coat may break down the old and clear doesn't like to stick to anything shiny to begin with anyway.  Some hobby stores sell sealers that may work for this purpose but try it on something that's out of sight first.

[HeavyFuel]

Yeah, I thought that skin that came off was a protective coating.

If I can't get a confirmed  on a product that won't ruin the original plating, I'll do like you suggest.....just leave them be.  Heck, if they might last for years. 

Maybe I should pick up a set of repos, though, while they are still available.  I've seen repos on other parts go out of production, never to be seen again.