Im doing a bunch of body work in preparation for new paint, and I would like to put my body moldings back on afterward.

The chrome is pretty scratched and oxidized and rust stained in places. Any good techniques for getting the scratches out of the chrome?

 

They have a layer of clear plastic on them or something. Short of finding new ones I wouldn't have any idea on how to restore them. I'm going to strip mine off and paint the truck a solid color then add just a tasteful pinstripe to break it up.

 

This is what I did. Looks Great.
Mike

 

I thought they were clear coated aluminum. If that is the case they can be carefully stripped sanded and polished.

 

Just put on new ones, not worth messing with

 

I doubt he can find new moulding for his rig. His is a 90 model which used the aluminum upper and aluminum/rubber lower strip like most of the LE and SE rigs of the 80s had. I would recommend buffing/polishing the aluminum. I have seen some compounds at stores made for aluminum trim.

 

Id say get new ones. The old ones will shrink when you take them off and not line up when you put them back on.

Helped a friend on here pull his moldings on his 92 and then we put them back on they were half inch or so shorter on the ends.

 

Aluminum doesn't shrink. His should be held on with those brittle plastic clips. Check out his truck in his photo gallery.

 

Haha oops

Oh, those moldings. Not what popped into my head. My friends didnt have clips. they were held on with that double sided tape.

 

I nearly lost the piece that goes on the fender because of those clips.

 

Yeah, my crew will be moulding free just because those clips are so notorious for letting go of the trim. In other news,

 

IIRC, the clips used to mount the LE tailgate panel for pre-1991 trucks are also the same clip for the lower molding.

Mark.

 

where can I find the clips (retainers) that hold the body side molding on. Took them off to paint. Some are broken and some are missing. Any ideas. 1990 single cab. Wouldn't mind replacing the whole thing if some can be found

 

Check out AMK on google and get there 2 inch thick catalog. They make a lot of the Muscle car nuts, bolts n clips for the big three. Their catalog also has a boatload of our trim clips, nuts and bolts which were common throughout the years. That aren't shown on the website. I think you will find what you need there. JMO