How do I polish up my wheel opening moldings?

[burrpenick]

How do I polish up my wheel opening moldings?

[jeryst]

A rag, some Mothers metal/chrome polish, and elbow grease is what I use.

[Wang]

If they are like several that I have seen , They are probably beyond polishing.
All aluminum bright work on cars has an anodized finish.
By the time you would polish out scratches,, or those fine pits from stones you will
break thru the anodizing,, and then they look ugly.

[burrpenick]

You are absolutely correct. I went through this on the rocker molding too. I understand easyoff oven cleaner will take the anodizing off, but the pieces will not stand up to much weather like that. I plan to get new ones.

George

[cudaaah]

Mine were pitted, so I bought a buffing wheel, and polished w/ abbrassives.  They turned out close to perfect.

[jeryst]

I've heard that you can put clear poylurethane varnish on them. Havent tried it personally, though.

[Super Blue 72]

I've heard that you can put clear poylurethane varnish on them. Havent tried it personally, though.

That's a good idea but becareful.  I painted a set of wheels silver several years ago and polyurethaned them and the clear started to yellow, giving the wheels a gold tint instead of silver. 

[duodec]

Eastwood used to sell a product called "Nyalic" that among other things was supposed to be usable as a clear coat over polished aluminum.  Its not on their website anymore but apparently is still available.

I have no direct experience with this stuff but a neighbor used it on his '5x Ford chrome trim and it still looks clear and polished several years later (it is garage kept though).