The piece we did was a 66 f-100 grille. We didnt sand it down to show quality, just cleaned it up a little bit, we also didnt do any dent removal. I didnt notice a difference once it was clear coated. If you have spent a lot of time on these, i would suggest maybe getting some old small piece of trim off something else that isnt valuable and trying it first. I would hate to tell you that there was not a difference and then you clear coat them and not be happy with them.