Learning Trim Restoration - All That Shines - Pontiac Tech

After the crease is fixed, a DA sander with 320-grit paper is utilized to close the grain of the metal, allowing any remaining blemishes to become more visible. The specialty punch is pointing to the minor depression that still remains.

Moving the trim back to the fixture, the punch is carefully lined up, and the minor blemish is tapped. The trim piece is turned over, inspected, and lightly sanded with 320 paper.

The process is repeated until the depression isn't visible. Unfortunately, the top edge of the molding isn't sharp due to the damage from the crease, so a small chisel-type tool is placed behind the molding directly on the parting line and is gently tapped until the molding line is sharp and even. Work continues on the remaining half of the molding. The four remaining small dings are worked out in similar fashion.

Next, the stainless steel tailpanel molding is prepared for restoration. After laying out the tools, a close look reveals that the top of the molding has a significant dent in the end.

In addition, by comparing it to the other molding (top), it's evident that the top edge of the molding and the corner are damaged and significantly flattened out.

A Sisal wheel and cutting compound was used to remove the dirt and surface rust from the exterior of the molding. After it's clean, the trim piece is transferred to the work area, and a punch that is close to the width of the dent in the top is selected. After tapping along the length of the dent from behind the piece is turned over, and the dent is examined. Once the dent is tapped out, 320-grit paper is used to roughen the stainless steel to determine if any high or low spots still remain. Once complete, another specialty tool is used to gently reshape the corner as shown here.

Then, a flat-edge punch is used to reshape the end of the trim piece. At each step in the process, the undamaged corner of the other tail-panel trim piece is examined and used as a guide to the proper shape. Before completing the trim restoration, the remaining dings are repaired, and the attaching tab is straightened and returned to the proper orientation (not shown).

After completing the metalwork, the two moldings are polished. In order to remove the small scratches introduced when the moldings were sanded, the Sisal wheel is cleaned with a buff rake, and a Jackson Lea course emery cutting compound is applied to the wheel. The edges and top of the molding are buffed horizontally, while the majority of the surface area is cross-buffed and buffed lengthwise. The denser fibers of the Sisal wheel introduce more heat into the metal so careful attention must be paid to both the amount of time buffing an area and the pressure applied. Before moving on to polishing, both pieces are closely examined to determine if any flaws are still visible. If a flaw is seen, the piece is returned to the workbench; the area is block sanded with 600-grit sandpaper, and then repaired with the aforementioned tools. In this case, a small high and low spot are uncovered on the right and left sides, respectfully.

Once repaired, the tailpanel trim piece is put back on the same Sisal wheel with the cutting compound. After it passes that test, an orange buffing wheel that is ventilated and firm-treated (shown) is mounted and cutting compound is applied to remove the Sisal wheel scratches and start producing a luster.