Can this be polished?

[kris450]

Can these kick plates be polished (ie take the swirls out) ? What does everyone think ?

I'm not sure if they are real chrome or some sort of substitute. Just a bit worried if I have a go with the machine polisher I may end up ruining them/messing up the etching. I'm fairly experienced with car paint correction, but never really ventured into different metal types.

I'd also rather not remove them as they are riveted on.

[Bainbridge]

If they are chrome effect plastic, Meguirs Plastx polish applied by hand with a cloth works well, that's what I use.

[Belle427]

I suspect they are metal, maybe try some Autosol metal polish on there first.

[kris450]

Thanks all. Tried a few various things throughout the morning and not much is working. Gonna play it safe and just leave them.

[Robertb]

They are probably quite deep scratches... I imagine you can feel them. I think you'd need quite an aggressive multi-stage polish done with a rotary polisher, and you'd need to avoid polishing the satin bits. Before doing more harm than good I'd want to know if it was plated metal, or polished stainless steel.

[belleair302]

Yes it can but not by hand.

[aka_kerrly]

Hard to tell in the picture if the Chimera logo and lines are etched or recessed and painted.

Either way to remove those scratches you will have to crack out the sandpaper and work your way through 800,1500,2000,3000grit and then a 3 or 4" polishing pad on a rotary/DA to with cutting compound & metal polish to bring back the shine.

[kris450]

aka_kerrly said:

Hard to tell in the picture if the Chimera logo and lines are etched or recessed and painted.

Either way to remove those scratches you will have to crack out the sandpaper and work your way through 800,1500,2000,3000grit and then a 3 or 4" polishing pad on a rotary/DA to with cutting compound & metal polish to bring back the shine.

Its an etching, definitely not paint.

Either way I've played it safe and left them alone. Some metal polish by hand kind of cleaned them a little but left the swirls in obviously. Seeing as they aren't really available anymore I can live with it, especially as they aren't technically seen that much.