Is the tail light trim on a maverick aluminum or stainless steel? Either way, what's the best way to polish them to a mirror finish? Thanks
It is an anodized aluminum. I use a paste product called FLITZ. The rear window trim and the headlight bezels are also the anodized aluminum. Use a cloth as 0000 steel wool will cut through the anodizing if you are not real gentle with it.
there is a U tube vid for using drain cleaner to remove the anodized coating. I think Jeff has a write up on it...I've never had any luck polishing the trim, I glassbeaded and painted mine.
You can't completely polish away the damaged anodized areas so if the trim is in rougher shape.. that's the best way to do it to get to an original baseline to work off. Then you need lots of water, ultra-fine wet sandpaper, and lots of elbow grease. Buff it out in a couple of stages and you're golden. errr.. silver. lol VERY time consuming and I hate it more than polishing intake manifolds. Love the final results though. To stay nice and shiny it needs to be reanodized, clear gloss powdercoated(they need to be more careful with thin aluminum trim in the oven) or protected with sealants and maintained. Please keep in mind that painted clear-coats will NOT adhere over the longterm due to insufficient mechanical bonding when applied over a highly polished surface.
