hub caps and trim

[51papy]

Hello all
As I am somewhat laid up I started on the trim and hub caps. I bought a book on straightening SS and Alum trim pieces. When I went to the hub caps I noticed that there is brass under the chrome. This will be a driver and I have 8 caps most of them in good shape. The book says to take the flash chrome off with acid straighten the trim and then polish the SSteel. Has anyone done this on the hub caps. Or, should I just buy new ones. I'm going to straighten a couple just to see if I can and I need something to do. Any help is appreciated.
51 papy

 

[vwnate1]

Hubcap Restoration

My you're ambitious ! .

The real difficulty is unbending the crimped over lip to release the stainless outer part from the inner cap & then re-crimping it without ruining or scratching your freshly polished part .

Then you gently bump out the dents with a rounded wooden stick , then you polish it and see how deep the big scratches are and go after them .

many polishing guides will tell you to begin with very abrasive media , I've seen to many stainless steel trims ruined this way to believe a word of it .

You'll need a good 3/4 HP or larger Baldor grinder mounted with quick release wheels and have a stack of different wheels , each with different compounds , you'll need to keep them far away on the other side of the garage else they'll cross contaminate and all wind up coarse mix...

Same with thw wiping and cleanup rags .

Me , I just use " Met-All " aircraft polish and some soft rags and they look like chrome , apart from the dents and gouges that made the stainless parts available to me afordably .

Have fun and let us know how it all comes out .