What brand and line of cymbals? For example some manufacturers coat them with a protective clear coat. Others don't.

What alloy? Are we talking B8 or B20 or something in between?

Are they (or were they before this episode) "brilliant" finish?

Can you show us some pictures to help with the diagnosis?

Okay, I have a mix of cymbals. I have an 80's Zildjian K "Custom" model ride, brilliant finish. 80's Zildjian New Beats and 80's Paiste 2oo2 China that were both professionally polished years ago. Sabian Fierce crash and HHX splash, that are both traditional-type, non-shiny finishes. Sabian brilliant Vault crash. I'll see about posting some pics.

That's a delightfully eclectic mix.

So even the K Custom brilliant finish, the Vault crash, and the polished New Beats and 2oo2 lost their shiny? Were the brilliant ones affected in the same way as the traditional finish ones?

The 2oo2 will have a protective coating (or at least once had). I really not sure about the 80s Zildjians. But protective coatings aside, B8 will show more tarnish than the B20 (other things being equal).

Even if you have protective coatings which have been lost along the way, you can use something inexpensive like paste wax on them after you get them shiny again. Pasite also offer specific cleaning and re-coating products (an orange bottle and a blue bottle, respectively). I've used the orange cleaner, but I've never used the re-coating blue bottle. Only paste wax.

Cymbal Shield also seems to come in a cleaner and a "shine". Did you use both? Or did you just have the cleaner?

http://www.cymbalshield.com/

The also seem to distinguish between a clean and a polish (which is a good distinction). But I don't see anything other than 2 products on a quick review of their web site.

The traditionals don't look so bad because obviously they weren't real shiny to begin with. The New Beats and the K Custom look decent. The Vault crash is the worst of them. I know the protective coating is gone from the 2oo2, but it always shined up well when I cleaned it. I'm including some pics. The first is a 20" Zildjian Ride/Crash that I've owned for 35 years, it was the original ride on my very first kit. It was professionally polished with several others, about 20 years ago. Luckily, I didn't use this cymbal at the beach, and it wasn't affected. I'm posting it as a reference to the shine of my Zildjian cymbals. The next is the 2oo2 paiste China, and third is the Vault crash. These are all before pics, and I will snap some pics tomorrow of the "after" state. I added a fourth pic of the K Custom, in its "before" state.

As far as which product I used, I just used the "cleaner". The "shine" product is just for removing fingerprints and light cleaning.

I did pick up some cleaner at this years NAMM show from a company called "Pro Cymbal". It's really easy to use, as you just apply it, let it dry, then rinse the cymbal. I cleaned all the affected cymbals with this product, and they did get a liitle better, but still not shining brilliantly.

https://www.procymbal.com/cymbal-cleaner-8-oz/

I used to use some stuff called "kick'n brass", which I used to get at West Coast Drums. I may have to order some on line.

http://www.kicknbrass.com/

So, here's the after pictures. As you can see, the Sabian Vault is nowhere near as shiny as it used to be. In the Paiste China and Sabian Fierce, you can still see some rust colored areas.

Although unfamiliar with the specific product, this was my thought as well. Not all cleaners produce a nice shine.

The thing is, I used to use the Cymbal Shield product before the rust gig, and they would shine right up.:confused: