I use a soapy toothbrush to start, rinsing often so as not to scratch good chrome with the rust being dislodged.

Then move to NEVR-DULL magic wadding polish, changing wads often for the same reason.

A final polishing with Cape Cod Polishing Cloths.

If they don't look good then, I buy better looking rims.

Kevins's advice is right on. I'd add to that: re-chroming previously rusted / oxidized hardware is very expensive. The expense comes mainly from the detailed and laborious process of preparing the pieces to be re-plated. All the rust and previous plating has to be removed via sanding or grinding first, then each piece has to be polished to perfection on a polishing wheel, and that involves lots of time and manual work - i.e., there's no "dip" or solvent to do that work for you. When I looked into having some hardware re-chromed a while back, the shop that was recommended to me as the cheapest in my area (Chicago) quoted me a price of $900 to $1000 to re-plate all the hardware on my Ludwig Club Dates - which is not a lot of hardware. If I recall correctly, it was something like $120 per hoop, $20 a piece for tension rods, etc. In other words, a LOT more than just buying better condition replacements. So unless it's a part that can't be replaced, re-plating seems to be prohibitively expensive.

And maybe this is obvious, but just in case: removing rust and oxidation doesn't restore chrome. The chrome is a rust proof metal coating on top of the base metal, so if you have an area of rust or oxidation, that means the chrome has been compromised (via scratching or flaking off the underlying metal) and isn't covering the base metal in that area anymore. So after you remove the corrosion, what's left is only going to be the bare base metal. It can be polished and made to look shiny, but since it's no longer protected by the chrome, that area will rust again, and a lot quicker than it did when it had chrome protecting it.

Bottom line: if you want a permanent fix for pitted / rusted / corroded hardware, replace the part. Or take the Zen attitude and accept the natural order of things - in other words, live it the rust :)

Scott

I just tried Evapo-Rust from the Auto Zone the other day.......worked great on a bunch of parts I had.......

$10 for a quart,so pricey,but you just put the parts in......let them set over night.........the rust is gone!

If you are doing hoops,you would need a big container to put the hoops in,and maybe 2-3 quarts of E-R to do them.

I soak them over night in a wash tub with a heavy mix of DAWN dish detergent. Pull them out, use soft rags and start with the "elbow grease". Then more "elbow grease" with turttle wax chrome polish.

thank you everybody for your advice. i got an estimate today to re-chrome 2-12",2-14" and 2-16" rims and the total for all of them including the prep work was $150.00 which seems very reasonable. some of them are damaged beyond what rust removal and polishing would accomplish but i want to make sure that i'm not doing more harm than good by re-chroming. my understanding as far as what i have read is that it is ok to re-chrome original parts since most agree that rust is not patina. i'm going to have to look into this $150.00 price tag because either my quote is way too low or the $900.00-$1000.00 quote is way too high. i'll find out and let you know since milwaukee is just a shot up the road from chicago. thanks again,tony

Seems to me that Mikey777 has a good source for chrome work, and his prices are more in line with the lower estimate you received.

He may also have the strainer you need for your Sonor.... have you contacted him by email?

Kev

i haven't, but thank you very much for the tip. i'll do that tonight. those vintage premier lugs are on the way from jolly old england. i'll send a pic when i get them.

Tony,

Please keep us updated on this. I agree - that price differential seems way too wide for both quotes to be for the same thing. If the $150 quote is correct, then as you say, Milwaukee is right up the road, and I may have to make a little trip soon!

I will say this though: There are a lot of plating places in Chicago, and I got a couple of estimates at plating places that were lower until they learned that it was actually a REplating job, at which point the plating places said, 'Oh, we don't do that, too much work.' The place I got the high estimate from was specifically a replating specialist.

Anyway, let us know what the outcome is - I'm very interested.

Scott

scott, i took kevins advice and contacted mikey777 (thanks mike) to get his input and he thought that the quoted price sounded legit. i sent pictures and sizes of the rims so these people know what they are getting into. i'm posting the contact information for the company here so that you can check them out. if you give me your email address i'd be happy to foreward you the quote that i got from them if you want to check it out. i'm more than likely going to try them out and hope for the best. i've already make a couple mistakes with this kit so why not give it a try? if it doesn't work out i'm going keith moon on this kit and blowing it up on youtube. (that's a joke so please don't start sending me hate mail...at least not for that.)

thanks, anthony

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