Annodised trim

[drcoastline]

First I want to say this is not my car and thank you to the original poster of this pic. I have blue dotted the occupant of the car to protect the identity of the innocent.

I used the pic because it shows all three pieces of trim I want to polish in one photo. Non op vent window, door top trim, targa window/bar to body trim. I believe these pieces to be anodized aluminum. I know on earlier cars these pieces are chromed so I would assume they are not aluminum on the earlier cars. I wish to polish the trim so before I go about stripping the trim I want to ensure I am right that the newer pieces in black are aluminum. Can anyone confirm for sure? Has anyone stripped and polished these pieces?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[frankc]

I switched out the chrome trim for black on my Targa many years ago. For the two door trim pieces you show, I found it better in terms of quality, time and money to simply purchase a set of used trim off a parts car, install it myself (very easy), and sell my trim pieces.

For the trim piece under the Targa bar & rear window, my initial solution was to lightly sand it in place (you're committed at that point), mask the area very well, and then paint with a semi-gloss black. This came out very well and held up for years, but I knew it was only temporary until I had the car painted (knowing that one could raise the rubber trim and see chrome where it wasn't painted bothered me). When it came time to paint the car, I had that trim piece replaced with an OEM black piece while the rear window was out. Same with the other trim pieces for the front and rear window.

[frankc]

I should also note that on Targas there is one additional trim piece needed for the door not shown in your picture. It is basically the top of the rear channel for the door window (where normally in a coupe this would extend all the way up to form the window frame). I have circled it in the picture below.

This piece is very small but requires changing the whole rear window channel (or painting the original) to change it. Since it sits under the large Targa bar window seal, if left as chrome it is not really noticeable with the door closed. And on the right color car (e.g.; silver ), doesn't stick out even with the door open.

[vulcan300]

I've already done what you want to do with the addition of the door handles and front and rear window trim. If you car is like mine the material and treatment for each is as follows;

Front and rear window seal trim locks - Aluminum - Polish and Bright Anodize
Quarter window frames - Brass - Polish and Chrome
Door top trim - Aluminum - Polish and Bright Anodize
Window channel top (Part in circle above) - Brass - Polish and Chrome
Targa Bar - Stainless Steel - Mirror Polish (as I've done) or a brushed finish
Door handles - Mystery Metal - Polish and Chrome
Metal trim under rear window seal - Brass - Polish and Chrome

Now for the part you won't like.. Having this work done by two very good shops rang up a bill of close to 2 grand. Getting the Targa bar polished to perfection made up a quarter of the cost, the chromed pieces cost nearly a thousand, and polishing and anodizing the Aluminum made up the rest.

I think your best bet is to have the Targa Bar professionally polished after you strip the paint, or find a stainless steel one in the used part section. If you search you will likely find some that have been offered up and may still be available for less than it would cost you to strip and polish yours. For the rest of the trim get used chrome pieces. If you did have to freshen them up it will cost you significantly less than starting from scratch with your own trim. User "greenkaw" without the quotes has a full set of chrome trim for a Targa so you may want to message him.

J

[drcoastline]

Thanks for the input. Maybe my wording was confusing. The trim is currently black like the car in the picture (85-89 years).

I guess my first question should be is the black anodizing?

Is the metal under the black stuff aluminum or some other metal?

I wish to strip the black and polish the trim.

The piece that frankc points out I am sure is not aluminum but brass. This i will probably leave black or paint silver.

Thanks again.

[vulcan300]

The black is likely powdercoat/paint on all the parts although on the Aluminum pieces it may be an anodized coating. If you look at the list of components above I've given you the type of metal each trim type is made out of. The only aluminum pieces are the door tops and window trim. If you polish these they will be very soft as you've stripped off the outer coating. If you paint as opposed to anodize over top of the aluminum the finish will not be very durable and you will end up with a flaky mess in time. If you don't like the black the best option is to buy chrome pieces used and sell the black to offset the cost.

[drcoastline]

Thanks taragmaniac now I got it. I think. I was under the impression when the pieces went from chrome to black the metal type was changed. So a chrome wing window and a black window have the same base metal? As well as the strip at the base of the targa bar?

[McLovin]

none of those black trim pieces you have identified is painted or powdercoated from the factory.

[fred cook]

The pieces that you have arrowed are aluminum with an anodized finish. You will have to strip off the anodizing (sandpaper) and then polish. I am in the process of doing this for my currently being painted coupe. Since the color is/will be black metallic, I decided to add some sparkle. Here is a picture of the window piece before and after. The back piece is before and the front after. After stripping the finish off, I sanded with 220, 320, 400 and 600 grit paper. Then I rubbed it down with a OOO steel wool pad. Once that was done, using a bench grinder converted to a polishing wheel, the part was polished with several grades of polishing clay ending up with a very fine clay that leaves a mirror finish. It can be done, just takes time and perserverance. The "not so shiny" spots on the polished piece are finger prints that will wipe off. Once all the pieces are done, I may have the powder coat painted in clear to preserve the shine. Good luck with your project.

[drcoastline]

Wow Fred, you have way more energy than me. Fortunately most of my trim was chrome painted black. Rather than have it all rechromed I toyed with buying 5the anodized pieces to do what you did. In the end I opted to have my trim re-chromed.

It sounds like we are going down similar paths. My car will be a dark blue metalic and I am chnaging all my trim back to chrome/polished.

What are you doing with your rims?

[Fishcop]

Lye (caustic soda) strips anodize without sanding... I used Easy Off oven cleaner as it contains the right amount of lye. The surface will bubble and then the anodise comes off as a grey 'scum'. Less brutal than sanding so it polishes up better.

[YTNUKLR]

I think I have a nice used ss targa bar from '69. it's not cheap to anodize your parts, but it would look nice. Let me know if you are interested in the targa bar. Polishing it would look too blingy IMO. Original early targas had brushed ss top bars.

Early cars originally had chromed brass until 67, then it was anodized polished Alu from 68+.

[porschenut]

I went all through this a year ago when I took all of the black trim off my '86 Carrera and sent it to King of Trim for polishing and bright anodizing (part of a backdate project). Ended up costing about $1,600.

Every single piece of window trim, including all of the door window frame, is black anodized aluminum. There is not a single piece of chrome or brass anywhere.

[fred cook]

The rims on my car are 7 and 8 x16 Fuchs. They have polished rims and black centers. The caps are also black but have 356 hood emblems mounted on them for some color. Here is a picture of the car with the RS rear bumper but before going to the paint shop.

[bluesky]

Originally Posted by porschenut

I went all through this a year ago when I took all of the black trim off my '86 Carrera and sent it to King of Trim for polishing and bright anodizing (part of a backdate project). Ended up costing about $1,600.

Every single piece of window trim, including all of the door window frame, is black anodized aluminum. There is not a single piece of chrome or brass anywhere.

Did you end up having K-o-T re-do the bright dip anodized they did back to black anodized?

That must look really nice!

[georgeinhere]

Careful with anodizing, it tends to turn purple if it has too much sun exposure. I've notice that factory pieces usually remain black while stuff done aftermarket gets the "purple" look.