Targa Bar Oxidation Removal

[Hydrocket]

Since my car is a 1986, the years of oxidation on the targa bar is quite evident. It's a light grey color when it's supposed to be black. So I decided to fix it with a light compound and a yellow polishing pad on my Porter Cable. I chose a very light compound, Optimum Finish. I chose a yellow pad since the targa bar has a textured finish and I didn't want to gloss it up to a mirror shine. Since the finish is so textured there is no need to worry about swirl marks..a nice bonus. This took all of about 10 minutes work and despite my terrible pictures, the targa bar appears as new now. I also need to get inside the "Targa" script. The only problem now is since the targa bar is so new and fresh looking, my targa top and seals look faded. More reconditioning for those!
Pics:

You can see in the first 2 pictures where I left a spot in the middle un-touched so you can see the difference.



Need to get inside the script:


This pad used to be bright yellow:


Finished result:

[PorscheGAL]

Nice work! Thanks for sharing.

[mystro]

Looks great. I have been using s-100 or p-21 wax to keep my Targa bar looking concours black. It doesn't leave any white residue. How hard is it to remove the TARGA logo on the bars to clean under?????

[vulcan300]

Originally Posted by mystro

Looks great. I have been using s-100 or p-21 wax to keep my Targa bar looking concours black. It doesn't leave any white residue. How hard is it to remove the TARGA logo on the bars to clean under?????

It's very hard to remove the logos. You have to remove the seal, 10+ screws under the seal and two nuts in either wheel well before you can pry the Targa Bar off to get at the speed nuts that hold on the logos.

[mhall131313]

So, the greyness of the targa bar is just oxidization and all it takes it some polish and a buffing wheel to get it change back to black? Mine looks just like the picture above.

[sky1jord]

Thanks, Hydrocket. For months I allowed myself to believe that the black had been worn down to a grey primer, so I never thought to polish it out again. I was considering repaint until I found your thread. Wunderbar!!

[schulr]

Try ordinary vaseline and a good buff, it works wonders, works on your wheels too.

[hksamc]

Hi, i have the oxidation problem on my targa bar. Thanks for the info.