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Fog lights are clouded and slightly pitted and cloudy chrome

1073 Views 5 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  smac4th
So I'mtrying to "restore" my car and I'm almost done but I kinda am at a stand still because I can't get the chrome to look shiny and not sure what to use to buff the fog lights after I wet sand them. Other than what should I use to buff the fog lights the chrome is my real problem. I have tried wet sanding it with the sandpaper that comes with the Meguier's headlight restoration kit and had no luck. I also tried never dull and no luck. I just tried Mothers chrome polish and kinda pissed about it, I paid $10 plus tax for it and it didn't work. I might try the dealer and see what they have, maybe the stuff they have is better than what I tried? Any suggestions on the chrome and what I should use to buff the fog lights?
Also here is a pic of my car. The headlights look cloudy in the picture because of the lighting and the angle I took the pic at. Also on the passanger door that isn't a dent just a reflection of part of my sisters car. and the car behind mine is my moms Suby. She gave me the passat for my birthday 3 years after she got the Outback The picture was taken after I washed my car. I vaccumed the inside, washed the exterior, dried it with a chamois, and waxed it. I removed the bike rack so I could wash and wax the roof alot better. I did the whole process my self and it took me about 4 hours from start to finnish (I get really involved when it comes to cleaning my car). The car is 10 years old and has 56k on the odometer.
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I'm pretty sure the fog light lenses are glass. You're going to have a hard time getting them buffed up with conventional materials; nothing I tried worked. The "chrome" trim is aluminum with a fairly thin plastic coating on it. I used Novus three-stage plastic polish and a lot of careful rubbing - probably five or six hours for the whole car. Looked like new, and doesn't quite need it again, five years later.
I also forgot to add in my original post I also used Meguier's plastix and Mother's aluminum and mag polish. I'll try one spot for about 5 minutes and see if anything happens. I'll keep you guys posted
Note that her coating is pretty thin, and you really don't want to wear through it. I used the coarsest Novus only until the haze was gone, then smoothed the surface with the finer two grades.
Ok, thanks I will keep that in mind when I'm working on the chrome to not go through the coating
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