Final finish on factory chrome...

[mattgar]

I read in the manual about using the white powder for the final finish to get the swirl marks out--still have some questions after trying it with less then perfect results.

Background info: Two-year old chrome in excellent condition except for very fine handling scratches, spider-web like only really visible in bright sun.

Took a 6" loose buff that had never been used but had been around for a while not stored in a ziplock bag. Using Baldor 3/4 hp buffer.

Used white compound which gave it a fine brushed finish. Hmmm... I was looking for "factory fresh". Came to your site and snooped around. Went back and hit it with blue compound after cleaning buff (Sunday night--only fresh buff I had) which improved appearance by about 50%. Came to site and snooped some more. Went back, cleaned buff, dampend chrome, sprinkled white powder, buffed for color...still not factory fresh.

So tomorrow I'll get some new buffs. Can you walk me through (short story is fine), what I have to do to get it like it's never been scratched. I don't mean just this particular piece--I mean any chrome I want to polish the micro scratches from. I have questions like: Is this possible? Does the white powder require its own dedicated buff (the manual does not imply that)?

Thanks a bunch. Great site. Matt

[marsfrogie]

Yes, white requires its own buff. You can't have more than one compound on a wheel because it will only work as well as its coarsest grit. Make sure you are utilizing the cut and color motions mentioned in the manual.

[mattgar]

Thanks... That's what I thought. I just went out and bought another buffer to keep white on one side and powder on the other.

Matt