My 71SS has very small rust spots on the rear bumper only. These little spots are no bigger than the head of a pin. You can see them clearly though. I have tried wax and also a commercial chrome cleaner with no good results. I hate to have to have the bumper rechromed or replaced but might have to. Is there any chrome cleaning process that might remove these tiny oxidation spots? Thanks, Mike Martin

to clean tiny bits of rust on chrome I use extra fine steel wool, four zeros I think, the finest you can get, and wet the steel wool heavily with WD 40, the spray lubricant, until the little piece of steel wool is really wet, then rub the rust off. I saw a tv program once that says to use super fine steel wool wet with soapy water to clean windshields inside and out. I tried it, works great too.

bhawk: Thanks for this info. Where can you get this real fine steel wool?
Thanks,
Mike Martin

You can get it a most hardware stores near the furniture refinishing supplies.

as stated above, most every hardware store should have it. I have seen super fine steel wool in the housewares section of big chain food stores. Bulldog is one brand that comes to mind.

Mike,
See if you can find some Simonize chrome cleaner. I have a can that I bought probably 10 years ago so I dont know if its still available. It is the only stuff I have used that will take the rust off. You wipe it on and let it sit for 15 minutes or so, then wipe it off. You do have to wax afterwards.
Hope this helps,

the truth is, if you look at those little tiny dots with a magnifying glass, you will see a little tiny hole in the chrome. Once you have rust, you will always have it. You will need to keep it waxed after you get the rust off.
4 ott steel whool is ok, but dont get carried away. You can take chrome off with it. If you start to see a copper tint in your chrome, you have removed most of your chrome.

dave

Well, I bought the 0000 steel wool today and greased it up good with WD40. It got rid of some of the smallest rust "spots" but there some that are more pronounced and it would not remove them. To make this nice car really slick I guess I will have to replace the rear bumper. Thanks for your help.

I used some Turtlewax chrome bumper cleaner and it worked better than I expected. You can buy at places like Autozone or O'Reilly's.

to remove the larger spots of rust, I would soak the steel wool in chrome cleaner, like turtle wax, instead of the wd40. The cleaner does have chemical to remove rust and the steel wool will cut into it. Maybe try a coarser steel wool also, to scrape that rust off, but the key in my opinion is to have the steel wool wet with a product so the wool does not scratch the chrome.

I appreciate all the good ideas. However the little rust "spots" are still there. I bought the 0000 steelwool and then got some 000. I worked first with WD40 and then with a good chrome cleaner. The little spots are still with me. I will need to get this bumper rechromed or get a new bumper. The old bumper is in great shape except for the rust "pinpricks". Thanks again for your help.
Mike Martin

Its true that the pits are holes in the chrome, but the best thing that has worked for me to clean it up is a common SOS pad. Its fine steel wool with a grease cutting soap in it and they work great. SOS pads work great for cleaning up old chrome, just saturate one in water first and then try it.

As Dave pointed out,SOS pads work mint..heavy duty rubbing compound (the red stuff Turtle Wax makes) works good too.

OK, thanks. I've got some SOS and I will give that a try.