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Straighten and polish SS original or buy aftermarket

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67_LS1

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
The top of the tailgate on my 70 el Camino has a few dings and is pretty dull. The rest of the bad surround is pretty good. Is it better to have someone straighten/polish the original or just buy an aftermarket piec?
Does anyone know anyone that does straighten and polishing of SS?
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#2 ·
67_LS1 said:
The top of the tailgate on my 70 el Camino has a few dings and is pretty dull. The rest of the bad surround is pretty good. Is it better to have someone straighten/polish the original or just buy an aftermarket piec?
Does anyone know anyone that does straighten and polishing of SS? View attachment 829669
View attachment 829670
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I would straighten and refinish OEM. I have never liked how the aftermarket trim fits.

King Of Trim... Pacoima Ca

King of Trim | Quality automotive trim restoration

kingoftrim.com kingoftrim.com
 
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#4 ·
That can all be fixed and look mint. But even better... it will fit perfectly!
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
123pugsy said:
It can be fixed, but at what cost?
I see a lot of hours labor there.
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Yes, cost will be an issue since this is a driver. I see repop trim for $100-ish. I’d pay more to keep the original but there will be a limit. $100 is not a lot of labor time.
 
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#7 ·
67_LS1 said:
Yes, cost will be an issue since this is a driver. I see repop trim for $100-ish. I’d pay more to keep the original but there will be a limit. $100 is not a lot of labor time.
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Not sure how much they would chrge for that. But they are refinishing some 64 dogdish hubcaps for me at 100 a cap. Mine are not dented or dinged so it just refinishing and painting
 
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Discussion starter · #10 ·
I’ve got a call into King of Trim. It looks like I’ll need to ship it to them to get a quote.
Another local guy wants to see it before he’d quote it.
The local guy I could drive to but the King of a trim I’d be in it $20 before I got a quote.
 
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#11 · (Edited)
See what your local guy has to say. The other thing you could do is have a go at it yourself. Get a couple of scrap pieces of trim off something and practice. It's not really that hard to do. As the others have said the aftermarket stuff is not good. Or what is out there for used? Maybe you could find a better original one on Ebay?
 
#12 ·
67_LS1 said:
The top of the tailgate on my 70 el Camino has a few dings and is pretty dull. The rest of the bad surround is pretty good. Is it better to have someone straighten/polish the original or just buy an aftermarket piec?
Does anyone know anyone that does straighten and polishing of SS? View attachment 829669
View attachment 829670
Click to expand...
Unless you're hitting the competition car show scene every weekend, why not go aftermarket and just hang on to your original for when you might be on the carpet at Mecum?
 
#13 ·
blm said:
This guy does great work. Haven't talked to him for a couple years so hope he is still at it. He is in Indiana.

Dennis Barnett
Classic Molding Restoration
(317) 919-8434
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he is. Dennis does all of my trim restoration. I’ll be delivering some pieces to him the end of the month in MD.
 
#16 ·
70SSOBSESSION said:
This^^^ I think I would find a nicer original to start with that is going to be a lot of work to bring back. Not only that but sitting facing up it will have to be perfect because every ripple will jump out as you walk by.
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Depends who's doing the work, but sometimes you need to split the difference & settle for a few waves, still better than poorly fitting aftermarket trim, IMO. Stainless is less prone to ripples or waves than aluminum is, but you can still make aluminum look better than new if you are willing to spend some time getting it right.

My wagon had 30 pieces of stainless & aluminum. Probably took me about 60+ hours to restore all of them...that includes removing dings, sanding & polishing each piece. The end result is priceless, especially because the car has several moldings that are almost impossible to find, but not every car needs that level of trim. I personally would never use a repop molding, but some guys don't care as long as it's passable.
 
#17 ·
Now I on the other hand, have used two sets of repro bed trim on '68-'72 El Caminos and found that the fit and appearance were good.
 
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#20 ·
richiecat4223 said:
You can take the dings out yourself and sand out the scratches.
Then use a polishing disc on it.
Watch YouTube videos on it also.
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Which is exactly what I'm doing now on the window trim and wing vent stainless pillars on a 65 300 Deluxe. It's not that bad at all, just time consuming. Dolly and a small trim hammer, and sand paper from 300 up to 2000. Watched a few YouTube videos and started at it. It's kinda cool to see the progress and the shine come back after a lot of elbow grease. And it saves me a couple hundred bucks I can spend on something else.
 
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