Classic Car Owner Mick Hewitt on restoring the shine to his vintage Morgan

Classic Car Owner Mick Hewitt on restoring the shine to his vintage Morgan

By Mick Hewitt

You wouldn’t dream of driving your classic car through an automatic car wash, so why would you polish your prized possession with average cleaning products? Classic car collectors invest a lot of time - and money - in restoring classic cars to their original glory, right down to the glimmering paint jobs and the all important chrome and aluminium. So its important to buy the best quality products available.
In my opinion the proper way to polish chrome and and aluminium on a classic car is to use a top quality restorative Metal Polish such as MAAS Metal Polish. In fact MAAS is so effective in restoring tarnished metals that it leaves your car looking like you just drove out of the factory!

 

         MAAS Polish

Polish the Chrome
Nothing sets off a showroom/concours car quite like detailed glimmering chrome and aluminium to a sparkling shine, and to clear signs of oxidation from headlights, as well. Your classic car is your pride and joy so give it MAAS metal polish!


Oxidized and tarnished aluminium electrical box: I believe this has never been cleaned/polished from leaving the factory

 

Restored aluminium electrical box using MAAS Metal Polish

 Tarnished wing Mirror

 

 Restored with MAAS Metal Polish

Metal Polishing Your Car by Hand

Metal Polishing your car by hand is a relatively simple process, but it’s important to take your time and do it properly to get the best possible results. To do the job right, you’ll need the right tools, which in this case I used:

  • MAAS metal polish
  • Muslin cheese cloth
  • Microfiber cloth

MAAS Polish

Before you start Polishing

First, you must clean the surface of any chrome/aluminium components. A microfibre cloth, is ideal as it is gentle on chrome/aluminium

Furthermore, the delicate fibres of a microfibre cloth trap dust and debris effectively, ensuring a thorough cleaning action without damaging and scratching the surface.

Mix a weak solution of detergent or car soap with warm water, creating a soapy solution to wash your chrome/aluminium. Do not use this solution on the rest of your car

Since your chrome components need to be treated differently than the paintwork, use a non-abrasive cleaning agent to preserve the chrome's finish, removing grime, dirt and fingerprints effectively without causing any harm to the surface.

Once you have washed the chrome, thoroughly dry microfibre cloth the different elements since any remaining water can lead to watermarks.

Once you have your equipment, here are the steps you should take:

Step 1 - Apply the metal polish to the muslin cheese cloth. Use as little metal
polish as possible. It’s better to apply many thin coats of Maas metal polish.

Step 2 - Rub the metal polish onto your chrome/aluminium. With a tight, circu-
lar motion, rub the metal polish onto your chrome/aluminium. Apply the met-
al polish one part at a time.

Step 3 - Rub the metal polish away with a cloth. Before the metal polish dries, use your microfiber cloth to wipe it away, using the same type of circular mo-
tion with your hand. You shouldn’t need to use too much force, but make sure
you turn the cloth frequently to prevent metal polish from building up in the
fibres.

Step 4 - Repeat process until required finish is achieved.

Equipment used:

  • Maas Metal Polish
  • Microfibre cloth
  • Muslin cheese cloth
Back to blog