Refinishing Aluminum Bumpers

I took off both bumpers today to clean them up. So far, I found all kinds of tips to get the pits and factory finish off. Most folks recommend sending them in to anodize them again, and not clearcoat. It seems the clearcoat finish or powder coat will chip and corrode the metal even worse.

A few forums recommended a process of sanding up from 320 to 2000 then buff them with Meguiars Aluminum Polish or equivalent, but that you'd be doing it pretty frequently and still have to deal with water marks. Then I found this on another car site:

http://www.qsl.net/ve3mcf/elecraft_reflect/Cleaning_Aluminum.txt

which referred to this product line. They make it for Truckers and us humble folk:

http://www.metalwax.com/

http://www.metalwax.com/BIG%20TRUCKS.htm

http://www.metalwax.com/Spray On Metal Polish.htm

It beats whatever other system I've seen:
http://autopia.org/forum/guide-detailing/80224-paint-clinic.html

I'm gonna try with the ammonia to get the factory finish off, then sand out the pits using the sanding tips I found elsewhere, and then vinegar, then metal ready (por15) phosphate and try to find a CDN vendor for that Metal Wax system.

Those bumpers were a beach to get off! I had a hitch installed to move from Mexico with our own utility trailer. Fairmont hitches don't exist down there, so I got a shop to weld a modified Reese hitch and they tack welded to one of the mounting plate bolts on one side! 8 years and holding, so I hauled out the Bosch Sawzall and nipped it off, after 3 blades.

 

I didn't know there was anything else but the stainless bumpers I have on my Cougar wagon.

Aluminum eh!

 

Yeah! Mine are OK, but the front one off of the Canadian two door is really corroded, ON THE INSIDE, where all the fasteners are attached. I'll bet it sounds like a kid's rattle, when those things start falling off.

I'm going to use vinegar to soak the bumperettes and clean off the old wax and whatever other muck is on them. Then I'll phosphate the exposed steel parts, before coating and reinstallation.

You sure scored though with Stainless Steel bumpers! I'm jealous, already!

I also noticed that the bumper trim (black strips) are spaced differently from the 1978 two door and my 1979 wagon - my bumperettes are farther apart meaning the plastic parts aren't interchangeable. I was going to use the center one to replace one side on the back bumper whose clips had broken off. But I figured out how to restore mine (heat weld them from the scrapped strips). I'll never find those up here and there's no NOS or replacements for the wagon rear bumper. Its either that or buy some stick-on molding (yuck!)

 

My Cougar doesn't have bumperettes. My Cougar is quite well equipped but doesn't have all the options of the day. Mine has those crappy flexable plastic end caps. Although I have all four I've seen many a car with those missing including older toyota trucks. I guess it makes stamping bumpers real easy but I'm old school. Bumpers should be all chrome plated steel with no plastic attachments.

Interesting note on the 82 Cougar wagon is that the vinyl seats were optional. Really nice cloth was standard and there was a leather option as well. Back in the day vinyl was usually standard faire and you had to pay extra for cloth or leather if it was even offered. A really attractive velour interior was also optional as well.

 

I have solid rubber/plastic? caps like those from the '78. Mine had the velour and the new bucket reclining seats from an '82 sedan are velour. They do look comfy. They've got the firm, high seat and back bolsters like the famous Ricarro seats.

I can't imagine anyone wanting vinyl seats in a hot sunny climate. I've yowled too many times getting into a vinyl seat. Naugahyde is fine, for some reason, but commercial vinyl is like a teflon pan! Especially with shorts, yikes!

 

That Metal Wax company is the Store Front for a company called Jakel Products. I searched for Jakel and found some Amway dealer who sells it.

In the same search, I found another forum where they talk about other aluminum cleaners and stuff, and found another company who sells products like Jakel's under their own name: Flitz. Jakel does 'Private Branding' so I'll dig deeper.

Here's Flitz US:
http://www.flitz.com/

Flitz Canada:
http://www.flitz.ca/

and the site I read about other methods:
http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/archive/index.php/t-231905.html

 

Oops! Almost forgot!

1) I'm going to clean off some old paint overspray (I touched up the hitch a few times over the last 8 years and sprayed the bumper. I'll use Mineral Spirits or lacquer thinner.

2) I'll clean out the inside of the bumpers with soap and water, after the Mineral Spirits to get the road tar, etc. off, then...

3) I'll use EASY-OFF to get the anodized finish off.

4) Vinegar to clean up what's left

5) Sand off the pits and metal scratches (320-grit, maybe the Dremel to smooth off the nicks.)

6) Sand the whole thing smoooooth up to 2000-grit.

7) One of the metal cleaners (aluminum above) and then one of the 'long-lasting' waxes they recommend.

What I forgot to mention was the Easy-Off to clean off the Anodized finish. Mine is too badly chipped (many unpaved Mexican highways later) to try to save that factory finish.

You apply it and leave it in the HOT SUN, then repeat if necessary, then sand your little heart out with a rubber sanding block, or a woodworker's orbital sander, not the rotary or drill type (unless you like a lot of swirls). I'll do the hand job. We must, we must, recover our lust(er)!

 

Mine was first sold in Dallas so choosing vinyl is odd. I'd be willing to bet the original buyer bought it off the lot. The Cougar wagon was not a good seller and it was priced without options at $8,600 in 1982 so it could have been a very good deal as it was built in June 82 and the summer season is a good time for the dealers to unload the old models. I have some cheap fabric covers on the front seats to prevent skin transfer. Ouch! We're supposed to be down to 100* this weekend so I may tear in to the engine to replace the valve stem seals. With the cover gasket I've go $18 in to the job. I wouldn't normally worry about it because this time of year I only use it about once a week due to the lack of air cond but my next emissions test in '08 requires no visible smoke. New California requirement. It'll puff a good one on start up after it sits a while and I don't want to risk a failure.

 

I've been using vinegar to clean off the rusty parts. I found some recipes to make your own sunblock and mosquito repellent. Both call for vinegar. When I wash up it's hard to tell which is the tan-line or the dirt and grease. You work in this sunlight, even under my canopy, and you still get tanned, we're gonna be 'hunks' after all this outdoor frying!

We're back under the 80's until at least Tuesday next week! Whew! But the winds are up, so I may have to dampen my backyard while I roll the primer and paint.

I hope to get the primer on and retouch the nicks and dents I missed, then get two coats on by the weekend. I still have to do all the doors, off the car, because I have to apply the woodgrain wrapped around the door edges and you can't do that right with the doors on, except the tailgate.

Gettin' close, gettin' close!

 

My wife is Mexican and she says I'm getting darker than she is. But I had to renew my new Photo Driver's License last Saturday and just got it. I look like I fried under a heat lamp with an eyepatch on! I wore a baseball cap for a while a few days earlier working on some shiny stuff and it must have reflected back and burned me in the face, but only on the lower half (below the eyes). Now I have to live with this picture for 5 years! Oh well, I'll be one of the few 'pin-striped' tourists around.

 

Ah, the Horse's mouth. The Aluminum Anodizers Council have an FAQ, surprise, surprise.

Drano can take off the anodized hardness which leaves the bumper exposed to faster corrosion. The Aluminum wax vendors don't tell you that.

Anodized Aluminum FAQs
http://www.anodizing.org/faqs.html

Ok, PLAN B!

Vinegar, sand off the scratches, clearcoat.

I'm not working with Drano except to clean out drains! You have to build a bumper-length bath and end up with a soft aluminum finish. On an old bumper? No way, Josephine! You'd have to do it every spring, after Road Salt season! Who's got 1982 Cougar Stainless Steel Bumpers? I'm going to watch for a pair of those puppies. In the meanwhile, I'll clean these up and restore them the best I can.

The Drano chemicals just melt your skin right off and kill the nerve endings so that when you try to wash it off, you rub your own flesh right off. No thanks! I'm not into self-administered Sado-masochism - that's not my kind of hand-job!

 

Another OOPS!

Only in Canada, you say? Government Awarded, even! This is just great for tourism. It cleans Anodized Aluminum! I'm all for being unique, but this product goes over the top!

ELEPHANT SNOT???? That's what they call it!!!! :banghead3: You can even get a baseball cap on Ebay! Oh wow!

It sounds like a good product for graffiti removal, but its not for the bumpers.

http://www.graffitisolutions.com/

 

My last piece on this until I do mine.

To clean aluminum, talk to your wife or look up on the www. I just found a site on how to clean up aluminum pots and domestic appliances with Vinegar. After all that stuff about Drano, I was rattled. I've worked with it in plumbing, and Easy-Off is similar in chemistry, BTW, and I've worked with all kinds of dangerous chemicals, but most of them give you a chance to get it off. That Drano is ruthless! You can't even feel it removing your own flesh! It just slips off?! Holy smokin' fingernail! Ouch!

Here's a moment of user-friendly common, practical sense.

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/aluminum

The end result desired is a shiny bumper that won't need a whole lot of maintenance, so leaving the anodized characteristics makes sense for the Hard surface qualities, the rest is sanding, buffing waxing. In my case that's like a facelift for these bumpers. Not surgical removal of my hands or the Anodized finish. I wonder if Ford just clearcoated them or used a hard finish powdercoat over the anodized treatment?

Apparently its natural, precoated finish is a dull gray, so the top shine is done after with buffing and a coating of some kind.
http://www.aws.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?tid=5458

I'm sold - My PLAN B it is!

 

Who's got 1982 Cougar Stainless Steel Bumpers? I'm going to watch for a pair of those puppies.

I do but you have to buy everything else between them!:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

If I can find them up here, I do that. California cars are probably worth every penny. So's mine, so there.

I just tested the Easy Off on the old bumper. Forget about it! I'll walk over to Safeway and pick up a gallon of Vinegar.