I would approach this by masking off the body work with blue tape the wider the better. Try to get the tape under the trim.  I have a small two inch air driven buffer, however you may have to resort hand polishing if you don't have one. You may choose to sand the trim prior to polish. 2500 or 3000 then polish with smie chrome or something like that, use micro fiber cloth. Try a small area first.  I think you will get a fair result and a good work out to boot. The final step is to wax it.
Richard

In my opinion, you cannot get the stainless in as good a shape doing it on the car vs off.  You really have to have a buffing wheel with the three different compounds to have it come out nice.  I did the stainless on three cars - my 48, 54 and 56 Bird.  All off the car and it came out very nice, but it was a lot of work.  I tried to do some on my 54 that I did not want to remove and got pretty much no where.  Maybe it was the thought that if I slipped I would have screwed up the paint so I didn't do it long enough or hard enough.  I see why the pros that do stainless work charge so much.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Thanks Charlie

Hmmmm...  Jim, your effort to obtain first-hand knowledge on the polishing of your stainless trim before you begin is a good one.  My recollection is that FoMoCo used a 'flash chrome' technique to coat their stainless moldings giving them a brilliant, reflective appearance when new.  I've heard that the 'flash chrome' application is t-h-i-n and can be buffed through relatively easily.  Unfortunately, while I raise the caution flag with you, I don't have solid information on this topic.

Regards,


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

I'd like to know if anyone has been able to polish the stainless parts on a Ford
while it's still installed on the vehicle?
This Crown has a lot of trim that is in pretty good condition, but I'd like to make it
better, if possible.
I'd rather not remove it at this time.
Any ideas or experience?
Thankyou
Jim