I just bought this car and I don't know if it was the previous owner or the car dealer or what but the aluminum trim around the windowsis extremelycorroded in some places. I tried chrome polish and aluminum polish and neither worked. Does anyone have any ideas on how to return it to its original shine? I'm thinking about just trying to find replacements but I'd rather fix it if possible. Thanks a lot!

 

try Mothers aluminium polish

 

i've seen it happen before... i think i ended up replacing it under a CPO warranty

 

I have the same problem and tried chrome cleaners, Mothers polish and a clay bar. Nothing removed the oxidized look. I'm thinking that it must be clear coated and none of those things get byit.

 

I agree with SloRide - it may be really tough to do anything about it. You could try wet sanding with 1500 grit paper, but there's no guarantee that it'll work. Or you could do what I did to my wood trim - I removed, sanded it, prepped and primed, and painted it metallic silver to match my exterior (see the pic in my sig). That way at least the look is uniform. Also, I happen to think it looks really good (certainly far better than my 80s-Buick-era trim did). You could remove the trim strips around your windows, sand and paint them, or even spray them down with RhinoLiner or undercoating spray to black them out. If you do it carefully it can look really good (did it on my 300ZX when the factory black coating peeled, leaving spots of chrome showing through).

 

Anyone else been able to get this replaced under warranty? Audi customer service told me that they only cover trim items for 1 year or 12,000 miles and the CPO warranty excludes "wear" items. Would love to know how this was done as I'd like to do the same thing myself.

 

I'd like to know how fixed aluminized trim that does nothing mechanically constitutes a "wear part".