Best way to clean chrome grill

EDIT: I am now aware that the grill and emblems are not, in fact, chrome. First recommendation was plastic polish.

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I have a silver 2016 Taco TRD Sport 4x4 3.5L V6, with the (chrome?, aluminum?) grill. Anyone know the best way to clean/polish it? I tried a chrome wheel cleaner I found in my garage and it worked but I'm not a huge fan of spraying that stuff all over the front of the truck so it can run down the other paint and stuff since it contains corrosive materials. Also, is there anything you guys recommend for cleaning/polishing the "Tacoma" emblems as well as the toyota emblem on the sides/back of the truck?

Also, for anyone wondering, I've found that dawn dish soap and water is the most effective cleaner for the alloy wheels. Takes brake dust and grime off with very little effort.

Thanks guys!

Z

 

Number one, it is not chrome - it is typically aluminum that has been applied in a vacuum and then covered with a layer of plastic. Use plastic polish.

 

Good to know! I totally just assumed, didn't even look it up. Thanks!

 

But I could be wrong - it happens a couple of times a day.

Every shiny finish isn't chrome plating, and the finishes that aren't chrome plating may not be suitable for automotive applications.

Cheap toys and even some low quality interior automotive parts like interior plastic emblems are vacuum metallized. This is a 3-step process involving applying a base coat of paint, then metallizing with aluminum vapor in a vacuum chamber, and then clear coating. But those finishes probably wouldn't last a week in a BC winter. Real chrome plating on plastic is a very difficult process of about 30 wet processing steps; you should probably farm it out to a plating shop not only because of difficulty, but because of the regulated carcinogenic toxins like hexavalent chromium that are involved in real chrome plating.

Yes, plastic can be vacuum metallized with aluminum very inexpensively in volume, but it utilizes a very expensive (say $1/2 million metallizing chamber), although I have heard of hobbyists cobbling together such chambers if you are really determined about it.

A third alternative these days is "chrome look paint", which is a finish very similar to vacuum metallizing, with the same 3-step process of base coat, shiny layer, and clear coat. But in this case the shiny layer is hand sprayed with silver nitrate and reducer or microscopic aluminum flakes. So "chrome look paint" is more expensive than vacuum metallizing for high volume parts because of the labor of hand spraying, but less capital intensive for lower volumes because paint spraying equipment is much less expensive than vacuum metallizing chambers.

If you can get a really good, hard, non-yellowing, smooth clear coat on the vacuum metallizing or the chrome look paint, it may have some limited utility as an exterior automotive finish, but OEMS all still use real chrome plating.​

 

I hate messing with chrome; I bought the SR grille and debadged.
Every chrome product I've tried sucks on plastic chrome. I have better luck with paint care products.
Maybe some wax on top to keep it looking nicer, longer.

Might want to watch the Dawn soap around the tires; dries out sidewalls.

 

Keep the Dawn for dishes. Check out some wheel specific stuff that will be friendlier to your truck.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/official-ask-a-detailer-thread.8957/

 

couldn't resist....paint it black.

 

OEM automotive exterior parts, especially parts like grille surrounds that take a lot of abuse, use an actual chrome plating process. The quote that @HBMurphy provided from a discussion specifically about automotive grills actually ends with the words "...but OEMS all still use real chrome plating." For cleaning I have used everything from bug and tar remover and WD40 for bugs (just this last weekend as a matter of fact) to fairly aggressive products made for cleaning and polishing chrome without a problem.

 

Don't drink the cool aid and have your truck looking like a Big mouth bass feeding