Stuttgarten

My car's windows trim which appears to be stainless has lost its shine and sparkle. Attached pictures are way better than reality Is there anything that could be done to restore its stainless quality short of replacing it with new? I'm tempted to buff it with stainless polish but not sure if trim is truly stainless or a coat of chrome on top of plastic. Any suggestions?

Stuttgarten

Anyone else having that problem, besides me?

DFWdude

Mine appears to have some "stains" but can't tell if it's water stains or something else.

Almost certain this is chromed plastic. I would also like to know what cleaning product is needed to wipe off the staining.

ygmn

Happens if not washed or detailed enough...

Try washing car by hand first.
Then try some different cleaners on towels first not getting cleaner on paint or glass...
test in most hidden place.

I do not remember if true metal or coated... bext thing would be to go to junk yard and cut one up and see...
after clean try wax or paint polish first as they are very mild and help with the shine.
a little goes long way here so not to get in all the cracks and gunk up...

Now if you polish and your rag turns BLACK then it is metal and you can use metal polish like NEver Dull great at cleaning metals..
or flitz or meguiars etc..

roviw1

I have these marks on my 2015 S500, I also have them on a Jaguar as well, funny that today I saw this Jaguar thread
https://www.jaguarforum.com/showthread.php?t=122282
so I have bought a tub of the polish from Amazon that one of the guys recommended.
Mothers Mag & Aluminium Polish 5oz
It will be interesting to see if it helps on either or both cars.

LILBENZ230

This is on our 2015 Porsche Macan S - 40,300 miles.



No issues with our 2016 E350.

ml3504matic____

2014 E350 here with 141,000km no staining lmao. just have a scratch on one.

T100T

Car's a 2010, I've owned it for six years and it has sat in Houston sun. The window trim is coated metal, not sure what with but it feels like a plastic and is oxidized similar to a cloudy headlight. I used a small buffing wheel on a battery powered drill (was concerned not to "burn" through the plastic) and both headlamp restoring compound and Mothers metal polish; not a big difference, perhaps the headlamp compound was slightly better. I wasn't going for "as new" results and you can still see some cloudiness in some areas but it's a big improvement. I went over areas three or so times, took around three hours for the whole job, ,

For the trim at the bottom of the windows I just used masking tape on the door and rubber, for the trim going across the top of the doors I put tape on the upper side and trapped plastic sheet in the door to protect the door rubber - see attached.

Here's the buffing wheels -
Peter

DaveW68

This is super easy to resolve. Get some Meguiar's Wheel Brightener and mix it 5:1 with water (5 parts water) in a spray bottle. Spritz a little bit on a micro-fiber cloth and gently rub on the trim in the most inconspicuous area first to test it. Don't leave it on for more than 30 seconds before buffing dry with a clean micro-fiber. It may take a couple of tries before those spots are completely gone. Be sure to wear rubber gloves and be in a well ventilated area when doing this as the mixture is acidic. Give your car a thorough wash immediately after doing this treatment.

If there is clear-coat on the trim, then this is perfectly safe to do. But be very careful not to get any on the glass as it can leave cloudy areas. This stuff works wonders at removing stubborn hard-water spots on your clear-coated paint too without ever needing to compound. But if you have a ceramic coated car, be aware that this can remove the coating and will strip waxes.

nc211

nc211

Don’t know what happened to my words for the post above - this stuff is a favorite of boaters in saltwater locations for trim rail restoration and maintenance. Does increasingly things to chrome, wheels, and so on. Has ammonia in it (stinks) that will remove the oxidation and leave it shiny and new for months. Can get it at the box car part stores too... I’ve used for at least 20 years myself. I swear by it..

bmwpowere36m3

I've used Blue Magic on chrome and SS with success.... but I'd be cautious using it on the car's trim. Personally I think its coated (likely anodized) aluminum based on prior MB experience. I wouldn't use anything too aggressive which is going to remove the coating and cause the aluminum to oxidize and discolor quicker.

Metal polishes work well to clean up and polish raw/uncoated aluminum, but will be a regular maintenance item as no protection against oxidation is left behind.

pjw1967

Put a small magnet on it. It is likely anodized aluminum. If you get aggressive, you can remove the anodization. Then you'll have bare aluminum which will tarnish quickly. My '67 GTO is parked next to my '14 GL450. Same issues. Google anodized aluminum car trim.......

Note to BMWpower. Didn't see your msg till I posted mine.

flint350

Sorry about resurrecting the dead thread - but, I just dealt with this problem on my 2018 S560. It's been there a while and I was never able to clean it properly to new condition. However, since I was moving (mid pandemic) from Baltimore to Pensacola, I didn't spend time with the local dealer to see what could be done. Now that I have settled here and found my new dealer, I took the car in for Service A and pointed out the trim issue. The service dept gave me a new GLE 450 as a loaner and said they would deal with it. They kept my car overnight and called me this morning to explain they would need it another day. The reason was that they contacted MBUSA about the trim and were told to use a special 2 stage cleaning solution before going any further and that had to rest over night. Looking at the trim this morning, they said the cleaning did not help and they told MBUSA that the result was "unacceptable." They are keeping my car an extra day and having new trim delivered for install by tomorrow. I'm pleased with this effort (so far) and hope to have new trim and no damage. They also did the oil plug recall service and that is apparently a bit more involved than a simple plug/seal improvement (FYI).

DaveW68

Ask them if they can save a piece or two of the old trim for you. Then when it's off the car, you can look at the backing to see if it is metal or plastic. If it's metal, then you can try the magnet test to see if it is aluminum or steel.

Once you have that figured out, get some Meguiars "wheel brightener", mix it 4:1 or 5:1 with water, put on some rubber gloves, and use a rag or old microfiber with that solution and see if those spots come off. You should buff it off after no more than 30 seconds. It may take a couple of tries, but as long as it doesn't stain the piece of trim, the spots should come right off. If you don't get the results your looking for, then don't thin the solution with as much water. And do this in a well ventilated area.

Then share your experience with the forum here so people can see if this is something that works. If it isn't raw aluminum, the spots should disappear.

flint350

I'll see about getting the old piece. However, given that they went through some 2 step process at the direction of MBUSA prior to authorizing replacement, I have to think a Meguiars formula is unlikely to have any effect.

DaveW68

Try it. I think you'll be surprised.

nightspd

Have the same problem on my '16, curious if anyone has some before/after pics after successfully taking care of this issue?

mholt

I redid the headlights on my 2011 ML350 last week and still had the pad with the liquid, so i tried a couple of spots on the window trim. It took the spots off and made the trim look brand new.

flint350

None of those solutions worked on my 2018 S560. I took it to the dealer for service B and pointed out the problem, which was on all of the trim surrounding the doors. They contacted MBUSA and were told to try a "special" cleaning solution formula and let it sit 24 hours. When even that didn't work, the dealer contacted MBUSA again and a full replacement of the trim was finally authorized. They ended up keeping my car for 3 1/2 days, but it came out looking great and the problem has not reappeared.

bmwpowere36m3

Most likely it’s etched into the anodized layer... there’s no fixing, which won’t also require lots of upkeep later. For example if one was to polish it down the base aluminum.

Water spots, yea an acid or very light polish can help if it hasn’t gone too deep.

Gene Gorman

We had water spots and sort of a cloudy surface on the trim of our S560. I used Griot’s Perfecting Cream and removed all of the spots and restored the bright finish. When finished I coated them with Torque Detail Mirror Shine.

W205C43PFL

That worked : )

1787

Has the shine lasted? I just bought a 2020 S560 with the cloudy trim problem, and only have a few months left of factory warranty. I tried WD40 which brightens it up temporarily but only lasts a little while. The dealership said they needed to try buffing it before replacing, which they charged $180 for. It does look much better but not great, and I am worried that it will come back with no time for warranty replacement.