Hi all

Massively frustrated.... bought some replacement side steps and had them fitted the beginning of the month. Cracking job, looked wonderful compared to the rusted knackered old ones.

Fast forward to a few days ago and I got the local car wash to wash the car. Noticed today there are strange runs and discolouration on the metal on the steps. Looks like some chemical reaction. Tried washing but no joy.

Anyone got any advice, except go off on one at the car wash place?

Cheers

Try a bit of Solvol Autosol - should polish out .
Then apply some protective coating - ceramic is best

I use meguiars metal Polish, it's a paste rather than a liquid and I put it on with a dishwasher sponge,, sometimes use the green back if the marks are bad. 2010 RRS, TDV8
bali Blue / colour coded
side steps / flappy paddles
black perforated leather
22" overfinch
heated everything, TV,fridge ...... now with gold calipers and mud flaps !( black mud flaps that is) !!
Many years ago,,,,, 1955 series 1 landie , sometimes wish I had kept it

Thanks all, will look into your replies.

Here's a pic of what I'm talking about

Click image to enlarge

Hi there,

I have exactly the same discolouration on my side step alloy trims. Did you find anything that restored the trims?

Thanks.

Steve

Bump

My steps discoulered before I even removed the protective plastic cover. I drove back from the garage, parked the car for 3 months while I was in the states and only pulled the protective cover off when I returned. And I had instant tarnishing.

I’m thinking of taking the trim off and spaying gloss black. 2019 5.0 SC SVA (Current)
2012 5.0 SC AB. Sadly written off by a campervan
23 plate Focus ST (Current)
1942 VEP Ford GPW Jeep (Willys) (Current)
1943 Whites M16 Halftrack (Current)
16 plate Eurofighter Typhoon, 2 x Eurojet engines with 20,000lbs thrust each. 1380mph

I've used alloy wheel cleaner in the past.

Thanks for the replies

I too was thinking of colour coding the strips to the car but will give alloy wheel cleaner a go over the weekend and report back on the results

I have read that these are aluminium strips, so I will be trying the usual
wheel cleaners and some Mothers cleaner on mine..

Will let you know how it goes..

Mine look the same as the pic's above at the moment.. ===========================================
2012 Range Rover Sport Autobiography 3.0 SDV6 8 speed Automatic
Indus Silver with Hockenheim premium two-tone leather Ebony/Lunar,

Evo5man wrote:

Thanks for the replies

I too was thinking of colour coding the strips to the car but will give alloy wheel cleaner a go over the weekend and report back on the results

Any luck with cleaning them? I tried a metal polish and it didnt work

I have just tried a few methods and products to get the 'staining' off my aluminium side step trims, here is what I found:


This is what they looked like before I started.

First I tried T cut and although it did improve the look, it did not remove the staining completely.


This was the result after T cut

Next I tried Meguiars NXT Metal Polish.


No real improvement over the T cut trial

Finally, I tried a weak acid cleaner recommeneded for cleaning alloy wheels.


This made the staining worse I had to go over the trims again with T cut to restore the finish back to the previous imperfect finish.

I am starting to think that the staining may be behind a laquer applied to the aluminium trim during manufacture?

Looks like the only solution is to have the trims removed and painted, unless anyone has found a solution that works?

If anyone out there has found a permanent and effective solution (other than painting or replacement) please share it with the rest of us

Hmm. Perhaps its an age-related thing my side-steps cleaned up with alloy cleaner but are quite old and any lacquer/coating would be long gone.

Could it be some sort of anodising?

Mine is anodised by the looks of it, and it doesn’t like salt 2019 5.0 SC SVA (Current)
2012 5.0 SC AB. Sadly written off by a campervan
23 plate Focus ST (Current)
1942 VEP Ford GPW Jeep (Willys) (Current)
1943 Whites M16 Halftrack (Current)
16 plate Eurofighter Typhoon, 2 x Eurojet engines with 20,000lbs thrust each. 1380mph

My recollection of school chemistry is that aluminium oxidises almost instantly on contact with air to a dull grey. If you have a piece of aluminium and scratch it, just for moment you see the true shiny colour of aluminium.

So assuming that these strips are aluminium, if they are shiny it must be because something is stopping the air from getting to the aluminium - perhaps lacquer.

I know mine are in a pretty bad condition and I've tried a few things to clean them but nothing has been perfect. I guess it may well come down to a sand-down job, some aluminium etch primer and then a repaint - perhaps black - followed by a protective strip of some sort.

Not convinced of my chemistry here but the solution may be the only way. Robin
2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8
Gone:
Jaguar S-Type V8 4.2 Sport
MGZTT 190 2.5