I did a write up on this topic on another site a long time ago, but it still works just fine and once polished it's much easier to get it to shine again & again. I have heard that oven cleaner will strip the coating off to, but never tried it. Below is the original write up...
Restoring your trim. Many of us would like to have as many new parts as we can but if you can't find them or can't afford them here is another option for at least the trim.
First you need to ether find a straight and non damaged part or one with the least amount of damage you can. If all you have are dented & dinged then you will have to tap those out very carefully. You do not have to have special tools to fix small dents and dings. A flat head screw driver, a hammer, and a shop rag are normally all you will need for most repairs. Always put the trim on the shop rag (not on your work bench) you don't want to pound new dents into the trim from imperfections on your work bench. Tap out the ding & dents very carefully the trim is thin it doesn't take much to pound out most dings. Then you need to take the top coating off of the trim. There are two ways that I found work very well one is sand blasting it off or a fine wire wheel. Both work just fine, I don't really have a preference.
My home made blasting cabinet.
Squirrel fan venting (works great)
Or a bench grinder with a wire wheel
Tools needed.
Wire stripped
& sand blasted
Any scratches or heavy dings that did not tap out will have to be sanded out or at least down to as small as possible. I recommend hand sanding, power sanders are to aggressive for the thin trim. If there are scratches and dings I would start with 180 grit & if its smooth (no scratches or dings) start with 220 grit and then work your way up to 2000 grit.
Now it is time to use a cleaning compound on the trim. You should not mix compounds on the same wheels so I recommend marking your wheels so you know what to use for later projects.
Start cleaning the trim by moving it around the wheel, do not stay in one place to long and keep a firm hold onto the part.
You will start to see a shine start to appear on it, keep going until the whole part looks the same.
Then you will need to wipe it down and clean off all the compound so you don't contaminate your next wheel.
Now put on the polishing wheel, coat the wheel with a high gloss compound and repeat just like you did for the cleaning compound.
when you think your done take a chrome or metal polish and wipe down the part if you see foggy or milky looking spots put more polish compound on the wheel and keep going you may have to repeat this a few times until you get to your desired shine.
Hope this helps.
