Rusty Bumper? The 30-Second Solution.
Wacky Hacks: Solving Every Day Problems with Every Day Products
Dear Joey: Do you have any wacky way of cleaning chrome bumpers on a car?—Lorraine W.
Sure, Lorraine, doesn’t everyone?
Here’s mine.
To clean a chrome bumper, simply crumple up a sheet of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil into a ball roughly the size of a baseball, dip it in a bowl of Coca-Cola (the classic stuff), and scrub the bumper with all the gusto of a guy named “Spike” in the parking lot of an auto parts store.
The phosphoric acid in the Coke loosens the rust, while the aluminum foil scrubs it away without scratching the chrome. (Yes, you can use Pepsi instead, but Coke generally works better because it contains slightly more phosphoric acid.)
This is because aluminum foil has the magical ability to be both gentle and abrasive, like a sweet old lady opening a cellophane package of Twizzlers in a movie theater.
And as the aluminum rubs against rust, it reacts to form aluminum oxide, which conveniently acts as a polishing compound.
Who knew?
Well, probably your high school chemistry teacher for one—the very same person who instructed you to wear goggles when sharpening a pencil, because graphite is a “wild, unpredictable element.”
Once your chrome bumper looks ready for a night on the town, give the chrome an extra shine by squeezing a dollop of Alberto VO5 Conditioning Hairdressing onto a soft, dry cloth and buffing the bumper lightly.
It makes the bumper shimmer like only its hairdresser knows for sure—and possibly better than most hairdos.
