Restore question

[Uncle JJ]

Mornin' fellas,
I've had success polishing up the top vent when I restore, but the rivet in the middle just wont come clean.  It always is an ugly rusty plug in the middle of a beautiful shiny vent!  Tell me, restoration guru's, how do you clean the rusty rivet?!
Cheers, JJ

[Shafzilla]

Wanting to know the same thing. How do you do the vent?

[SixZeroFour]

One thing you can try JJ is soak a papertowel that's been folded over and down into about a 2" x 2" square in evaporust, then allow it to sit for a min of 3-4 hours right on top of the rivet (keep checking the towel every hour and add a bit more as it dries out.)

You don't want large amounts of evaporust getting all over the kettle so this way it's only touching the metal portion of the lid vent that you want to clean. After a few hours go after it again with the steel wool... if that doest work you could also try a tiny bell shaped wire brush on a Dremel but again, protect the surrounding vent with something just in case.

Good luck!

[toolhead]

Have you tried barkeepers friend with scotch sponge?.

Barkeepers friend imhas worked really well with removing surface rust ...

If rust is heavy..try lightly sandinging with 220 -300 grit paper to remove bulk rust and then use barkeeprs friend..thatbshould clean herbupbfor you

[Shafzilla]

How do you guys do the vent itself?

[LightningBoldtz]

[SixZeroFour]

^ yup

But when doing the vent look carefully and it will actually have a grain to the metal. If you sand or use steel wool try to sand in the same direction as the graining and it will both clean easier and will have a more uniform finish after final polish.

[Shafzilla]

I bought Brasso at home depot for the legs. So just do them the same way. Light scrub with steel wool and then polished up.

[SixZeroFour]

That's pretty much it! Have a look at the resto guides as well:

http://weberkettleclub.com/weber-charcoal-grill-restoration/cleaning-and-polishing-old-aluminum-legs/

[Shafzilla]

I used that for the legs. Wasn't sure if I could follow the same guidelines for the ash pan and vents.

@SixZeroFour Thank you for the guides by the way. They were easy to follow and extremely helpful.

[Uncle JJ]

Thanks, fellas!

[Uncle JJ]

One more question.  I seem to remember someone found a way to repair cracks in the rubber tread on old metal wheels.  Anybody have an idea how to fix?

[MartyG]

Wasn't sure if I could follow the same guidelines for the ash pan and vents.@SixZeroFour Thank you for the guides by the way. They were easy to follow and extremely helpful.

Vents are a crapshoot. Some buttons come out clean, others are toast. Not much you can do with a toasted button. I use Simichrome on everything, and have had good luck. If you can see yourself taking the pic in the button, that's a bonus. 

[bladz]

Wow! MartyG those vent rivets are amazing!  Guess I'm on my way out to find some Simichrome.  If all my vents looked like that, I bet my wife would let me grab another grill! Where do you get Simichrome, any stores handle it?

[MartyG]

I've never seen it in stores. Amazon has it.
http://www.amazon.com/Simichrome-390050-Metal-Polish-Tube/dp/B0002YUQ4E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428959501&sr=8-1&keywords=simichrome+polish