Headlight bezels

So my headlight bezels had some discoloration that I actually thought was paint overspray.  When I tried to buff them I realized that they must be plated and they were down to the base metal so now those areas look a dull grey.  Anybody do a rehab on theirs?  I could just buy some off eBay but want to check here first. Thanks

You can get them rechrome. That will probably cost a couple of hundred bucks.

I think they had some kind of lacquer coating on them from the factory, they weren't chromed. If you can't afford to have them chromed you might try wiping them with laquer thinner or MEK and see if it comes off on your rag. Then you can polish them, clean them, and respray them with lacquer or whatever if you want. Be very careful polishing the 'grill' part, it's easy to screw up/stretch that grid area. It's all best done by hand, pressed down to a flat surface using a block to polish. Polish, clean; polish, clean; polish ect. If it's really bad start with 1000(or lower if need be) grit wet paper and work your way up to 2000+, then polish. Or start polishing with rubbing compound and work up through "deep" cut to "finishing" compounds.

+ what Seth G said.

Chroming them might make them warp.

There are some nice shiny silver/aluminum spray paints on the market, which might be easier than polishing and using clear lacquer.

The headlight bezels or "doors" as Ford called them are anodized aluminum. Look that up to read the procedure to polish them. Basically you remove the anodizing, but them and then replace the anodizing if you don't like aluminum corrosion.