How to clean hood latch

[BlackC4]

The hood latch mechanism on the bonnet and the engine lid are old and funky looking. What is the best way to clean these to restore them back to a presentable fashion?

[edmayo]

Do you intend to remove them (and therefore lose your adjustment) or clean them in place?

[Rennman]

I use Wurth citrus degreaser and a detail or tooth brush. It works great in the door jambs and strikers. Use alchohol and water in a spray bottle to flush it all away after the crud is broken down.

Don

[classic]

If you pull it $30 to have it re plated clear or blue zinc unless you can get cadmium in your area.

[BlackC4]

Do you intend to remove them (and therefore lose your adjustment) or clean them in place?

They are all out of the car. I really don't want to spend a couple hours scrubbing each latch with a toothbrush. I was hoping there was some sort of soaking solution or spray on solution that you can spray and wipe with minimal scrubbing except for the seams.

[edmayo]

Since you have the latch out I'd suggest finding a local plater that does clear (ie.silver) zinc plating. No amount of scrubbing will get that newly plated look. All your cleaning will do is get the grease and gunk off the latch, not a bad thing mind you, but at least around here the cost of replating makes spending any time hand cleaning kind of fruitless. Be sure to first remove that spring cup before plating anything.

[304065]

I don't think you will have problems with the upper cup for the spring, but the lower one, the pointed one that contacts the striker, will turn black if you try to have it plated conventionally.

[classic]

The cup is alloy and will get eaten up in the plating process