[Richard]

We are in the early stages of a modest remodel. One of the things to change is the polished brass for all fittings and what not. We have the commonly used Grohe shower set in polished brass. You can still get cartridges for the thermostatic cartridge but the trim  is long obsolete. I really don't want to change out the mixing valve because of the tight access. 

I tried stripping the brass finish. A wire brush strips it, but the plating underneath is yellow tinted. 

I looked on line and at several high end Grohe dealers for replacement trim in chrome. I could not find a replacement fixture, but I did find one source of individual replacement trim pieces. I would have had more in them than the coach is worth going that route. 

I corresponded with Grohe. Their solution, buy the individual trim. 

Today, we went into an out of the way showroom, and voila!. They had a display board with the obsolete design in the chrome finish. I asked if they could get it, but I was just baiting the salesperson. She came back with, "those numbers aren't in our system".

I asked if I could buy it. The answer "we can't sell it to you cause it's not in the system".

You know, a hundred dollar bill goes a long way to help with people's creativity. 

If you need any replacement brass parts for the shower, I will hang on to them for a while. 

[lbrachfe]

SCORE one for Benjamin