Clean stainless steel tailpipe

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mott911

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I need some assistance on how to clean my stainless steel tailpipes. It is a 2006 Porsche 911 C4S that I purchased this summer. It looks like the previous owner tried to give them a brushed appearance. You can still see the smooth area between the pipes where they did not complete the brush appearance. It also had a gold hue to it. I was able to remove some of it with a microfiber and cleaner (not sure what it was, a friend helped me and he brought it).

Any help would be appreciated. I would like to get them back to their original shiny appearance.

Thank you.

Matt
 
the golden hue is from heat, why would someone want to give them a brushed appearance, personaly i like the look of a nice smooth exhaust tip im not a fan of the brushed look, ive heard the optimum metal polish is some good stuff, i would use some 0000 steel wool with some metal polish on the steel wool then use a terry towel with polish on it after the steel wool. give that a shot and see how it comes out. if you're trying to remove the brushed look that will take some time and effort and probably be easier to get some new tips or just get a new muffler with some new tips on it...a performance muffler would be cheaper then factory muffler and give you a nicer exhaust note....good luck!
 
So you would recommend steel wool 0000 vs Mother's powerball mini? I thought the powerball may be faster since I could use it was a drill but I did not know how much cutting it would do, ie is it more for polishing?
 
Typically wih exhaust your going to get a lot of tar and asphalt caked on them. So the powerball will basically tear apart. If the tips have been well maintained then you might be able to get away with it but still wouldn't be my first choice. I'd try a mf and some metal polish first. If that doesn't cut through the grime then try the steel wool.
 
opie_7afe said:
the golden hue is from heat, why would someone want to give them a brushed appearance, personaly i like the look of a nice smooth exhaust tip im not a fan of the brushed look, ive heard the optimum metal polish is some good stuff, i would use some 0000 steel wool with some metal polish on the steel wool then use a terry towel with polish on it after the steel wool. give that a shot and see how it comes out. if you're trying to remove the brushed look that will take some time and effort and probably be easier to get some new tips or just get a new muffler with some new tips on it...a performance muffler would be cheaper then factory muffler and give you a nicer exhaust note....good luck!
Click to expand...

The steel wool and P21S worked well to clean the tailpipes. they definitely have more shine to them than before. however, the brushed appearance did not go away. I gave them a good work over with the steel wool.
What other options do I have to salvage these tips? Can you chrome them or some other plating to go over the scratches/brushed appearance?

Here are some photos of before and after photos.

Thanks for your help.
 
mott911 said:
What other options do I have to salvage these tips? Can you chrome them or some other plating to go over the scratches/brushed appearance?

Here are some photos of before and after photos.

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Re-plating is quite expensive.:wow:

Since it looks like the tips/extensions are off the vehicle:
Maybe you can try using some bronze wool with some metal polishes...

1.) Course grade bronze wool with metal polish of choice. EX: Mother's, Optimum Metal, etc....wipe-down with MF towel

2.) Medium grade bronze wool with your choice of, or, one of the above metal polishes....wipe-down with MF towel

3.) Fine grade bronze wool with Simichrome polish....wipe-down and buff with MF towel....then...buff with power-drill buffing attachment.

Check work between each step for the finish you desire...repeat steps, especially #3, if necessary. And using a power-drill buffing attachment after each step, if so desired.

Time; and, "passion behind the bronze wool/polish" = labor-intensive process. Still less expensive than a re-plate/purchasing new ones, IMO.


Just a suggestion.

:)

Bob
 
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seems to me the brushed look isnt too deep so if you tried 0000 steel wool either work it longer with a more agressive metal polish like wolfgang metalworks(wish they sold sample sizes of this) or use same polish and step down a grade of steel wool which would be 000, of course go back over it with 0000 steel wool afterwards, would be the best bet unless you have the tools to do it by machine then well you can go that route, some rouge blocks and certain buffing wheels for a stand buffer(only worth it if you plan on doing alot of smaller part polishing/resurfacing ect ect)
 
I think the look is from "scratches" in the metal from the tool used to make the brushed look. You will need to level the metal using a strongly abrasive polish and to restore the shine.

I'm not sure what kind of polish will be strong enough to polish scratches that deep in metal, maybe a "rocks in a bottle" compound for a start.

Kind of like removing extremely severe swirls but I think metal is harder than paint (well the scratches will be deeper).
 
looks like stainless tips, to get them where they have a mirror like shine, it will take some aggressive polishing with wool bobs an rouge.you may have to sand out the scratches an get an uniform, surface to strart with brfore you get the look you want. start with a small spot about the size of your finger an try to get it where you want it and you will see. it takes some agressiveness, speed and pressure to get any results out of stainless. jonathan
 
There isnt much you can do about the brushed look. The easiest thing to do is to simply replace the tips. It's a half hour job and you can get twin tips, oval, factory look or whatever you want. If you ever upgrade your exhaust to the Fiske you can reuse the tips and save some coin. I have run across the brushed tips quite a bit on the 02 models and really prefer the polished look.
 
I meant Fister exhaust not Fiske. The Fister exhaust and intake upgrade is awesome and sounds just right.
 
I think you just need to spend some more time on them. I bet those tips were sanded to get the brushed look. You may need to go more aggressive and work your way back to 0000 wool. I've wet sanded stainless headers with 2k grit paper and skipped to polishing and it worked well. If I had 3k I would have used it and made the polishing job even easier.
 
I've polished a lot of metal and you got some good tips here, but you need to use bits and pieces from a few of them to get a good end result. As was said before they are no different from scratches and swirls in paint just a harder surface but the correction steps are the same. You’re going to need to sand the scratches out with wet sanding paper to make them more uniform, there is no other way. When polishing metal I don’t use water with the wet dry I use WD40. There is no need to soak it first and yes it’s messy but the paper will last a lot longer. Simply start off with a grit that is going to level out the scratches that you currently have and work up to a finer grit. From what I can see in the pictures 800 or 1000 grit would be a good starting place. An easy way to tell when to move to the next grade is to sand in opposite directions with each grade. Once you can only see scratches going in the direction you are sanding then move to the next finer grit. Depending on whether you are going to finish off by hand or machine will determine how fine you need to go, if finishing off by hand then I would go up to 2500 or maybe even 3000. Obviously the finer you go the easier it will be to polish in the end. By using this process you can have stainless looking like a mirror.
P1000514.jpg


P1000524.jpg
 
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