Stainless Steel exhaust tip care?

Here's what I do and it costs about $10 and takes very little time.

I had stainless steel tips that probably had not been cleaned since the car left Bowling Green six years ago. They were as black as any non-stainless exhaust after years of soot and exhaust build-up.

You would have not known they were stainless. At first I tried metal polish and it was a mess. I mean the soot and grime was coming off but the rags were totally covered in grime within seconds and soot and drippings were everywhere.

I had researched several posts but everyone had machines, polishing buffers, etc. They were sold in kits. I think I found a cheaper way without any machines and it's really easy.

What you need

1. Small bottle of Cerama Bryte cooktop cleaner - sold in grocery stores.
2. Roll of paper towels.
3. Stainless Steel wipes used to clean refrigerator (optional)
4. Small tin of Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish or something similar. Remember, the tips are usually stainless and not chrome, so you want a polish that is good for all metals, not necessarily chrome or wheel polish.
5. Two old microfiber cloths that are nearing the end of their lifespan and that you can throw away.
6. Green scouring pad safe for teflon.

The key is Cerama Bryte and paper towels. This does 99 percent of the cleaning.

1. Shake Cerama Bryte well and pour a good amount on a paper towel . Slather it
over the tips and start working it in with the green scouring pad. Doesn't take a lot of pressure. Do this for about 60 seconds. Wipe with clean paper towel, throw it away, use a clean one and wipe down again.

2. Your tips should be looking about 90 percent better. Repeat step 1 again if you
want and do it as many times as you want. After all, you got a roll of paper towels.

3. Now Cerama Bryte is slightly abrasive and people worry about scratching their tips. But stainless steel is one of the hardest metals there is and Cerama Bryte is no more abrasive than a lot of other things we are using on our clear coats.

Besides, you are only gonna use Cerama Bryte once. For then on, it's just wash and light polish when you do your detailing.

4. Wipe down with stainless steel wipes used to wipe down refrigerators. This is really
optional, but is good for cleaning any remaining Cerama Bryte residue for you OCD types. These wipes are also good for regular detailing of tips.

5. The tips could really be left alone at this point. But if you want to get them even brighter, now you can start the polish.

6. Dip one of the microfiber towels into the Mother's Mag and Aluminum and start
working it in and polishing. Always use the dirty microfiber for rubbing it in and polishing and use the cleaner one as a buffer. If you are doing it right, quite a bit of black should be coming off.

7. Do this for about a minute per tip and you are good go. The pix is of previously soot-black tips.
 
I use CG Metal Shine with good results. Heres a few pics I took once of the exhaust tip on mi MINI when I got it. Not much time spent either, just a micro and a few minutes polishing it.

Before with Carbon Deposits
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Product Used
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After Working it in for a couple of minutes
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After
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Ive even used this stuff on my stainless steel appliances with good results.
 
Is the Chemical Guy's Metal Shine product geared toward both cleaning and shining, or more focused on one over the other? Those are great results with no 0000 steel wool or much scrubbing!
 
They classify it as a 3 steps in 1 product with micro abrasives

From the description

"Chemical Guys Metal Shine is a three-step product in one: a diminishing metal polish that cuts fast, cleans like no other, shines like a mirror, and protects like a sealant. It utilizes friction and heat to restore metals"
 
They classify it as a 3 steps in 1 product with micro abrasives

From the description

"Chemical Guys Metal Shine is a three-step product in one: a diminishing metal polish that cuts fast, cleans like no other, shines like a mirror, and protects like a sealant. It utilizes friction and heat to restore metals"

Awesome, thanks so much... I'll add it to my wish list for the next sale, since the Father's Day one ended two hours ago.

I love Chemical Guy's write-ups for their products, every product no matter what sounds like it's the best thing in the history of humanity, haha! :)
 
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