Picked up this Tanabe exhaust from Dustin (freeze2104) and wanted to clean it up before I threw it on... Tools Used: Simple Green 0000 Steel Wool (don't recommend anything higher, don't want to scratch the stainless) Mothers Polish (any metal polish will do) Elbow Grease Clean Microfibers Time: Approximately 1hr, depending on starting condition of your exhaust and if you need to remove it from your car. Start with this...who knows how much road dirt, grime, salt, sand, poop, etc is all over it... Spray down a small 6-8" section with simple green and scrub away with the 0000 steel wool. Put some muscle into the tougher areas. The longer you spend on an area, the better it will turn out. Once you are satisfied, use your metal polish as directed. Rub in small 6-8" area's until the polish starts to turn black, then wipe clean with a microfiber. End result:
Remember kids, this method works on Stainless Steel. It will NOT work on your aluminum intercooler piping. You will require more than "a little bit of elbow grease" to remove the swirls that steel wool will put into aluminum piping. You have been warned.
Thanks for the DIY - I am going to have to do this to my SPT exhaust tomorrow. I need to make it all pretty so someone will buy it. You did an amazing job on yours.
If you don't need to go as aggressive as steel wool, some wadding polish will do the trick. http://www.eagleone.com/nevr-dull-wadding-polish
Thanks, I'll see if they have that at the auto store. I know they carry Eagle One, I am pretty sure that it the wheel wax I use. Sure. I'll trade you my time for your GFB BOV.
Wadding polish will work if your exhaust is fairly clean to start with. Mine had all kinds of crap built up on it, chunks of grime caked to it, etc, so I needed to be a little more agressive.
Right, which is why I said: iirc, Derek's spt exhaust is pretty new. As a general rule, you should start with the least aggressive method and work your way up. If the wadding polish isn't enough, he's out $5 and can use it on his bug splattered front license plate or the lip on the 20" hellflush poked and stretched step lip 3-piece chrome spinners he's eventually going to end up with.
I'm sure most people probably don't know "how aggressive they need to go" so I wanted to make it clear that if you have crap stuck on your exhaust, wadding polish won't do anything. I'm pretty sure nobody needs a how-to on polishing already clean exhaust.
Learn to read. I was reponding directly to ofspunk, whose exhaust very likely doesn't need steel wool. Fwiw I have cleaned an exhaust or 2... with wadding polish, and much much more aggressive methods as well.
*sigh* You must be "that guy" that every forum has. It was a general statement, which is helpful to anyone reading this thread, to clarify what method may or may not work depending on what they were starting with. Take it how you want, it was just meant to help someone else that might read the thread since "aggressive" doesn't mean the same thing to everyone.
20" spinners FTW. Picked up the Eagle One stuff... I'll take before and after pics... doesn't look very dirty at all.
With all the og's gone, someone has to step in and smack down the stupid. I don't mind playing the bad guy.
I thought I would share. I didn't spend a ton of time on it. I would guess 20 - 30 minutes sitting outside. I am selling it, so I just cleaned it up a bit. I only used the Eagle One product that Sheen talked about. It DID remove the stuck on black crap from the road. Exhaust has about 50K on it.
Any suggestions on removing the purple "burnt tip" look from an exhaust? Can this be polished off with something like Mother's or will I need something more aggressive? How does the Eagle One wadding polish compare? Would that be a better option?
This makes it look pretty easy... http://forums.evolutionm.net/evo-x-...385381-refinishing-titanium-exhaust-tips.html Is the Eagle One wadding polish actually removing material? It seems like it may work. Mother's also seems like it could be an option. Steel wool seems like overkill but I don't really know.
I think the wizards pink wadding polish would. But you'd have to rub the heck out of it. I'd just take it off with steel wool and bring back the shine. It'd be a lot easier and faster.
You have any rotary tools, Ben? If not, and it's painted, something like paint thinner will take it out but will require polish after. Much less effort than some of the methods suggested. Most wadding polishes are the same regardless of brand. The grit is only marginally courser/finer or the solvent (kerosene or similar) is used in different concentrations. I like how the OP removed the original pics which were pretty much identical to the pics Derek posted in post #20.
The only rotary tools I have are drills and Dremel's. Nothing orbital or made for polishing. For stripping, would something like this work? http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...t-remover/_/N-25uj?itemIdentifier=660024_0_0_ Followed by Mother's or some other polish? If the aircraft stripper is not a good choice do you have any suggestions for specific products?
Yeah, that will likely work if it's painted on. You have a lot of solvent choices though. Most of it is stuff you probably have laying around the house/garage. Alcohol, nail polish remover, brake cleaner, etc...all of it will leave a hazy finish which is where the polish comes in. If a solvent doesn't work I've had good luck with a palm sander and wet sandable sand paper. You can pick one up for under $15 (about the same price as the aircraft stripper locally) if a neighbor doesn't have one. The idea here is you want to introduce the least amount of marring and do it as evenly as possible. This will save you a lot of time especially since you're hand polishing. So steel wool is pretty damn aggressive for this application. Something like a scotch brite pad would be less aggressive and easier to work with.
Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I'll start with brake cleaner. I didn't think that would be strong enough to do anything, but I really have no experience with this. Where are palm sanders only $15? The only one I see that cheap doesn't look very good (especially because of the bad reviews): http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-sheet-orbital-hand-sander-40070.html This one looks a bit better, but it costs a little more. This price seems to be pretty typical of what I see online for "cheap" palm sanders. http://www.harborfreight.com/5-inch-random-orbital-palm-sander-93431.html Anything powered seems so aggressive to me, but I guess with the right wet sandable paper it should be too bad. Another concern with that setup is that I want to do quad tips and there is only a few millimeters between the tips, and I'd rather not miss any spots. I also have Scotch Brite pads around the house, so I'll probably try those second. If the brake cleaner and Scotch Brite pads both fail then I will look more into the sanders and other options. Thanks again.
I got this one at fleet farm for under $15... could have been on sale at the time though: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Black-Decker-1-4-Sheet-Finisher-Sander-Model-FS540/9714689 Don't use it as often as the air sander, but it's held up very well for projects around the house (and on the rsvx and other test panels). Anything 1500 grit or finer won't be too aggressive even powered. Especially with a good, flowing water supply. I've used it on my test panels (hoods and such) that I've filled with touch up paint. With the kind of clearance you're taking about, you can still use the sand paper by hand. It'll be easier to use (more controllable) than the scotch brite pad. The problem with a solvent like brake cleaner is that it's going to get everywhere and you'll likely have to let it sit on the surface for a while. If it's painted, it'll eventually eat through though. I've worked on cars where the owners have used it to take brake dust off their wheels and it left the painted finish hazy (or destroyed).
The Ti burnt tip is not a paint or liquid applied to the metal so I believe you will actually have to remove material to get it to go away. The scuff pad is about equivalent to 00 steel wool and should eventually remove the color from the metal.
Sheen - It looks like that sander uses linear motion. Is that correct? Would you recommend that over on of the random orbit sanders? Thanks I would be looking to do this on SS tips, not Titanium. I am not sure how the finish is applied. It may be through heat, but I think that would still be removable with sanding/polishing (ie. surface finish of some kind).
I didn't realize your intent when you hit me up the other night. I don't think you can removed the color.
If its just heat treated (see pic below... don't mind my ****ty welds) it'll grind/sand right off. Look on the inside of the tip to see if the color is all the way through.
Sheen do you think he could do that with the Eagle One stuff you told me about? I would think polish is not the best approach. I really didn't think you could remove it without removing the colored part of the metal... i guess that is what you are saying though.
Update: It does appear to just be a surface heat treat (in fact they laser etch their logo through the blue portion and you can see the normal SS color showing through). I tried the Eagle One wipes, and it appeared to dull the color significantly, but did not remove it. But after driving around a little bit, the color pretty much is back to how it was. I think a little more aggressive sanding/polishing is going to be needed. On a side note, that Eagle One wadding really does a good job cleaning up everything else!
