# Polishing up a stainless exhaust system



## Ben_W (Feb 15, 2009)

Guys,

What would you recommend for polishing up a full stainless steel exhaust system?

I've picked up a Scorpion s/s system for the Rallye. Ni way it's going on not polished up so what would you recommend?

Not seen it yet so not sure what state it's in (described as vgc). Any pointers most welcome!


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

Autosol and 000 grade wire wool is a good combo. 
Gonz.


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## SPARTAN (Nov 20, 2014)

You could try Autosol, has always worked for me.


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## Ben_W (Feb 15, 2009)

Thank you guys.

Polished one up before with Autosol and got some half decent results. The wire wool sounds like a pretty good plan as well. I'd been thinking that but wasn't sure.....


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

don't use autosol - its rough as - use mothers mag and aluminium polish. polish it with something like 2000 wet and dry first if there is no shine at all on it.


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## ALLR_155528 (May 20, 2014)

Autosol and wired wool my exhausts were black now they are chrome again


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## Foxhound (May 5, 2011)

autosol now has a new range of products.. even for other purposes.. check their site and the 000 wire wool seems ok to me


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## Dazzel81 (Apr 20, 2013)

Britemax twins & super fine wire wool :thumb:


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## Ads_ClioV6 (Apr 27, 2014)

any good metal polish and 000 will be fine, i used a tar remover on mine with 000 wool worked wonders m8


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Expensive but worth it imho:- simichrome metal polish


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

m4rkymark said:


> don't use autosol - its rough as - use mothers mag and aluminium polish. polish it with something like 2000 wet and dry first if there is no shine at all on it.


"Rough as" - can you explain further as autosol has been around forever and, no doubt like alot of people on here ive used it for years...


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## Paul S (Jan 27, 2015)

0000 (4o) wire wool may be a bit kinder to a chrome plate, thats as fine as it gets with ww, after that you can use metal polish on a cloth. Whats the AG polish like? Anyone tried it compared to Autosol?


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## FiestaGirlie (Jul 15, 2009)

I cant remember exactly as it was a couple years ago now, but some wire wool and Peek followed by the Britemax twins gave these results:

Before:









After:


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## camerashy (Feb 9, 2014)

Now that's impressive to say the least


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## Captain Duff (Sep 27, 2013)

I use autosol on my tips once a month or so, but out of interest is there a good way of trying to keep them clean and shiny for longer, sort of like a rim wax/sealant equivalent? In fact would rim wax work well on exhausts anyway does anyone know?


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## Mikej857 (Jan 17, 2012)

I prefer to use peek to autosol because it has less abrasives in it


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## 123HJMS (Mar 13, 2013)

Captain Duff said:


> I use autosol on my tips once a month or so, but out of interest is there a good way of trying to keep them clean and shiny for longer, sort of like a rim wax/sealant equivalent? In fact would rim wax work well on exhausts anyway does anyone know?


Rim wax would work well especially something like fk1000p. Give them a good clean/polish and seal them .... should only take a wipe when washing to get them clean again


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## transtek (Mar 2, 2007)

Captain Duff said:


> I use autosol on my tips once a month or so, but out of interest is there a good way of trying to keep them clean and shiny for longer, sort of like a rim wax/sealant equivalent? In fact would rim wax work well on exhausts anyway does anyone know?


Sonus (autopia car care) do an aluminium sealant, I've used it on mild steel and it has kept it like new so should work fine on polished stainless steel, just apply once every 6 months.:thumb:


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## camerashy (Feb 9, 2014)

Mikej857 said:


> I prefer to use peek to autosol because it has less abrasives in it


Never heard of Peek before looks interesting


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## RichieM (May 11, 2007)

I've always used Duraglit/Brasso


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## Guest (Feb 12, 2015)

Autosol for me...:thumb:..scotchpad with Autosol first if its bad,then Autosol on a cloth.


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## salim (Apr 13, 2013)

I do find after using autosol the finish is dull even using a cloth. Is this due to technique?


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## GAVSY (Mar 19, 2013)

Autosol cuts through the baked on dirt & grime, no question about that, especially with 000 Grade wire wool.

I too found it left the finish slightly dull and muted, due to the coarseness of the polish so I finished it off with Mothers Mag and Aluminium Polish on a clean microfibre cloth and the bling I was looking for returned


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## percymon (Jun 27, 2007)

Old pic, but autosol cleaned my Boxster exhaust up quite nicely after a years use..


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## footfistart (Dec 2, 2013)

I know it's not stainless steel but I did polish my intercooler which was aluminium. I used a metal polish which is used for aircraft leading edges which in some cases are stainless. I used 2000, 2500 and then machined with left over pads from previous cars. Here's a before and after.





































I did also use meguiars ultimate compound to refine after sanding and initial polishing with Nushine.

Ryan


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## 123HJMS (Mar 13, 2013)

GAVSY said:


> Autosol cuts through the baked on dirt & grime, no question about that, especially with 000 Grade wire wool.
> 
> I too found it left the finish slightly dull and muted, due to the coarseness of the polish so I finished it off with Mothers Mag and Aluminium Polish on a clean microfibre cloth and the bling I was looking for returned


Glad its not just me who found that will autosol, using either 00# ww or a mf caused it to do the finish. Going to get myself some 0000# and britemax cut I think.


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

-Kev- said:


> "Rough as" - can you explain further as autosol has been around forever and, no doubt like alot of people on here ive used it for years...


Sorry didn't see your question. What I mean by rough as is if you take autosol and rub it beteeem your finger & thumb you can feel it gritty, it's also quite a dry polish. If you take some of the other metal polishes like mother mag and aluminium polish you don't get the same gritty feeling. Because autosol is quite a course polish it will leave the base metal with lots of fine scratches in it and although the base metal will shine it will be a dull shine because of the scratches.

If you use something like mother mag and aluminium polish or Belgom blu they are both a much smoother polish and won't scratch the base metal in the same way autosol does and thus will result in a better shine.

If you want to put a polishing mop on a drill or if you have a polishing machine you can then move onto using polishing bars rather than polish in a tub/tube and it will again give a much better finish. If you do move to bars there are different grade bars and different grade mops - you would normally start with a course mop and a course polish then proceed up the grades to get the required finish. It's relatively easy to get a mirror finish on most parts that are stainless or aluminium - it's an absolutely filthy job though and you end up black from head to toe and its up your nose, in your ears even though you have protective gear on when your using a machine to do it.


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## Ben_W (Feb 15, 2009)

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Have bought some Peek (was only £3.99 delivered for an autosol tube size), some 000 grade wire wool, some 2000 & 2500 wet and dry paper. The deal on the Scorpion System fell through so looking for another good system. Still have the old powerflow system to practice on though!


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## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

You can pick up Peek from B&Q


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## Bentley11 (Oct 25, 2014)

I used bar keepers friend on my exhaust and it came up perfect, forgot the before pictures but they were black.

Only done the tail pipes properly...


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