# Machine Polishing a Stainless Steel Car



## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

As above - I have been asked to make one of these sparkle:










Just wondered if anyone had any suggestion / experience on stainless steel (lots of stainless steel) .:buffer:
Its gonna be a bit too much doing it by hand I would have thought - so was considering using a machine with some sort of polish.

TIA :thumb:


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## Auto Finesse (Jan 10, 2007)

Dave KG done a full metal Roller once have a look back in the show room using Briliant polishes (i think thats what they are called )

My experience is get ready to bin alot of pad and get dirty


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Yup - Briliant polishes by PC for me... and yes, prepare to loose the pads you use and the cloths you use as the metal will bleed black and be a mare to remove... I ended up burning my pads and cloths.

I used Briliant #2 on just normally cloudy metal followed by the #3 fine polish to give a little more clarity and mirror like reflection to the metal. You couls also have on hand the #1 metal restorer for more severe oxidisation and swirls.


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

Cheers Chaps

Excellent advise as per usual :thumb:

Do you remember roughly how many pads you went through Dave ? And how much polish ? (just wondered on 150ml or 250ml bottles)

Many thanks

Alan


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## Auto Finesse (Jan 10, 2007)

alanjo99 said:


> Cheers Chaps
> 
> Excellent advise as per usual :thumb:
> 
> ...


Did you see the size of the car he did :tumbleweed: that whole lotus is about 1 wing on the roller:lol:


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

james b said:


> Did you see the size of the car he did :tumbleweed: that whole lotus is about 1 wing on the roller:lol:


I was just going to go off Daves amount and divide it by 10 ! :lol:


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## Serious Performance (Oct 26, 2005)

Unless it's dirt, you won't get any blackening polishing Stainless Steel. It's aluminium thats black-tastic on the pads / cloths etc.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2008)

Thats a Robin Hood, so maybe worth asking them what they use.


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## Rundie (Oct 2, 2007)

Serious Performance said:


> Unless it's dirt, you won't get any blackening polishing Stainless Steel. It's aluminium thats black-tastic on the pads / cloths etc.


Wrong I work with stainless all day and you will get black pads/cloths when polishing, lots worse with ali but still fairly messy with stainless.


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## m500dpp (Feb 17, 2006)

you cant polish it!!!

Sorry I had one and once the stainless is damaged you are farucked. Its more like a coating, not like ali at all, once the surface has gone its gone.

As an aside when I built it I had to buy shares in a drill bit company, the stainless is so hard they broke or went blunt in no time - and as for jigsaw blades - well same applies!!!


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## Rundie (Oct 2, 2007)

If it's got some sort of coating then I guess you'd go through it but surely it's just highly polished stainless?
As long as it's stainless throughout then you'd be able to polish out scratches and get a mirror finish with the right products.


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## Serious Performance (Oct 26, 2005)

Rundie said:


> Wrong I work with stainless all day and you will get black pads/cloths when polishing, lots worse with ali but still fairly messy with stainless.


Fair play... My fabricator mate must have been telling porkies .


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

looks like a little research is required then !

Theres me thinking it would be nice n easy !


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## Serious Performance (Oct 26, 2005)

Well if it saves more pads than ally then thats a good start! :thumb:

Let me know when it's coming up and I'll send a light metal polish your way for you to try .


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

try the Delorean owners club. Those cars were made from Stainless werent' they? Must be a club forum online somewhere?

Impster


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

Serious Performance said:


> Well if it saves more pads than ally then thats a good start! :thumb:
> 
> Let me know when it's coming up and I'll send a light metal polish your way for you to try .


Thats true - just changed all my pads too 

Top tasic - very kind :thumb:


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

impster, the thing with DeLoreans is that they have a brushed finish so unless you intend to polish the grain out to a mirror finish then you will need to do it by hand in straight lines.

Couple of other points. Stainless is highly unlikely to have an coating on so yes, it's the same all the way through, which means that with the right kit you can polish any marks out. What the poster possibly meant by a coating was the way the stainless was finished, e.g. brushed, dull polished (a dull, non-reflective grey finish), or various satin-like finishes (like you get on some kitchen sinks). As he said, if you polish these then, like a DeLorean, you would lose the finish and end up with a mirror finish.

Yes, it does turn your cloths black - as bad as ally. I polished the stainless hob and sink wiht Megs All Metal Polysh when I moved in here - came up like a mirror but the cloths went in the bin. even soaking them in a super-strength solution of Soda Crystals and *very* hot water wouldn't get them clean.

One other tip. You can use 2000 grit wet 'n' dry on stainless and polish out the sanding marks by hand with something like Megs All Metal or Solvol - might be useful for bad scratches.


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## Wheelie_Clean (Jun 16, 2007)

Check this thread if it is similar?http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=34102


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Errr, just a thought. OP, are *sure* it's stainless steel and not aluminium? The latter is the more usual material for car bodies (DeLoreans excepted of course).


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## talisman (Nov 20, 2006)

beat me to it....remembered this one stuck in mind as a great turn round......


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

parish said:


> impster, the thing with DeLoreans is that they have a brushed finish so unless you intend to polish the grain out to a mirror finish then you will need to do it by hand in straight lines.
> 
> Couple of other points. Stainless is highly unlikely to have an coating on so yes, it's the same all the way through, which means that with the right kit you can polish any marks out. What the poster possibly meant by a coating was the way the stainless was finished, e.g. brushed, dull polished (a dull, non-reflective grey finish), or various satin-like finishes (like you get on some kitchen sinks). As he said, if you polish these then, like a DeLorean, you would lose the finish and end up with a mirror finish.
> 
> ...


Cheers for the pointers :thumb:



Wheelie_Clean said:


> Check this thread if it is similar?http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=34102


Yes very simlar in Ali - turned out well didn't it !!
Cheers for that.



parish said:


> Errr, just a thought. OP, are *sure* it's stainless steel and not aluminium? The latter is the more usual material for car bodies (DeLoreans excepted of course).


According to Robin Hoods web site they do a Stainless Steel option - and the owner said it was stainless - suppose its out with the magnet to be sure !

Cheers :thumb:


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## m500dpp (Feb 17, 2006)

yes it is stainless - read my bit about broken drill bits. You will struggle to get any scratches out, I tried all sorts without success......once the surface is damaged you are in trouble....


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

m500dpp said:


> yes it is stainless - read my bit about broken drill bits. You will struggle to get any scratches out, I tried all sorts without success......once the surface is damaged you are in trouble....


BTH all he wants is a shine - Its been a tad neglected by the previous owner and just wants more shine - he's not fussed about the scratches/marks etc


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## Rundie (Oct 2, 2007)

Serious Performance said:


> Fair play... My fabricator mate must have been telling porkies .


 Maybe he doesn't work with stainless often?


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## Glossmax (May 9, 2007)

alanjo99 said:


> According to Robin Hoods web site they do a Stainless Steel option - and the owner said it was stainless - suppose its out with the magnet to be sure !
> 
> Cheers :thumb:


Neither metal is magnetic :thumb:


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

knew science _wouldn't_ come in handy one day :lol:


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## Guest (Jun 6, 2008)

also ask what grade stainless it is, but having seen many RH's and talked to them (kit car shows) they all use different things to get the shine and keep it.

I think (not 100% sure) that they use the big polishing wheels on the bench grinders for the first polish and then just fit em with a cling film type and stored till its needed.

I have the cleaning and polishing bars you get when you buy the kits from machine mart/screwfix etc just for my stainless exhaust, you more than welcome to use em with a "yellow" pad if you think it will work?


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

Cheers - I have emailed Robin Hood cars - but got no response > so did a little checking and it looks like they have gone into liquidation. (Typical)

I will do a bit more digging and may come back to you 

Cheers

:thumb:


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## Guest (Jun 6, 2008)

RH shut down?

wow

But if you want to use these blocks which are meant to be used with stainless steel exhausts, carbs etc then can post.

(dirt cheap to be honest but why spend if you dont need to?)


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## Guest (Jun 6, 2008)

oh Robin Hood havnt shut down, just bought out by Great British Sports Cars

http://www.greatbritishsportscars.com/

Maybe try emailing them from that site?


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

it was from that web site I have emailed them - and it bounced back.

Did a check under their Ltd company name and it said they were in liquidisation - unless the new company havn't renamed it yet . (was only a quick nosey I must admit) 

More digging Monday :thumb:


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## Guest (Jun 6, 2008)

They were at stoneleigh kit car show, got info about the kits off their stand, so they arnt going anywhere.

Have you tried the owners club? Very helpful people.


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

Top idea 

Cheers :thumb:


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