Cleaning/Polishing Stainless Steel

[Tiffanator]

Hi all, I have a full stainless exhaust system on my motorcycle that looks really rough from baked on road grime since 2003. I polished one pipe back when I got the bike 3 years ago and it took forever using 0000 steel wool and polish. I now have a PCXP and am looking for a good product/method to try again. I know you guys may not have a ton of experience with stainless, but figured I would ask. The exhaust can is aluminum and needs a polish as well. Also, anyone have suggestions on something to use as a protectant that won't get baked off?

[J1nx93]

You shouldn't use steel wool on stainless steel. The stainless steel has some sort of special coating to prevent it from getting all rusted and stuff. The steel wool can strip the coating off the steel. I use Nevr Dull on my stainless steel exhaust tips on my truck. It makes them shine a little bit, but it is tougher to make stainless steel shine as much as chromed steel because of it's "stainless" properties. Hope that helped a little bit, I'm new :/

[Dubbin1]

You shouldn't use steel wool on stainless steel. The stainless steel has some sort of special coating to prevent it from getting all rusted and stuff. The steel wool can strip the coating off the steel.

There is no coating on stainless that keeps it from rusting ;)

Nevr Dull will work but its gonna take a lot of work if the pipes are that bad. Oh and I don't think you will find anything that can stand up to the heat of an exhaust that will protect it. Get it clean and keep it clean is the best thing you can do.

[J1nx93]

There is no coating on stainless that keeps it from rusting ;)

Nevr Dull will work but its gonna take a lot of work if the pipes are that bad. Oh and I don't think you will find anything that can stand up to the heat of an exhaust that will protect it. Get it clean and keep it clean is the best thing you can do.
Yeah I didn't mean coating but it has preventive properties in it and the steel wool can damage it I've heard.

[Dubbin1]

Yeah I didn't mean coating but it has preventive properties in it and the steel wool can damage it I've heard.

You hear wrong ;)

[J1nx93]

You hear wrong ;)

Maybe it was stainless steel sinks lol: Never use steel wool to clean a stainless steel sink. Small steel fibers will be left behind which will rust. Always use a nylon or some other synthetic cleaning pad to scour the sink. These pads used in conjunction with approved abrasive cleaners will do anything that you might have attempted with steel wool.

[sgtmillhouse648]

Here's a little writeup from a friend on a different site. It takes a ton of work, but the results speak for themselves.

Originally posted by WildoutWhiteGSR on Mar/18/06
Tools Required:
- Mothers Aluminium Polish or another type of metal polish
- 800 grit & 1000grit sandpaper
- Soapy water
- 2 rags/cloths
- Old Newspaper
- Roll of paper towel
- Brake Cleaner

Optional:
- Latex gloves (to keep your hands clean)
- Tooth Brush
- Rust cleaner

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00872.jpg

Not pictured are the paper towel roll, tooth brush and bucket of soapy water.

1) First you start off by cleaning up the header as best as you can. I did this by using the soapy water and a rag/cloth to wipe most of it clean. Then I dipped my tooth brush into the soapy water to get the hard to reach places like in-between the collectors.

2) After you�re done cleaning the header, rinse of the header with water and proceed to dry it with the paper towel. Since I wasn't looking to get the header perfect I moved on to the next step. If you want the nicest shine possible or your header is rusted to ####, this is where you grab the rust cleaner and repeat step one using the rust cleaner instead of the soapy water. Once finished with the rust cleaner repeat step one again with the soapy water solution.

3) No find a place where you�re going to start the labour intensive work or sanding down the header. Take your old newspaper and spread it out over your work area.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00871.jpg

4) Now after the finding your place to work put your gloves on. Then grab your brake cleaner and spray a clean rag/cloth or paper towels and wipe down the header. This should get all the parts you missed before with the soapy water solution clean.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00882.jpg

5) Now grab your 800 grit sandpaper and rip it into four equal pieces. This makes handling the sandpaper a lot easier. Begin to work away at the rusted header. Once you start to see the sandpaper get clogged up, give it a quick rinse to clean it out. Repeat this step for the whole header until most of the difficult rust is gone.

6) Now to make things go a little faster, a trick I picked up detailing. Spread the metal polish over the part of the header you'll be working on like so. Make sure not to over apply the metal polish. In the picture below I used that amount for the front of that collector I was working on.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00883.jpg

Then grab your 1000 grit sandpaper and again rip the sandpaper into four equal pieces. Then use the sandpaper together with the metal polish to get your desired results quicker. This way is faster than just using sandpaper alone; like so.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00884.jpg

Your sandpaper will get clogged up and the metal polish will turn a rusty brown colour. Don't worry just rinse out your sandpaper or grab a new piece. Then wipe off the old metal polish with your paper towel and add some more metal polish to the header. Remember not to over apply the polish.

This is what collector # 4 looks like after this process. It took me about 30 - 45mins. Just make sure to take your time.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00885.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00886.jpg

7) Now repeat step 6 again for the rest of the header. This is me moving on to collector # 3.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00887.jpg

This is how my header looked after about 3 hours of work. Yes I skipped collector # 2 just because it was the hardest one, so I did that last.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00892.jpg

8) Once you�re done with the sanding/polishing of the header, clean it again with your soapy water and give it a good wipe down with your rag/cloth or paper towels.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00893.jpg


9) Then give it a good rinse with some water

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00896.jpg

10) Now if the header is looking good to your satisfaction, re-install it on your car and skip to step # 16.

11) If not grab your sandpaper and give the header another light scuffing. Like so:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01004.jpg


How the header looked after the light scuffing

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01007.jpg


12) Grab another rag/cloth and get to work with the metal polish working it into the header until you get the shine you want. It will not shine like chrome so; do not get your hopes too high. Remove any excess polish with paper towel.

How the header looked after polishing collector # 1. (Closest to the top of the picture) The other three collectors untouched by the polish.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01025.jpg

How it looked after all the header was polished

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01039.jpg

13) Give it a good wipe down with soapy water once again

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01047.jpg

14) Rinse it off for the last time before installing it on your car

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01052.jpg

15) Dry off the remainding water on the header. This will be your finished product.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01055.jpg

16) Once re-installed on the car BEFORE starting the engine, grab your brake cleaner and spray the entire header down with it. Then spray some brake cleaner onto some paper towels and give the header a final wipe down, making sure to wipe everything. You do this because the oils from your hands will cause the header to discolour unevenly, once the engine is started. You do not want this. You want it to turn a nice even bronze after a couple kilometres of use.

Before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00876.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC00877.jpg


After

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01057.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01059.jpg


Pics of the header on the car after driving

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01280.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/wildoutwhitegsr/Integra%20Info/How-To%20Polish%20A%20Stainless%20Steel%20Header/DSC01271.jpg

Good Luck


The big thing to note is that stainless is the actual metal...its not a coating. You can always polish it just like you can aluminum etc.

[Pristine Image]

This may sound like a silly question, but can you use the same products mentioned here for black stainless steel as well without fear of "messing anything up"?

I have black stainless steel exhaust tips (came that way from the manufacturer, not painted) on my truck that need some work. Over time they've turned almost gray and they don't match the rest of the blacked out (almost all the way) truck. I've attached a picture of what they looked like when they were clean and new...

[Dubbin1]

This may sound like a silly question, but can you use the same products mentioned here for black stainless steel as well without fear of "messing anything up"?

I have black stainless steel exhaust tips (came that way from the manufacturer, not painted) on my truck that need some work. Over time they've turned almost gray and they don't match the rest of the blacked out (almost all the way) truck. I've attached a picture of what they looked like when they were clean and new...

I think they may be a black oxide coating.

[sgtmillhouse648]

Yeah, the black is a coating...atleast my muffler. I'd treat it like an oxidized single stage paint and compound it, but make sure to put a coat of a sealant on it such has klasse HGSG. The actual tips don't get very hot hence why you can coat them.

[Pristine Image]

Yeah, the black is a coating...atleast my muffler. I'd treat it like an oxidized single stage paint and compound it, but make sure to put a coat of a sealant on it such has klasse HGSG. The actual tips don't get very hot hence why you can coat them.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. So, if I understand this correctly, instead of using a metal polish I need to use a slightly aggressive paint polish. I have Meg's #80 that I can try this out with. The only sealant in my limited arsenal at this time is Poorboy's EX-P. Due to finances there won't be any new product orders any time soon so I have to make due with what I have.

[sgtmillhouse648]

Megs 80 would be great. To clean one up I would first spray it and the inside with simple green etc. and use an old bottle brush to clean any soot out of it. Then follow up by polishing by hand since its a tiny area. Meg's 80 would be great. If you need something more aggressive, you may try a metal polish such as mothers mag polish etc.

I have no experience with EX-P, but I believe that it would be a wise choice from my experience with other products from the poorboy's lineup!

[Pristine Image]

Megs 80 would be great. To clean one up I would first spray it and the inside with simple green etc. and use an old bottle brush to clean any soot out of it. Then follow up by polishing by hand since its a tiny area. Meg's 80 would be great. If you need something more aggressive, you may try a metal polish such as mothers mag polish etc.

I have no experience with EX-P, but I believe that it would be a wise choice from my experience with other products from the poorboy's lineup!

Thank you again, I very much appreciate it. I'll try to take some before and after shots and post them up.

[Tiffanator]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I know its going to be a ton of work but I really want them looking good. I just finished painting the bike and I want it all nice and clean to go with the new paint.
Time to load up on sandpaper.

[ICEMAN]

that write up is awesome!!!