seven7 Posted September 26, 2001 Share Posted September 26, 2001 I have a standard cat. side exhaust. Many others I've seen seem to be highly polished. Any suggestions on getting any type of shine would be most welcome. Will normal metal polish and elbow grease work or it more specialised. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted September 26, 2001 Share Posted September 26, 2001 Phil W is the man to ask... He used ever finer grades of Wet and dry (dry only I think but I could be wrong) and then went over to metal polish. You could shave in your reflection in the shiny bits of Mr Waters car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul McKenzie Posted September 26, 2001 Share Posted September 26, 2001 Go to an engineering shop practised in 'the black art' - they will polish the exhaust with a buffing machine to a mirror finish - you won't get anywhere near this level of finish manually-no matter how much elbow grease. Look in yellow pages. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKJ Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 Does the mirror finish last, I appreciate it will need rubbing up now and again but does it degrade and the process need repeating. They do look good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickB7 Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 i had my exhaust polished by metal polishers - there are loads in midlands. shine lasts if you maintain with autosol or similar. metal polishers do a great job that is really hard to achieve at home and it is a really messy job to do at home S31VEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 I used wire wool and solvol autosol, plus elbow grease looks lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mav Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 As per robs reply!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 A visit to the metal polishers followed by autosol and lots of elbow grease. I've never managed to get mine back to the silver-mirror finish, but a very light gold-mirror finish. best way to apply I've found is to put autosaol onto an old towel, which has been torn into strips, and thread through the primaries and use a 'pulley' motion with both hands. This enables you to reach in between the pipes to maintain an all round polish. Chris Alston Se7ening - it's all miles and smile.gifsmile.gifsmile.gif 1800 Supersprint - Loud and Proud teeth.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Checkley Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 I've played around with this one and I can recommend wet n dry followed by metal polish. I tried the wire wool route, and found it hard work and got through lots of wool. The wet n dry done the same job in a fraction of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 If you can get hold of some P1500 or P2000 wet/dry so much the better, it's about as coarse as a damp lettuce leaf and it'll cut down on the elbow grease required during the polishing phase. Oily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard J Darnell Posted September 29, 2001 Share Posted September 29, 2001 since it is pissing down with rain I might give this a go where can i buy autosol? oily, I assume from your reply the finer the grade of wet and dry the better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted September 29, 2001 Share Posted September 29, 2001 Richard, You should be able to buy Autosol from any motor spares shop i.e Halfords, local car accessory shops and even m/cycle shops. It is a common polishing agent, usually in a tube. Hope this helps Chris Alston Se7ening - it's all miles and smile.gifsmile.gifsmile.gif 1800 Supersprint - Loud and Proud teeth.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Martyr Posted September 29, 2001 Share Posted September 29, 2001 You can buy the complete kit of circular mops of three grades and paste blocks of two grades made by a company called MOTAD. It costs 26 pounds and I got mine from Skellerns Motorcycles in Worcester. It is a sort of retail version of the kit that metal finishing shops use and is very good at turning normal tube into a mirror finish exhaust. Just add an eletric drill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 Dispite Steve's slurr to the contary I do actually do other things than just polish bits of my car.... I just wish I could think of an example - Doh! [;] Sorry been on Holiday so slow responce I always use about a 600 grit wet and dry, using it wet, and then work up to 1200 grip usually, mainly as I have trouble getting finner stuff than that. I then use Autosol (Halfords sell it) on a soft rag to do the polishing. If the area is big then I have also found the buffeting pads that attach to drills are pretty good to, but be careful not to press too hard or to run too high an rpm as this will cook the Autosol and its a bugger to get off again then! For the exhaust you could try gently clamping your drill in a vice or workmate and then working the tubes on the revolving pad. I keep eying up a grinding machine which you can then fit a polishing pad to - just need a bench to bolt it too now smile.gif Phil Waters The car in front must be less in control teeth.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 Richard, Finer wet/dry minimises the elbow grease you need when applying the Autosol. You can start with P1000/P1200 then finish with P1500/P2000, then follow this up with Autosol. P1500 and finer can be bought from any commercial paint supplier, its used to flat paint after spraying prior to refinishing with rubbing down compound (incidentally a cheaper way of polishing than Autosol if you buy the right grade). Oily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FH Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 Sounds like you could be called "PaintyHands" when you want to change your moniker Oily wink.gif FH teeth.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 The P2000 is especially useful for polishing nail varnish.. bum.gifbum.gifbum.gifsmile.gif Painty-dainty-hands Edited by - oilyhands on 1 Oct 2001 16:26:39 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FH Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 Yours or mine question.gif FH wink.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Gillet Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 P1200 is really the highest figure I can find here. I thought it was the ultimate... I used it before applying the varnish on the fabulous pearlescent ruby paint bought to caterham for my cycle wing conversion. I was very proud of the result, but understand it could have been even better. Anyway, I also painted the spark plug cover with the silver paint of the bonnet stripe. It really looks good and makes believe that I have made some engine upgrade! I know, it sounds childish but it does work on my morale... Pierre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 You can get higher P's from paintshops... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now