Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rich5ltr]

Chaps, I've just had a splendid new stainless steel twin exhaust fitted to the Aston and I would like to polish the tail silencer boxes. The tail pipes are highly polished and very smart they look too but the end boxes are unpolished stainless steel. Because of how the end silencers hang under the rear floor of the car they are rather visible and I'd like to get a bit more of a shine on them. I thought about very fine wire wool and Solvol Autosol metal polish but I'm interested to know what others might have used. Thoughts anyone?

I'll attach a pic of my car when I get a chance but meantime here's a generic shot to give you an idea of how visible the rear silencers are.

[Peter_L]

"Polishing Stainless Steel " into Google brings up all sorts of tips and advice.

I have frequently polished stainless cutlery to a mirror finish using a hard paste and a rotating buffing pad. The paste is impregnated into the buffer and then the stainless held against the rotating buffer.

The sticks of hard paste I get from a local hardware store. "Princess Auto" for those in Canada.

A final polish using a clean buffer brings up a nice finish.

Beware of heating the steel though, it can form a heat bloom that won't vanish.

[michael1703]

polishing mop in a drill or get a polishing mop in a bench grinder and rotate the silencer back n forth

http://www.cetempolishing.co.uk/

http://www.abcpolishing.co.uk/shop.html?lang=en-uk&target=d28.html

[Rich5ltr]

If possible I want to do it on the car, do you reckon a Dremmel would be up to the job? I haven't got one but am considering asking form one for Xmas!

[BigHealey]

might be a bit of a large area for a dremmel, I have used a polishing mop with a bar of hard rouge polish in a mains drill before with good effect polishing carb dashpots. The polishing takes a fair bit of effort and the wheel needs something with a fair bit of torque to turn it whilst applying enough pressure to have a polishing effect, another reason why a dremmel may not be up to the job
_________________
Garage: 1939 Morris 8 Series E, 1942 Morris Z Van

[poodge]

It's not that the Dremel won't be up to the job,but the mop on it won't be.It will load up really quickly,and give a "stripey"look,which you definitely don't want.
I'd use a drill or angle grinder with the appropiate mop.Get a stick of the proper stainless polish,and have at it.

[michael1703]

i'd definitely take the silencers off, it will be much easier

have polished quite a few (motorcycles mainly)

even if you dont want to use the bench grinder routine, laying under a car with a drill at eye level with a mop is going to result in the mop pulling you at awkward angles

you could wrap the silencer in soft material and clamp it in a black and decker workmate and use the drill at waist height

you need to use the mop in one direction then pass at 90 degress to your previous pass

[Rich5ltr]

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement chaps, I'll post some pics once the jobs done!

[Peter_L]

I have Dremel and its myriad of toys. It can be very useful, but I don;t think suitable for what you are doing.

I have a 1/3hp motor with a 9" buffer wheel mounted on the shaft.

The area available and the surface speed is so much more than a Dremel could ever achieve.

Also, one should only approach the wheel from the side that rotates towards you, as in a bench grinder. The alternative can be pretty scary.

Same could be said for using a drill under the vehicle, the direction and angle of attack could bring about some unwanted and dangerous movement of the drill.