Cleaning Exhausts
Discussion
Evening all. My exhaust tips are looking a bit sorry for themselves, see pic below. So i've just bought some autosol metal polish and i have some wire wool in the garage. Now here's where i have a problem. THe texture of wire wool really annoys me. Think cotton wool between your teeth.
Anyway - will autosol and the dreaded wirewool do the job??
Anyway - will autosol and the dreaded wirewool do the job??
As long as it's #00 Gauge wirewool it should be fine, but if you really can't stand using it put on a thick pair of gloves maybe or just try an old MF cloth first but you may struggle to get all the caked on bits of soot off....
Tardis will work to an extent but it's literally a tar removoer, usually most exhausts I find aren't so much covered in Tar but soot for obvious reasons, especially modern Diesels with DPF's so you really need something that's aggressive enough for a bit of scrubbing so fine wirewool is about the best option if you can grit your teeth and go for it :-)
Tardis will work to an extent but it's literally a tar removoer, usually most exhausts I find aren't so much covered in Tar but soot for obvious reasons, especially modern Diesels with DPF's so you really need something that's aggressive enough for a bit of scrubbing so fine wirewool is about the best option if you can grit your teeth and go for it :-)
When I did the exhaust on my Mazda it wasn't quite that bad, but I did the following (as part of washing the whole car):
Hose off
Spray with all purpose cleaner/degreaser - leave for a few minutes, then agitate with a brush/sponge and leave for a few more minutes
Hose off again
Dry
Then I started with the metal polish, I used a foam pad, but microfibre would work just as well, you'd only need to step up to the wirewool if you can't get all the crap off with the less aggressive methods.
On mine though, the biggest improvement came from the all purpose cleaner, the polish was more for shine.
Hose off
Spray with all purpose cleaner/degreaser - leave for a few minutes, then agitate with a brush/sponge and leave for a few more minutes
Hose off again
Dry
Then I started with the metal polish, I used a foam pad, but microfibre would work just as well, you'd only need to step up to the wirewool if you can't get all the crap off with the less aggressive methods.
On mine though, the biggest improvement came from the all purpose cleaner, the polish was more for shine.
The correct grade wire wool and cutting compund first .
Grade of wool "00"
here
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/accessories/-00-wire...
or even 1500 / 2000 grit will help
kelly
Grade of wool "00"
here
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/accessories/-00-wire...
or even 1500 / 2000 grit will help
kelly
Yes it is , but there are far more choices of cutting compound from very fine to extremely heavy cut and anything in between.
In the end its elbow grease , i have been over a hour just working on exhaust tips to bring them up ,
The customers come in to collect their pride and joy ,and one thing they notice instant is the exhausts.
Had a couple tell me how they tried everything and did not work , but its usually a quick wipe over and then gave up .
When i explain the time scales (the hour ones being the longest) usually around 10-30 minutes and its all down to slowly removing the crud and polishing back , they normally say a few minutes and gave in and left it .
There is no one special magic wipe on wipe off product .
there is really no point using a cutting paste or metal polish until the carbon deposits and rust is removed firstly from the exhaust tips .
carbon and rust are very hard and best to remove first with wet and dry , or wire wool and once you start to see clean metal then crack open the cutting compounds to polish up the metal .
Kelly
kelly
In the end its elbow grease , i have been over a hour just working on exhaust tips to bring them up ,
The customers come in to collect their pride and joy ,and one thing they notice instant is the exhausts.
Had a couple tell me how they tried everything and did not work , but its usually a quick wipe over and then gave up .
When i explain the time scales (the hour ones being the longest) usually around 10-30 minutes and its all down to slowly removing the crud and polishing back , they normally say a few minutes and gave in and left it .
There is no one special magic wipe on wipe off product .
there is really no point using a cutting paste or metal polish until the carbon deposits and rust is removed firstly from the exhaust tips .
carbon and rust are very hard and best to remove first with wet and dry , or wire wool and once you start to see clean metal then crack open the cutting compounds to polish up the metal .
Kelly
kelly
The right hand tip in the picture looks way too rusty to me .
BUT autosol "will" in the end fix it but may take 4 times longer than starting with something more agressive first .
Its all about cutting action if that's from wet and dry paper , wire wool , heavy cut , to fine cut , the first on the list is going to be faster and last really slow , but they will all give the results in the end .
If you have ever sanded down rusting metal its kills (blunts) sand paper with in seconds due to its hardness and texture under a microscope , actually what i said above you would never remove rust deposits with fine and meduim cut instead blunt the cutting action and rip the cloths to pieces .
Kelly
BUT autosol "will" in the end fix it but may take 4 times longer than starting with something more agressive first .
Its all about cutting action if that's from wet and dry paper , wire wool , heavy cut , to fine cut , the first on the list is going to be faster and last really slow , but they will all give the results in the end .
If you have ever sanded down rusting metal its kills (blunts) sand paper with in seconds due to its hardness and texture under a microscope , actually what i said above you would never remove rust deposits with fine and meduim cut instead blunt the cutting action and rip the cloths to pieces .
Kelly
Right - quick update on this for anyone interested. Gave the car a wash yesterday and had a go at the exhaust tips.
Admittedly it was a very quick pass with an unknown grade of wire wool and some autosol. The right hand tip i think is pitted, when finished it feels smooth to the touch but i'll have another go soon.
Anyway - below are before and after, no need to label them i'm sure.
Admittedly it was a very quick pass with an unknown grade of wire wool and some autosol. The right hand tip i think is pitted, when finished it feels smooth to the touch but i'll have another go soon.
Anyway - below are before and after, no need to label them i'm sure.
Gassing Station | Bodywork & Detailing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff