Cleaning Exhaust Tips - what product?
Discussion
Caustic soda and pimms.
1. Pour out a jug of pimms, ice and lemonade, put to one side.
2. Drive the car to warm the exhausts a bit, not too much.
3. Spray on the oven cleaner/caustic soda being careful to get none on the paint.
4. Take the jug of pimms, 2 glasses and your lady to the garden and drink in the sunshine for the afternoon.
5. Hose off the residue, agitating with a toothbrush and rag until shiny.
SM
1. Pour out a jug of pimms, ice and lemonade, put to one side.
2. Drive the car to warm the exhausts a bit, not too much.
3. Spray on the oven cleaner/caustic soda being careful to get none on the paint.
4. Take the jug of pimms, 2 glasses and your lady to the garden and drink in the sunshine for the afternoon.
5. Hose off the residue, agitating with a toothbrush and rag until shiny.
SM
supermono said:
Caustic soda and pimms.
1. Pour out a jug of pimms, ice and lemonade, put to one side.
2. Drive the car to warm the exhausts a bit, not too much.
3. Spray on the oven cleaner/caustic soda being careful to get none on the paint.
4. Take the jug of pimms, 2 glasses and your lady to the garden and drink in the sunshine for the afternoon.
5. Hose off the residue, agitating with a toothbrush and rag until shiny.
SM
I tried the oven cleaner stuff and it was s1. Pour out a jug of pimms, ice and lemonade, put to one side.
2. Drive the car to warm the exhausts a bit, not too much.
3. Spray on the oven cleaner/caustic soda being careful to get none on the paint.
4. Take the jug of pimms, 2 glasses and your lady to the garden and drink in the sunshine for the afternoon.
5. Hose off the residue, agitating with a toothbrush and rag until shiny.
SM
te. Autosol I have found to be the best but you need to apply, rub off, apply, rub off etc, etc as it only takes a thin layer of crap off (and beleive me looking at the rag it certainly does)The Pimms is useful for bewteen sessions - Chin Chin
ChipsAndCheese said:
monthefish said:
Autosol.
+1 for Autosol. If your exhausts are heavily sooted, you could use some fine wire wool to get that off then apply the autosol for a nice shiny finish.Never tried oven cleaner myself though.
monthefish said:
I think someone suggested oven cleaner if they are really bad, then finishing with Autosol.
Never tried oven cleaner myself though.
In my experience there is no magic liquid that will properly clean tarnished metal .. exhaust tips, suspension arms etc..Never tried oven cleaner myself though.
ok, so Fluoroantimonic acid is pretty strong but it will probably explode before you even get it onto the car parts

you will need strong abrasion at some point... wet and dry, wire wool etc..
jackal said:
monthefish said:
I think someone suggested oven cleaner if they are really bad, then finishing with Autosol.
Never tried oven cleaner myself though.
In my experience there is no magic liquid that will properly clean tarnished metal .. exhaust tips, suspension arms etc..Never tried oven cleaner myself though.
ok, so Fluoroantimonic acid is pretty strong but it will probably explode before you even get it onto the car parts

you will need strong abrasion at some point... wet and dry, wire wool etc..
I ended up buying a drill bit "attachement" of ebay to do my dremel impression - still didn't get it 100% but would never have got there by hand...or if I had my fingers would have been worn out...
seasto said:
Twin exhaust tips, want to get them nice and shiny for some photos...
whats the best product?
Elbow grease and normal wash / wax is not cutting it.
Thanks
Define "nice and shiny"....but in most normal cases Autosol with give you a vey good finish.....whats the best product?
Elbow grease and normal wash / wax is not cutting it.
Thanks

...unless you want to be totally anal....then I am sure there might be better options....

jackal said:
In my experience there is no magic liquid that will properly clean tarnished metal .. exhaust tips, suspension arms etc..
ok, so Fluoroantimonic acid is pretty strong but it will probably explode before you even get it onto the car parts
you will need strong abrasion at some point... wet and dry, wire wool etc..
My experience is that there is no guaranteed magic... but if you know your enemy, it is possible. I should note that my experience is as a formulator of chemical cleaning products.ok, so Fluoroantimonic acid is pretty strong but it will probably explode before you even get it onto the car parts

you will need strong abrasion at some point... wet and dry, wire wool etc..
For this particular cleaning problem, I suspect there is not magic but it depends on the exact specs. Are we talking about a dirty, greasy exhaust or are we talking about something which is discoloured by heat? In the former, you need a strongly alkaline detergent solution, possibly with a healthy solvent content. That will get rid of oil, grease and dirt... but it wont do a thing for heat staining. If there is staining, you need to then find out what the exhaust is made of. For example, stainless steel can be cleaned with citric acid (light staining) or concentrated nitric acid (moderate staining - and yes, it is quite safe for stainless). However, if you were to spray hydrochloric acid or hydrofluoric (common in acid wheel cleaners) you would risk doing more harm than good. There is the potential that the discolouration is too great (this is especially common with lower quality grades) and you need to actually remove the top layer or metal - now it is time for the abrasive. Of course, if you have the will and the means, this can be done chemically using ultrasonic means.
So there is almost always a way to do things... but it might take a Ph.D. to actually work out what the right solution is!!
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