DIY: Polishing Stainless Steel, Chrome, Copper, and Metals.

[Vilex]

Well.. Anyone with an Exhaust, header, or anything else and that is annoyed with it 'rusting' or starting to look ugly, then this DIY is for you, and will only take roughly an hour or so.

EASIER METHOD:

Alright, I recently picked up this stuff from walmart, call NEVR-DULL By Eagle One and this shit ROCKS! Let me tell you. No, better yet, let me SHOW you.

Materials:
- Can of NEVR-DULL(Walmart, like $6)
- Cloth of some sort to wipe it afterwards



1) Tear off a piece of this shit, don't get too much, a little goes a LONG way, trust me.

2) Choose your enemy, mine so happened to be my exhaust tip, since it had shit on it and look disgusting.


3)Just start hitting your object of choice, it works great on chrome, stainless steel, and metal. Just lightly go in circles(I did), and apply some pressure, depending on how much 'gunk' is on there, the discoloration at the end of my exhaust tip, I had to put some elbow grease to get it off.

4) After 5 minutes of little-to-no work, my tip looked like this(after I wiped it off, of course)


I gotta give this stuff it's props, it works wonderfully. Alot better than taking sandpaper to things, and alot less costly for that matter. My friend and I did his charge piping, and some other things on his truck, and it did the job beautifully. It even works great on chrome trim, found that out by testing it on my friends BMW.

Try this shit out guys, you will NOT be disappointed!



HARDER METHOD(But still great results)

Materials:

- 800, 1500, and 2000 grit wet sandpaper
- spray bottle of water with some soap in it
- Scratch-x
- (optional) wax of your choice
- Patience

Well, what I polished up was my header, and here we go:

1) Get the 800 grit and start spraying the surface and sanding like mad, sand up/down or left/right. Do NOT sand in circles.. Anyways, hit it up with 800 grit(also depends on how bad it needs to redone. If it's as bad as my header, then use 800. If you just wanna get some surface crap off or shine it up, i'd recommend 1500, followed by 2000 grit sand paper)



One header done and shined up with 800 grit sandpaper.


If your header is just blue/purple like this, just use 1500, followed by 2000 grit sand paper.

2) Once you get them all done with 800 grit, follow up with 1500 grit and continue spraying water and sanding, after that, follow up with 2000 grit paper and polish her up good.

3) Once you're done sanding, get some scratch-x and apply it to get all the little scratches out that sanding may have left.

4) If you want, apply some wax as a finishing touch.

When you're done, your product should look like this:



It took me roughly an hour, maybe an hour and a half. My header needed to be polished up badly.

Hope everyone enjoyed this quick and easy DIY. Time and patience is an essence.

[Gumdrop]

sweet i need to do this. thanks
how much of the header did you get? did you remove from the engine or just leave it in the bay and use your hand to reach far down there n get into the hard crevices(spelling check? lol)
and then after you sanded it, did you use some metal polish or anything? mine looks like shhhhhhhhhhhit

[Rallye Red Rider]

Originally Posted by Gumdrop

did you remove the engine or just leave it in the bay and use your hand to reach far down there

I think the DIY would be a little bit longer if he had to pull the engine

[CivicT.S.C.C]

Originally Posted by Rallye Red Rider

I think the DIY would be a little bit longer if he had to pull the engine

lol burn. ok so i need to do my headers and they look worse then that. pretty much a piece of rust. is this fixable and should i start out with a much lower grit like 80 or 100 and work up from there

[tuningmycivic]

i would imagine not, since you don't want to score the surface, just taking off the surface rust in order to get at the shiny metal underneath. i too am wondering if you used some sort of metal polish and/or protectant after shining it up, otherwise, it'll just rust over again in a couple of weeks if not sooner.

[Gumdrop]

Originally Posted by Rallye Red Rider

I think the DIY would be a little bit longer if he had to pull the engine

shit i wasnt even thinking....
lol

i meant remove the header.

[Vilex]

Originally Posted by Gumdrop

sweet i need to do this. thanks
how much of the header did you get? did you remove the engine or just leave it in the bay and use your hand to reach far down there n get into the hard crevices(spelling check? lol)
and then after you sanded it, did you use some metal polish or anything? mine looks like shhhhhhhhhhhit

I got most of it, it was pretty tough.. But I managed. I just left it on, it was much easier than taking the header off. Even though it was kind of a pita to get in some spots. You can use some metal polish if you want. Mine is starting to look like shit again, and I just did mine about a month ago.. I wish stainless steel wouldn't do this .

Originally Posted by Rallye Red Rider

I think the DIY would be a little bit longer if he had to pull the engine

Haha true.

Originally Posted by CivicT.S.C.C

lol burn. ok so i need to do my headers and they look worse then that. pretty much a piece of rust. is this fixable and should i start out with a much lower grit like 80 or 100 and work up from there

It's just surface rust, if its stainless steel header like mine. You should start with 600 or 800, and if its not working out too great, go with something lower maybe. But, you shouldn't have to go lower than 600 if it's just surface rust/crap.

Originally Posted by tuningmycivic

i would imagine not, since you don't want to score the surface, just taking off the surface rust in order to get at the shiny metal underneath. i too am wondering if you used some sort of metal polish and/or protectant after shining it up, otherwise, it'll just rust over again in a couple of weeks if not sooner.

Yeah, your right. Which is what happened to mine. I honestly don't know, i'm gonna look into it though.. The way I think is, any chemical, wax, or anything you put on it, is more than likely just going to burn off from the heat. Because when that header heats up, that sucker is pretty damn hot.

But, i've read of some compounds that will protect it longer and will prevent from surface rust and some other stuff, i'm still looking into it. I just wish there was also a way to prevent the rainbowish blue colors too.

Originally Posted by Gumdrop

shit i wasnt even thinking....
lol

Also.. Just read this on wikipedia. Someone give it a shot if they are too cheap to buy sandpaper.

A simple and inexpensive way to remove rust from steel surfaces by hand is to rub the steel with aluminium foil dipped in water. Aluminium has a higher reduction potential than the iron in steel, which may help transfer oxygen atoms from the iron to the aluminium. The aluminium foil is softer than steel and will not scratch it, as steel wool will, but as the aluminium oxidizes, the aluminium oxide produced becomes a fine metal polishing compound.

[Gumdrop]

Originally Posted by Vilex

Also.. Just read this on wikipedia. Someone give it a shot if they are too cheap to buy sandpaper.

Hmmm i wonder if that'll work!
any guinea pigs?!??

[SS8EM2]

Originally Posted by Vilex

I got most of it, it was pretty tough.. But I managed. I just left it on, it was much easier than taking the header off. Even though it was kind of a pita to get in some spots. You can use some metal polish if you want. Mine is starting to look like shit again, and I just did mine about a month ago.. I wish stainless steel wouldn't do this .



Haha true.



It's just surface rust, if its stainless steel header like mine. You should start with 600 or 800, and if its not working out too great, go with something lower maybe. But, you shouldn't have to go lower than 600 if it's just surface rust/crap.



Yeah, your right. Which is what happened to mine. I honestly don't know, i'm gonna look into it though.. The way I think is, any chemical, wax, or anything you put on it, is more than likely just going to burn off from the heat. Because when that header heats up, that sucker is pretty damn hot.

But, i've read of some compounds that will protect it longer and will prevent from surface rust and some other stuff, i'm still looking into it. I just wish there was also a way to prevent the rainbowish blue colors too.






Also.. Just read this on wikipedia. Someone give it a shot if they are too cheap to buy sandpaper.

The color change is from heat. Just use metal polish in the first place, Don't ruin the surface with sand paper. And Anthony, you need to get a stainless header before it will look like that, yours is still stock.

[wcrocco]

ya man this diy is awesome thanks alot dude