Polishing Exhaust

Fast Willy

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
3,985
Location
Bonita Springs, FL
I've seen some of you guys polish your cat-backs in the past and was curious what you guys feel is the best way to go about this. I want to try and polish my magnaflow cat-back just curious if some of you have have any tips or tricks.
 

dom418

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Messages
2,118
Location
Bloomingdale, IL
I've done it but never again I can tell you that much. Many hours and numb fingers. Take it to a shop and have them do it, it will come out better and save you 16 hours of your life
 

Fast Willy

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
3,985
Location
Bonita Springs, FL
Thank you very much guys I'll post my results once I'm done. Hopefully the Magnaflow turns out just as nice even though I believe thats 304 ss and the borla is somewhere in the 400? But I've read different things on this as well.
 

MagnaFlow

Authorized Vendor
Authorized Vendor
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
183
Location
Oceanside, CA
Our exhausts are all composed of 409 stainless, and should polish up nicely! We'd be interested to see some pictures of it when you're finished!
 

MagnaFlow

Authorized Vendor
Authorized Vendor
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
183
Location
Oceanside, CA
My magnaflow is all rusted. I thought 409 didn't rust?

It is possible for all stainless steel to develop rust in the right conditions, though it is uncommon to see our systems have it severe enough to effect the integrity. In most cases, any light surface rust can be removed by lightly scrubbing with a scotchbrite pad, or something similar.
 

Fast Willy

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
3,985
Location
Bonita Springs, FL
Alright guys, I've been taking my time with this project as I want to get it right. Here are a couple pictures I've taken

This is basically what I started with up close. The system only has approx 2k miles on it over that last 2 years or so. Here you can see the small dimples created by the madrel bender and I was on a mission to remove every bit of this.
AF9578DE-8560-4344-8367-7382B18FA623_zps7v6fwjj3.jpg


This was actually my first tool of choice to do this. I couldn't find a flapper wheel like 04sleeper recommends in his how to but this def did the job. the wheel is 80 grit.
4FEAF692-0E80-4CEE-A65E-CF86934CCEDA_zpsfxqrtqr9.jpg


And this is what it will look like after the wheel
C6933AEF-36CB-4BAA-B310-7A5CCBDA4300_zpso1dpvrck.jpg


From there I went to 100 grit with a DA sander, then 220 and then 400 all using a DA. From there I went to 600 by hand, then 1200 and then 2000.

Once you get to the 600 grit the pipe starts to have a little shine to it but can still see plenty of sanding marks. I wish I would have taken a few more pictures of each grit but I was just so focused on the project at hand.

Once reason I went with these grit choices is its basically all I could find at my local lowes believe it or not. Now that I am done with 1 side I wish I would have spent a few more different grits in between my choices. I.E. gone from 600 to 800 to 1000 and then to the 1200 then maybe 1500 to 2000 but over still a very good outcome.

Here is a picture of the before and after
41891035-B805-47B8-9D6A-6DBA1E63392E_zpsqchwvtxr.jpg


One side is now done. Before I move forward I am going to try and located some different grit sand papers. The DA actually I would say saved me on this job for sure but be carefully to always keep it moving. I was able to remove all the dimple and scratch marks from the bending machine. I just didn't personally go crazy with that right around where the hangers are welded on, you don't see this area any ways.

For polish I used mothers Mag aluminum polish and it seems to work great. I actually paired it with an old buffing pad I has from an old headlight restoration kit that I never used and this worked perfect. Hope you all enjoy. I will post up a few more pictures once I get this back on the car. I am only sparing about an hr a night right now on its and this side probably was around 4 to 5 hours.

The hardest part to really get right is def the inside area on the bends.
 

1wild-horse

Purveyor of missed information
Established Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
3,399
Location
IA
if you have a buffer, you can adapt a cloth polishing wheel to it and speed up the polishing time. The secret to a good shine is the prep work. (sanding)
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top