How To Polish your catback
By: SpectorV
Date: 04/20/08
Info:
Before:
I have a Borla cat back and I polished the exhaust from where it bolt on right behind the pumpkin. Its all that you can see of the exhaust. Mine separated at that point so it made my life easier. Yours may not depending on what you have. Also different metals may polish faster/slower to keep this in mind.
Tools Needed:
400 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
1000 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
1500 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
2000 Grit Sand Paper 2 packages
Metal Polish
If possible some sort of buffer for the final shine
Tools to remove and reinstall your catback (each is different so look to see what you need here)
You can also pick up an extra pack of each sand paper just to be safe as you may need it.
About 20 dollars in total for cost.
In order to get a mirror like finish when sanding wet sand with 400-500-600-800-1000-1500-2000
Sand paper I used:
Level of difficulty:
On a 1-10 this job gets a 2. The hardest part is taking the exhaust off. Expect to spend about 7 hours doing this. I started at 1pm and finished at 8pm.
Step 1 - Remove Exhaust
Use ramps or jack stands, what ever you want to get the exhaust off. The stock rubber hangers are the hardest part of this. If you can get them started you can wiggle them off, it just takes a good bit of time. Try to pull down on the exhaust and pull put and shift the hanger back and forth. This little spawn of Satan can be tricky. Don't throw things if you can help it. After you have the exhaust removed its time to clean them up and sand!
Step 2 - Clean up the exhaust
Clean up the exhaust pipes good to remove nasty road grim
Step 3 - Sand with 400 grit
You can wet sand or you can not. It makes a mess either way and the stuff that you sand off does not come off easy on what ever it gets on. Be careful where you sand your exhaust at. Take the 400 gritt peices of paper and tear them in half and use half of in about 6 inch increments down the pipe keeping an eye on the paper to see when it is used up, Keep it flat for the best results. Use a up and down and side to side motion (circular). Take your time as this is the base of it all. Pay attention to how the metal looks after its sanded, you want a uniform pattern all the way. Clean the parts up good before going on.
400 Grit Sand vs Stock Pipe cleaned up
Step 4 - Sand with 1000 grit
Do just like 400 grit, take your time and sand the entire part. It wont be as easy to see where you have been so keep tabs on to what part on the pipe you are going in each 6 inch increment. Clean the parts up good before going on.
1000 Grit vs Stock Pipe just cleaned up
Step 5 - Sand with 1500 grit
Do just like 1000 grit. Start taking a little more time here to bring out the sine good. Clean the parts up good before going on.
1500 grit vs 1000 Grit
Step 6 - Sand with 2000 grit
REALLY take your time here spend twice as much time as you did with the 1500 grit. Make extra efforts to sand the areas that will be seen the most when installed back on the car.Clean the parts up good before going on.
2000 Grit (dirty tough looks better cleaned
Step 7 - Use some really good metal polish and apply some by hand. Do a couple good coats and let it sit for a couple of minutes and buff it off
Step 8 - If you can use a buffer and some good polish to go over the parts a couple good times. Depending on the form of the metal their will be pits that wont come out without MUCH more sanding. These pits are not very noticeable so don't lose sleep over them.
Step 9 - Reinstall the exhaust and align as needed, finish off by wiping down the exhaust pipes.
That is all it takes, the finished results:
I need a bit more polish as I ran out but they look pretty nice. I will get some day time pics soon.
By: SpectorV
Date: 04/20/08
Info:
Before:
I have a Borla cat back and I polished the exhaust from where it bolt on right behind the pumpkin. Its all that you can see of the exhaust. Mine separated at that point so it made my life easier. Yours may not depending on what you have. Also different metals may polish faster/slower to keep this in mind.
Tools Needed:
400 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
1000 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
1500 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
2000 Grit Sand Paper 2 packages
Metal Polish
If possible some sort of buffer for the final shine
Tools to remove and reinstall your catback (each is different so look to see what you need here)
You can also pick up an extra pack of each sand paper just to be safe as you may need it.
About 20 dollars in total for cost.
In order to get a mirror like finish when sanding wet sand with 400-500-600-800-1000-1500-2000
Sand paper I used:
Level of difficulty:
On a 1-10 this job gets a 2. The hardest part is taking the exhaust off. Expect to spend about 7 hours doing this. I started at 1pm and finished at 8pm.
Step 1 - Remove Exhaust
Use ramps or jack stands, what ever you want to get the exhaust off. The stock rubber hangers are the hardest part of this. If you can get them started you can wiggle them off, it just takes a good bit of time. Try to pull down on the exhaust and pull put and shift the hanger back and forth. This little spawn of Satan can be tricky. Don't throw things if you can help it. After you have the exhaust removed its time to clean them up and sand!
Step 2 - Clean up the exhaust
Clean up the exhaust pipes good to remove nasty road grim
Step 3 - Sand with 400 grit
You can wet sand or you can not. It makes a mess either way and the stuff that you sand off does not come off easy on what ever it gets on. Be careful where you sand your exhaust at. Take the 400 gritt peices of paper and tear them in half and use half of in about 6 inch increments down the pipe keeping an eye on the paper to see when it is used up, Keep it flat for the best results. Use a up and down and side to side motion (circular). Take your time as this is the base of it all. Pay attention to how the metal looks after its sanded, you want a uniform pattern all the way. Clean the parts up good before going on.
400 Grit Sand vs Stock Pipe cleaned up
Step 4 - Sand with 1000 grit
Do just like 400 grit, take your time and sand the entire part. It wont be as easy to see where you have been so keep tabs on to what part on the pipe you are going in each 6 inch increment. Clean the parts up good before going on.
1000 Grit vs Stock Pipe just cleaned up
Step 5 - Sand with 1500 grit
Do just like 1000 grit. Start taking a little more time here to bring out the sine good. Clean the parts up good before going on.
1500 grit vs 1000 Grit
Step 6 - Sand with 2000 grit
REALLY take your time here spend twice as much time as you did with the 1500 grit. Make extra efforts to sand the areas that will be seen the most when installed back on the car.Clean the parts up good before going on.
2000 Grit (dirty tough looks better cleaned
Step 7 - Use some really good metal polish and apply some by hand. Do a couple good coats and let it sit for a couple of minutes and buff it off
Step 8 - If you can use a buffer and some good polish to go over the parts a couple good times. Depending on the form of the metal their will be pits that wont come out without MUCH more sanding. These pits are not very noticeable so don't lose sleep over them.
Step 9 - Reinstall the exhaust and align as needed, finish off by wiping down the exhaust pipes.
That is all it takes, the finished results:
I need a bit more polish as I ran out but they look pretty nice. I will get some day time pics soon.
Last edited:
