~Polished Exhaust 101~

[04sleeper]

for the buffing wheel step do you put the polish on with a rag then buff it off with the wheel or just use the wheel to buff it on?

I actually just wiped some on the pipes with my fingers and buffed it off with the wheel.

 

[Predatorbird]

op: subscribing

I just purchased a used Magnaflow system just so I can polish the pipes. I don't even want the mufflers or tips so I'll be selling those right away. :rockon:

 

[VtekII]

^^^right on, ive wanted to see polished pipes on your car forever!!

 

[04sleeper]

^^^right on, ive wanted to see polished pipes on your car forever!!

+1 op:

 

[KingJay]

op: subscribing

I just purchased a used Magnaflow system just so I can polish the pipes. I don't even want the mufflers or tips so I'll be selling those right away. :rockon:

Sell me those tips!

I think I might want to polish my exhaust pipes now.

 

[coolmanclyde]

I had to try this....

I did this with the exhaust on the car and mostly by hand. Results could be better but I am happy. This is a stock cat back.

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[04sleeper]

I had to try this....

I did this with the exhaust on the car and mostly by hand. Results could be better but I am happy. This is a stock cat back.

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Wow! That looks A LOT better! :rockon:

That's the first time I have seen someone do it with the stock pipes.

Nice Job! :thumbsup:

 

[Predatorbird]

Here is my progress so far. I only worked on one pipe. The exhaust was already lightly polished by Graves, but still needed some cleaning up. I went to Home Depot today and the lowest grit they had was 320. I think I need to go find something lower to clean up the caked on stuff. I worked my way up to 1500 grit, but I'm still not happy with the shine yet.

I hit it with the 150 grit flap wheel, but I wasn't having much success with these marks. Both of my drills are battery powered so I think I'm not getting power. Should I keep at it or just find some 100 grit paper and work them out by hand?

 

[04sleeper]

You will definitely need some more power on the drill. Also, try to get at least 100 grit to start out with and pay special attention to the curved areas. (They show up the most)

Once you get those mandrel marks out the rest is cake!

Looks much better though. :rockon:

 

[Predatorbird]

Here is my progress so far. I've worked my way up to 2000 grit on both pipes. Tomorrow I'm going to polish them and hopefully get them on early next week. I spent a couple hours each day for the first 3 days and I wasn't too happy with how they were coming out. Today I hit the bends with the 60 grit flapper wheel and then wetsanded them both all over again. These are not a perfect mirror shine, but it's the best I can do.

Thanks to 04sleeper and VtekII for answering my PM's and helping me out. :beer:

 

[04sleeper]

Here is my progress so far. I've worked my way up to 2000 grit on both pipes. Tomorrow I'm going to polish them and hopefully get them on early next week. I spent a couple hours each day for the first 3 days and I wasn't too happy with how they were coming out. Today I hit the bends with the 60 grit flapper wheel and then wetsanded them both all over again. These are not a perfect mirror shine, but it's the best I can do.

Thanks to 04sleeper and VtekII for answering my PM's and helping me out. :beer:

Looking Good! It will really shine after you hit it with the cotton buffing wheel.

Glad I could help. :beer:

 

[VtekII]

Here is my progress so far. I've worked my way up to 2000 grit on both pipes. Tomorrow I'm going to polish them and hopefully get them on early next week. I spent a couple hours each day for the first 3 days and I wasn't too happy with how they were coming out. Today I hit the bends with the 60 grit flapper wheel and then wetsanded them both all over again. These are not a perfect mirror shine, but it's the best I can do.

Thanks to 04sleeper and VtekII for answering my PM's and helping me out. :beer:

hey man, no prob. that looks pretty dang good!! im pumped to see it on your car. something about bright red and polished exhaust that look awesome

 

[96lasersnake]

Here is my progress so far. I've worked my way up to 2000 grit on both pipes. Tomorrow I'm going to polish them and hopefully get them on early next week. I spent a couple hours each day for the first 3 days and I wasn't too happy with how they were coming out. Today I hit the bends with the 60 grit flapper wheel and then wetsanded them both all over again. These are not a perfect mirror shine, but it's the best I can do.

Thanks to 04sleeper and VtekII for answering my PM's and helping me out. :beer:

Looks good, if that is the catback you got from graves it was on my old silver cobra

 

[Predatorbird]

Looks good, if that is the catback you got from graves it was on my old silver cobra

Yup that's the one. :rockon:

 

[Red Turtle]

Here is my progress so far. I've worked my way up to 2000 grit on both pipes. Tomorrow I'm going to polish them and hopefully get them on early next week. I spent a couple hours each day for the first 3 days and I wasn't too happy with how they were coming out. Today I hit the bends with the 60 grit flapper wheel and then wetsanded them both all over again. These are not a perfect mirror shine, but it's the best I can do.

Thanks to 04sleeper and VtekII for answering my PM's and helping me out. :beer:

Looks like you have been layin some serious pipe on your bed!! :rolling:

Have you hit it with 2500, 3000, 4000 yet? You have come this far, so take it a little further before to polish and the results will be great.

 

[Predatorbird]

Looks like you have been layin some serious pipe on your bed!! :rolling:

Have you hit it with 2500, 3000, 4000 yet? You have come this far, so take it a little further before to polish and the results will be great.

Are there any places local that sell anything higher than 2000?

 

[VtekII]

body shop supply stores will sell above 2000

 

[Predatorbird]

I went ahead and threw some polish on the pipes this morning. I think they will look fine once they're under the car.

 

[Red Turtle]

I went ahead and threw some polish on the pipes this morning. I think they will look fine once they're under the car.

Mothers? Don't forget to rub your pipe until you get lots of black residue....that sounds really wierd!

I agree, as I did not even do all of the sanding that most did on mine. I just rubbed mother's until it looked like a mirror, but it also is not nearly as smooth and glassy like Sleepers.

 

[vnmous01]

I decided to tackle this project this weekend. I took my pipes off Saturday and I first tried doing it all by hand which was a huge failure. A phrase that comes to mind is "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight." This project depending on the current condition of your pipes is going to take some serious work. I never even got close to a mirror finish. I then broke out the drill and flapper wheel which IMO is the biggest factor as to how good your pipes are going to come out. Using the flapper wheel is also a good time to take out an scratches from maybe your exhaust bottoming out somewhere as long as the scratches aren't too deep. I spent a lot of time with an 80 grit flapper wheel and 100 grit by hand. It seemed like after 400 grit the sanding seemed to speed up but its definitely all in how well you sand it with the lower grits so I suggest not skimping on it. Here are a few pictures of my before and after progress, I may redo the first pipe now that I got the hang of it I know I can get it polished up better.

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/4103/img0121i.jpg

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9408/img0122ho.jpg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/7151/img0123aq.jpg