Steven C.

OK Another one for the new car. The exhaust tips are very dull, like brushed aluminum almost. Is this right? Can I take them off and polish them?

Thanks

teflon_jones

Yup, you can polish them up, but they're not going to stay that way for long. I'd soak them in some kerosene first, then use some fine steel wool or a scotch brite pad to get the carbon off of them. I've heard of people waxing them after they polish them and it keeps them shiny longer.

You should just go all the way and get a pair of big bore tips and replace them all together.

JES1680

I polished mine when I did my Fabspeed install. I used a bench grinder with a cotton wheel and jewlers rouge. Mirror finish now. They are a MAJOR pain to remove and re-install though.

Steven C.

Before I start this maybe I should have asked what are made of? Steel? I tried some chrome polish and it did not phase the dullness! This does not look that easy all of the sudden

marlinspike

They're designed dull, to shine them you don't just shine them, you've got to actually make them shiny.

Orient Express

The 02 tips slide off the end of the lower pipe by removing the one bolt that hold the tip. Squirt some WD40 on the pipe to make it slide off easily.

These tips are stainless steel, are quite durable, and can be polished up to a high gloss. Stainless steel is far superior to chrome for exhaust tips.

After the tip is removed, give it a preliminary cleaning to get off the surface gunk, road tar. I use a combination of 3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover and some 000 steel wool to do this part. I even had to use a razor blade to scrape off the road tar.

Next, using a bench grinder with a polishing wheel on it and some metal polishing rouge, work each tip to give it a base polish. Finish the polishing routine with some fine metal polish. You can achieve a chrome-like finish on these tips. Lastly, I give the tips a good coat of Rejex to keep them from "browning" and to give the tip a surface that road tar does not easily stick too.

This process will take about an hour per tip. After this, they keep their shine for quite a while. I only touch them up ever 18 months or so.

stilton_a_cheese

Must be that time of year. Spring Cleaning! I spent 2 hours cleaning the interior of the 996 Cabrio (much easier with the top down) and another 90 minutes washing it (and now I'm out of elbow grease), the wife is detailing the wheels, and we're I'm thinking *Looking Good*, and then those unsightly exhaust tips. Worse than *Ring Around The Collar*. I'm gonna try a nameless stainless-steel cleaner and some 400 steel wool tomorrow... Then I'll report back...

Steven C.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Those look great!

I can work with stainless as I have lots of practice from restoring the vintage racer.

Thanks

nycebo

Gary is such a beast! He always has the phenomenal ways to get the car looking concours clean.

Scouser

As it happens I removed my tips to clean them last weekend. They were undescribably dirty. Cleaning all 4 wheels and the tips took me 2 hours but they came up like new. The tips were incredibly dull. I mean duller than you can imagine.

I used Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish. It's easy stuff to use and it doesnt take much elbow grease.

The pictures dont do justice. I took them in my garage in bad light but you can see they came up well.

Note that I have had these wheels on my car for almost 5 years now!

juankimalo

This one is very dull, as Stevens says:




IMO one of the most beauty tail pipes, are the FVD ones. They fits on 996 Carrera and are similar to 997 PSE.
Have a look:

juankimalo

Bernie, what a fantastic work !
Those rims seem to be like new ones!!!!!!!!

Scouser

Thanks. Yes they came up well. I am well pleased with them. It is quite amazing that they came up like new after all these years. The tips too although I discovered that some bright **** had stood on the end of my pipes and scratched them a bit. But you can hardly tell now.

Re the dual tail pipes. To be honest, I bought a set of techart dual pipes a few years back. After fitting them I didnt like them though so sold them on ebay.

juankimalo

I prefer the FVD tail pipes to the optional chromed OEM

Steven C.

Great help guys! This is my weekend project now as it is suppose to rain all day tomorrow. I will start with mine but the duals do look nice. Look expensive also?