Polished my exhaust tips.... THEN WENT NUTS and Polished the whole thing
07-29-2011, 01:52 AM
#1
Polished my exhaust tips.... THEN WENT NUTS and Polished the whole thing
So i just recently bought a used Boxster S Exhaust. The cheap aftermarket one on my car looked terrible and sounded even worse. The droning at 2000-2500 made me want to shoot my ears off.
It initially started as a harmless little project to just clean up and polish the tips which turned into a 4 hour ordeal. My wife thought I was crazy as I sat for 3-4 hours scrubbing, sanding, fine sanding, wet sanding, and polishing the tips first and then the entire muffler. Would have finished much faster if I had a decent cordless drill or even an electric. But nooooo!!! I had to do most of it by hand and some of the polishing in between quick battery charges.
So here are some before and after pics.. and pics during progression.
I figure only you guys might appreciate this... but then again you may think i'm NUTS TOO!!!!
It initially started as a harmless little project to just clean up and polish the tips which turned into a 4 hour ordeal. My wife thought I was crazy as I sat for 3-4 hours scrubbing, sanding, fine sanding, wet sanding, and polishing the tips first and then the entire muffler. Would have finished much faster if I had a decent cordless drill or even an electric. But nooooo!!! I had to do most of it by hand and some of the polishing in between quick battery charges.
So here are some before and after pics.. and pics during progression.
I figure only you guys might appreciate this... but then again you may think i'm NUTS TOO!!!!
07-29-2011, 05:03 AM
#4
Track Day
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Excellent! But, I wonder how long the shiny look will last. My driveway is about 40 ft up a slight incline. Since I don't back into my drive, my my 2000 exhaust is on full display for all who go down my street. Not a pretty sight! Also the car attracts a lot of looks from passers-by. I'm thinkin just back the car up on some Rhino ramps and clean what I can w/o removing exhaust. That would take care of all that's readily visible from street. But if it won't last, why bother. Still, yours looks great!
07-29-2011, 09:30 AM
#5
Advanced
It's not ****, it's a Porsche...
Freud might say you are ****, but if it makes you happy, go for it! If my wife saw me doing that, she would probably talk me into doing more yard work. We are all different in what we value. And that's another thing that makes life enjoyable.
Cheers,
Guy
Cheers,
Guy
07-29-2011, 03:31 PM
#6
Rennlist Member
Outstanding! now I can show your pictures to my wife to prove I'm normal. To help preserve the shine get Zoop Seal works great on polished aluminum too or there is a clear ceramic coating that can be spray/painted on that is supposed to retain heat also, I only know 1 local place that does it & it's Expensive! 
07-29-2011, 07:41 PM
#7
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Very nice work! Any installed pics to show the bling?
Could you by chance share the polish products you used? My muffler is VERY bronze, my wife is traveling for the summer, & this would be a great time occupier.
Thanks,
Could you by chance share the polish products you used? My muffler is VERY bronze, my wife is traveling for the summer, & this would be a great time occupier.
Thanks,
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07-30-2011, 01:48 PM
#9
How I Polished My Exhaust
Scott,
PM Me. I may stop by and lend a helping hand while you do it. I live in Raleigh on Glenwood between Brier Creek and Crabtree.
I'll be installing the exhaust this week. I'm taking my car in to get an the IMS retrofit done and while they have the exhaust out they'll get my newly polished unit in
As far as what I used to get the desired effect. I used my own medium grit sanding block and the 3M headlight polishing kit (pic attached).
If you don't want to buy the 3M kit $25.. I'll list the all the grades of sand paper in the kit but it may just be cheaper to go and buy one of these kits which i had laying around after i buffed out my wife's headlight lenses.
Here are the materials and step by step.
Materials:
Electric or Cordless drill with a good battery
Med Grit (200-400) Sanding Brick
500 Grit sand paper
800 Grit Sand paper
3000 Grit sanding pad. ( this one is harder to find but one the most important)
Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound (3M)
1. Throughly clean the area to be sanded and polised
2. Wet Sand the entire area with the 200-400 Grit Sanding Block until you get all the yellow or oxidation out. This will take quite a bit of elbow grease as it gets difficult to get all the nooks and crannies. If the exhaust was smooth, the entire process would have taken me less than an hour.
3. Wet sand the entire exhaust with the 500 Grit paper by hand or if you have the disks from the 3M kit, by drill.
4. Repeat Step 3 but use the 800 Grit paper. Remember to keep the areas you're sanding wet or at least damp.
5. This step will get you the shine. Go over the entire area with a fast buffing motion with the 3000k grit pad. If you have a high speed drill or buffer. That will work best. If i had more of this 3000k sanding pad, I could have gotten a much better shine but the grit wore off the pad i had 3/4 of the way through the entire process. Luckily i started with the exhaust tips which is why they are the most polished.
6. Apply the rubbing compound and buff to a nice shine by hand or using a drill or orbital buffer.
I would estimate the job to take you 1-2 hours if you just do the visible parts of the exhaust while it's installed.
I'll post pics of it installed late next week.
PM Me. I may stop by and lend a helping hand while you do it. I live in Raleigh on Glenwood between Brier Creek and Crabtree.
I'll be installing the exhaust this week. I'm taking my car in to get an the IMS retrofit done and while they have the exhaust out they'll get my newly polished unit in
As far as what I used to get the desired effect. I used my own medium grit sanding block and the 3M headlight polishing kit (pic attached).
If you don't want to buy the 3M kit $25.. I'll list the all the grades of sand paper in the kit but it may just be cheaper to go and buy one of these kits which i had laying around after i buffed out my wife's headlight lenses.
Here are the materials and step by step.
Materials:
Electric or Cordless drill with a good battery
Med Grit (200-400) Sanding Brick
500 Grit sand paper
800 Grit Sand paper
3000 Grit sanding pad. ( this one is harder to find but one the most important)
Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound (3M)
1. Throughly clean the area to be sanded and polised
2. Wet Sand the entire area with the 200-400 Grit Sanding Block until you get all the yellow or oxidation out. This will take quite a bit of elbow grease as it gets difficult to get all the nooks and crannies. If the exhaust was smooth, the entire process would have taken me less than an hour.
3. Wet sand the entire exhaust with the 500 Grit paper by hand or if you have the disks from the 3M kit, by drill.
4. Repeat Step 3 but use the 800 Grit paper. Remember to keep the areas you're sanding wet or at least damp.
5. This step will get you the shine. Go over the entire area with a fast buffing motion with the 3000k grit pad. If you have a high speed drill or buffer. That will work best. If i had more of this 3000k sanding pad, I could have gotten a much better shine but the grit wore off the pad i had 3/4 of the way through the entire process. Luckily i started with the exhaust tips which is why they are the most polished.
6. Apply the rubbing compound and buff to a nice shine by hand or using a drill or orbital buffer.
I would estimate the job to take you 1-2 hours if you just do the visible parts of the exhaust while it's installed.
I'll post pics of it installed late next week.
07-30-2011, 08:41 PM
#11
I honestly have no idea. I'll take a pic and share once it's off. I bought the car last month with this exhaust already installed. I can look straight into it from the tips so its completely hollow with no sound deadening or baffles. I seriously contemplated the NHP nockoff's from M2 Performance but I found this exhaust and went for the quiet sound since the one on my car now is driving me nuts.
07-30-2011, 09:04 PM
#12
Racer
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Looking forward to the post.
Did you happen to notice the 2000 S Boxster exhaust for sale on Rennlist? It's a lot worse than yours was. What do you think, could it be cleaned up?
Did you happen to notice the 2000 S Boxster exhaust for sale on Rennlist? It's a lot worse than yours was. What do you think, could it be cleaned up?
07-31-2011, 01:05 AM
#13
Yes with enough sanding and elbow grease anything is possible ... I would begin with heavier grit sand blocks to tackle the years of oxidation.. and step it down.. may take longer but with proper tools you could knock it out quicker.
... I would begin with heavier grit sand blocks to tackle the years of oxidation.. and step it down.. may take longer but with proper tools you could knock it out quicker.
08-04-2011, 04:59 PM
#15
Here are a couple of pics of the old exhaust. Still waiting on IMS, Waterpump, AOS, Clutch before the new exhaust is installed.
R2R,
Here is a pic of the exhaust i took off the car. I don't know the brand. It looks like stainless steel. The tips look bad because the last owner ran over a black tarp which melted onto the tips. It is not for the faint of heart. Definitely loud, especially at 2-2.5k, too loud. But quiets down above 3k rpm. Very odd.
R2R,
Here is a pic of the exhaust i took off the car. I don't know the brand. It looks like stainless steel. The tips look bad because the last owner ran over a black tarp which melted onto the tips. It is not for the faint of heart. Definitely loud, especially at 2-2.5k, too loud. But quiets down above 3k rpm. Very odd.