I've searched on here. I've Googled. I haven't yet found any real world experiences posted. Clarence is back from the painter's. Now I need to reinstall the stainless trim. Hood spears, headlight doors, etc. I want to polish it before I put it back on. What should I use to polish this with? How should I do it? Searching for "polish" on here results in 7 pages of threads. Searching only thread titles for "polish" gives 4 pages of results. I've looked a many of these and come up empty. I'm sure I can go to any parts store, WallyWorld, etc., and buy polish and perform as the instructions tell me. What I'm looking for is YOUR experiences. What works and what doesn't?
I always buff stainless using white stainless compound. I usually make holding fixtures for trim pieces to prevent the buffing wheel from grabbing the part.
Aha! I wasn't thinking of mechanical help. It never dawned on me that I should be doing anything other than hand polish.
Often on real delicate stuff that just needs to be brighter I use a 4" buffing disc on an air tool with the trim on a wood block. Keeps the stray threads from grabbing it and making a Cork Screw out of it. Also if you don't have a Block of white compound a liquid polishing compound direct on the trim then to the wheel.
Eastwood has a kit with buffs and compounds. I did all the SS trim on my OT Musclecar starting with a coarse compound, moving to progressively finer compounds and finishing with a cotton buff. It makes a hell of a mess but the results were spectacular.
A buffer is the only way to fly on stainless. You'll rub your fingers to nubs trying to hand polish due to the hardness of SS. It will get hot as you buff it and the heat aids the process. I use a pair of rubber faced gloves made for handling glass as they'll protect your hands from the heat and give you a good grip on the parts. One slip bare handed with a piece of trim and you'll have a cut that'll ruin your day. Tarheelparts.com has about every kind of thing needed for buffing at decent prices. Most any 1800 rpm motor of 1/2 or 3/4 hp will work for buffing using a shaft adapter to mount the wheels. Not as convenient as a double shaft Baldor, but it doesn't cost $800+ either.
Well; I'm learning. Pist-n-Broke is using a hand-held. When you say buffing disc is this using the edge of the wheel or the "face" of the wheel? Black_Sheep & metlmunchr - are you guys doing hand-held or stationary buffer? I don't have buffing wheels but do have air tools and bench grinders. I'll have to go get the buffing wheels. Is there an advantage of one over the other; hand-held vs bench buffer? Also: any recommendations for brand of compound? Liquid or block? On-line or local?
I bought a buffing set-up years ago, have buffed many parts (both stainless and aluminum) with very good results. There is a learning curve. First warning: it's a filthy, dirty job and can be very time-consuming. You'll want gloves, eye protection and a face shield. Size/speed of your buffer will affect how long it takes to get a good surface. For metal, a 3600 RPM motor works best, but you can get by with an 1800 RPM, it just takes longer. If buffing plastic, you need an 1800 RPM motor, the 3600 is too fast and will melt the plastic. The bigger the diameter of the buffing wheel, the faster it goes, and just as importantly, the longer the buff lasts. Buffer motor power makes a big difference too; more power means less time. There's lots of metal buffing videos on Utube, watch some of them for the basics. Bench vs hand-held? No contest, bench mount. I've done hand-held, but mostly on larger items that are too clumsy to wrestle on the stationary buffer like wheels with mounted tires. Very slow process... Buffing wheels and compounds? I've had good luck with Eastwood's stuff, some guys like Caswell's offerings. The box store/HF stuff can work, but expect extended time to achieve results and buy at least two of everything as they don't last all that well in my experience. For buffing stainless, you'll want at least two compounds, red and white rouge. If your stainless is particularly dull or you had to repair minor damage, you will want a stainless compound for the first pass. Buffing wheels, use a sewn cotton with the red rouge and a loose cotton with the white. Don't mix compounds on one wheel. For the stainless compound, a sewn sisal wheel is best. Keep your buffs clean, 'rake' them to remove excessive compound build-up. Pre-buffing prep is very important; the smoother/cleaner the part you start with, the easier/faster it will be to buff. Any flaws you can feel should be bumped and/or sanded out before you start buffing. Use at least 400 grit, the finer the better. I use 2" 400 grit roloc discs on a angle-head die grinder for heavy sanding, the high speed leaves a better finish. Smaller flaws can be removed with Scotchbrite rolocs, I use a ton of these when buffing. Generally speaking, the sewn cotton buff with red rouge compound will give a OEM finish, if you want a real mirror polish follow up with the loose cotton and white rouge. Do be very careful with the loose cotton buff, that's the one that will 'grab' the easiest. Keep the buffs clean, let the compound do the work. If you start leaving hard black streaks on the part, your buff is dirty. The advice to support the trim is excellent, and always buff parallel to or away from any edges/ends. These are aluminum parts, but the same prep steps apply. Top to bottom, as found part with the worst flaws sanded out, pre-buffing prep with rolocs, and finished buffed part. I'll note here I invested in needed tooling/consumables to make this as easy/fast as possible; big Baldor buffer spinning 10" wheels, air die grinders and disc sander. Total time on the above part start to finish was about 15 minutes. You can still get these results with less gear, but it will take longer. Stainless will also take longer. I've used mine enough over the years that it's easily paid for itself given what the pros want for this work. I'll also note that you can clean up old chrome with a buffing wheel, doing a much better job that the usual steel wool/chrome polish. You'll never make it look new, but it works very well for minimizing pitting.
^^^ and if polishing long pieces of trim on a bench rig, hold it to the buffing wheel lengthwise rather than sideways. Sideways will likely "grab" the trim and turn it into a corkscrew.
Yes hold lenghtwise and if you are able to, use some scrap wood to support the longer trim pieces when holding them to the buff wheel. Take your time... It never fails I start getting in a hurry and end up scratching a piece Ive already polished and have to fix my own screw up.
True that! It can also get a lot worse, and I learned that lesson the hard way. The first and last time I polished a car's worth of trim by hand was on a 1951 Roadmaster. I ended up with two bone spurs in my elbow, and tendonitis. Trust me, nobody needs either.
All good advice so far. As far as tools, a regular old bench grinder with an appropriate size wheel will do the job, I've used a 8" wheel on a 7" electric grinder, smaller wheels on a 4" angle grinder, and 1" bobs and discs on an air die grinder. Lots of ways to skin the cat. Many times I've fastened trim to shaped wooden pieces; duct taped the piece in place, buffed between the taped area, removed and re-taped and buffed the areas previously covers. Wheels make a good holder for trim rings and caps.
I put the polishing wheels on a bench grinder then applied the compound block to the spinning wheel to load it up.
All of the information posted on this topic is good, especially the detailed information by @Crazy Steve , On the smaller pieces of stainless steel trim, and if you are patient, I have had good results with clean new cloth baby diapers and flitz Polish. Go to flitz.com to see the information that can be helpful to you! Good luck and be safe !
I'm reading every reply. Thank you everyone so far. Any more responses will be more than welcome. I can now see that those several belt-driven grinders that I have restored over the years (but never been hooked to a belt) will now be put to good use. I'll install buffing wheels, connect to motors, and use them outdoors.
I'll offer another tip. If you're buffing an item that doesn't require that you get into deep recesses or crevices, double up on your buffing wheels for more width. You do need a buffer with more power to get the full benefit, but even so it will speed the process and more importantly extend the life of your wheels. The more money you spend on needed equipment, the less time it will take.
Outdoors is good. Mine is floor-mounted in my shop, and buffing wheel lint ends up almost everywhere. Did I mention that this is a dirty, sometimes nasty job? LOLOL.. Even with eye protection and face shield, I usually end up with only my eyes and teeth not being black.... Use the biggest motor you have, that will allow larger buffs sizes, and try to attain 3600 RPM shaft speed.
We used to use electro polished SS tubing at a place I worked out. It looked pretty shiny, but hard to compare to a flat surface. I wonder it that could be used as an option for trim?
Same here except I've got a 1hp Baldor buffer to run the buffing wheels. If you use a bench grinder, you'll need to remove the wheel guards as you can't keep them in place and present the part to the wheel at the needed angle. On long skinny parts in particular, you want to always contact the wheel such that, if it grabs the part, it will pull it away from you rather than pushing it toward you. A 10 inch wheel at 1800rpm can throw a part at you at about 55mph, or over 100mph if running at 3600rpm. Definitely nothing to get careless with. The main advantage to a buffer over a grinder with buffing wheels is the extended shafts on the buffer gives added clearance when working on parts like the Yamaha cover Steve posted. For typical SS trim parts, the grinder would work fine.
Get a buffing wheel and go to your nearest big rig truck shop and buy yourself a couple polishing bars of various courses. You will never go back to anything else.
Here's "frankenbuffer" me and the kid made out of a $5 swap meet belt driven head, a chunk of old snow plow push-frame tube, an old brake drum, along with some new bearings, pulleys, belts, etc and a $25 garage sale 2 hp motor.
The restored belt driven grinders I mentioned above have no guards and one has a long shaft that I haven't cut threads into yet. I'll put the threads WAY out there. Here's a pic of the one I'm talking about before I put the shaft and pulley in. I think it'll work perfectly. I guess it won't ever be this clean again though. Will 8" clearance between the blue housing and the buffing wheel be enough? I can make the shaft any length I want, as long as the welding shop has rod that long. I notice the shaft rod that I have is on the bench behind the housing. It's a couple of feet long. I'll build something similar to what RICH B shows above
Making the fixture is a great safety tip. Many years ago I did a lot of aluminum and stainless polishing. One day I was polishing a set of convert windshield trim on the big Baldor buffer. Without thinking I went to the buffer and started. In a second or two the machine grabbed the trim and wrapped it around the shaft of the buffer like a helicopter blade. In a nanosecond I had a sharp trim end cutting and hammering my hands. It sounded like a buzz saw. I immediately noticed a red fluid all over the front of my leathers and face and on the floor . I had severed an artery in my hand, broke my wrist, broke 2 knuckles, and had a million deep gashes. Like an idiot I went to turn off the machine and then got bit again. I went to the fuse panel and flipped the breaker. To say it hurt is an understatement. The hostital ER took me right in and patched what they could, no cast because of the sutures. A few months later I was back but never again buffed anything light without a backer. I still prefer to use hand held buffers if possible.
8" would be great; but you have to consider shaft size; A friend and I built one ages ago with unsupported 7/8" shaft which bent under the load of heavy buffing pressure. Changed up to 1-1/4" shaft; no more problems. I don't remember the distances anymore. Wish I had a picture of that machine, it was a beast.
I was in the same situation and tried to polish my own stainless trim with a "Caswell Plating" set of compounds and wheels. I quickly realized that I'd be FAR more satisfied with a professional job and took my stainless trim to my since out of business "local shop" which was both very affordable and turned out very nice... DIY is admirable however sometimes knowing your limits pays off and your own efforts may benefit other areas. with more impact.
Hello, Our history goes back to the early days of Turtle Wax paste, Vista Wax and other versions of "car wax." But over the years, we have used almost every product on the market for all sorts of protective measures on paint, chrome, fiberglass surfaces, and recently, stainless steel. For 20 years, we have been sailing in various sizes of sailboats. We have had them in harbors from Los Angeles down to San Diego. Since we were on the water each time, it is a very wet environment. Stainless steel is a boater's friend. But, there are different grades and consequently different levels of corrosion/corrosion resistance. To keep all things clean and shiny, we used Nevr-Dull as a cleaner of any level of rust and corrosion from daily/nightly salt infusion. It is constant and when we arrive to go sailing, it is sometimes wet and we have to dry off everything before we go out on the ocean or bay. After wiping the objects, railing wires, shrouds for the mast, various brackets and Pelican Clips we got out our Blue can of Nevr-Dull. It contains mineral spirits and for some, wear gloves when working with it. NEVR-DULL works instantly, removing tarnish and dirt. Wipe with a clean, dry rag and metals are restored to their original luster. Unique, treated cotton wadding cloth No spills, no mixing, no liquids or powders Completely safe for all metals Leaves no residue on surfaces or in crevices Will not scratch or corrode Fast, effective and easy to use Whatever rust or corrosion that happened to be missed the last time we cleaned the stainless, the little cotton pinch of material does the instant cleaning and leaves a good coating on it. (There is a copied version from Eagle Products in a silver can usually in the automotive sections, but the Nevr-Dull works best…) There is no dripping mess, just wipe on and you are finished taking off surface rust that has accumulated somehow. No need to wipe it off with a clean cloth, it just protects right after application. Once all of the stainless surfaces are cleaned and ready, we go out to enjoy the fruits of our labor. After the day’s sailing adventures, we hose off everything and dry to spic/span. Now, the next time we go sailing, the boat should be ready and if we arrive after the sun has come out, then everything is fairly dry and ready to go. For extended periods of clean and protection for any surface, fiberglass, steel or stainless surfaces, we have always used Collinite Paste Wax. Compared to auto wax from the big names, the marine versions from various named companies, Collinite is the best. BAR NONE… Since 2005, we have used it on our daily drivers at home. The surface of any salt air environment object wears fast when the constant barrage of wind, and moisture rolls onto it daily. But, the Collinite has proven easy to put on, no mistakes are done, it goes on easily, comes off just as fast and cleans up nicely. The annual boat/car detailing is always done with Collinite, but we kept up weekly and monthly, so it was well protected. It made everything shine like it was brand new. The daily driver cars weather the rain, mist, fog and whatever So Cal roads have thrown at it and cleans super easy for an old guy to still enjoy doing random washes or quick detailing. Collinite comes in different forms, but the paste is better than liquid. Jnaki The smile on my wife’s face when she gets into her daily driver is worth the effort. When we were sailing and maintaining our various sailboats, she was doing just as much work. It was easy to use and she enjoyed that part of our daily maintenance. We were making sure the surfaces were clean and shiny. We enjoyed our old hot rods, sailboats and now our short road trips in a nice, clean, shiny daily driver cars. Do we use Nevr-Dull on our cars? There is little stainless as our main one has black anodized trim. If the Collinite Wax detail does not clean well, then the Nevr-Dull comes out to help, if needed. Collinite is easier than the old Classic Car Wax from the 60s that went on easy, wiped off just as easy and left a good protective surface for a nice appearance on our 1958 black Impala and our sedan delivery hot rods, too. But compared to today’s Collinite, the original can of Classic Car Wax sits in its 1960 box resting… to give out some early memories when necessary. As the old TV ad used to say: “Try it, you might like it…” Collinite is far superior to other big name auto/boat wax companies products and for us, has a special place in our garage, auto detailing drawer. YRMV
yep, good info - like other important parts of a build, not a time to cut corners on proper equipment and safety - properly polished SS held next to quality chrome hard to tell the difference
I was a big fan of the '60s Classic Car wax and was very disappointed with its modern replacement, and haven't been all that impressed with other highly-touted brands. The only wax I ever used that gas would run off of. So you definitely got my attention... Where's the best place to get it?
Hello, Yes, Classic Car Wax was one of a kind. The Classic Car Wax protected the surface with its high content of Carnuba. I bought my first can in 1962 and recently opened the last one I had saved over the years. original 1962 It still can be used and the aroma still brings back those good old teenage days... Back when Classic Car Wax first came out, we were at the LA County Fair in Pomona. There was this guy with a black hood on the display table for all to see. He poured lighter fluid on the hood and lit it on fire. After putting it out, he told us to touch the surface. He was trying to impress the teenager girls that were with us. No way… It was too hot. So, he cools the hood down with a cold wet towel. Then he threw his dry towel across the black hood and it slid all the way across and onto the table top. The surface was as deep as before the fire and he added another coat of Classic Car Wax and told us to come back in 20 minutes to check it out. When we came back, he told me to wipe it off. It came off easily and the shine was superb. I bought my first can right on the spot. The 58 black Impala paint surface never looked so good. Easy on, easy off, with the deepest shine in the whole cruising scene in Bixby Knolls. I kept all of our cars in a shiny condition using Classic Car Wax until they quit making the product in 1975. Pure Carnuba wax was the main ingredient… “Curtis L. Bruner, who is the person who created Classic Car Wax back in 1962. - It was not made by Pennzoil/Quaker State/Sopus. - MSDS ingredients did not include jet fuel light or hydro-treated petroleum distillates. - It is not manufactured any more. Curtis Bruner grew the company for 12 years to the point where it was being made/sold in 110 countries. Then, because they were growing at 100% a year, he needed money and got involved with a financial snake who ultimately squeezed him out of the company. It then took 12 years for the company to fail. - regarding whether or not contemporary offerings will yield superior results and durability....He says that he doubts it, they would not have the same ingredients. We used a high percentage of carnuba. This was back when beeswax cost 10 cents a pound, paraffin was 6 cents and carnuba was $1.89 a pound.” Jnaki There are some sellers on Ebay selling old cans of Classic Car Wax, used and full. But, beware, there is no way to check if it is the original Classic Car Wax, so beware. Plus some of the costs are outrageous. These days, it is Collinite wax for all of our cars. The cars are not black as that paint upkeep was a bear back then and with us being as old as we are, a simple wax on/wax off is best for the car and me. Collinite lasts a lot longer in our salt infused So Cal coastal environment. But, then again, both cars get a lot of rest, inside of a closed garage being “locked in place.” You can use all of the modern cloth/wax ingredients for a wax on/wax off job. But for any surface, we never used a buffing wheel. Again, a liquid wax will make things simple and easy, but won’t last as long as paste wax. 1958-60 technology vs 2022 technology…no contest, old vs modern, modern has it hands down. YRMV Collinite all the way to a simple and easy application, easy wipe off and a shine that lasts, what seems like forever. A simple spray detailer to get off bird crap is the only thing necessary these days. Just don’t park under or near any trees… The highest concentration of Carnuba Wax. Both work well.
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