My stainless has been polished recently. I would like to maintain the shine. The car is kept in a garage. I have considered Zoopseal. I have also considered wax but it may get on the weatherstripping. What do you guys suggest?
Stainless steel shouldn't need any particular maintenance once it's polished (at least not for the next 20 or 30 years. ) You can wax it if you feel like it.
It isn't chrome... it doesn't need any maintenance. I haven't polished the stainless on this car in years and it still looks good as new!
Agree with the above... My firewall is stainless (polished), all I do is clean it now and then. Windex or whatever. Been on car for 20 years, looks like new Pontiac Slim
Polished stainless is "forever" but you can maintain it with Speedy Polish. You can get it at truck stops or any place that sells big rig parts, seen it at Carlisle too. Try it man, you'll like it, aluminum too.
The best polish / cleaner for stainless is Wenol . You can find it at the local mall at the Williams -Sonoma kitchen store. Don"t laugh. This stuff is great and is only about $10.00 per tube. It was the only polish that really brought back the shine on the Facel bumpers and trim.
Baby oil. You can use more expensive name-brand stuff if it makes you feel safer, but that's what it's made out of. I used to repair appliances. They have a lot of stainless steel doors, tops, etc. I carried both stainless steel polish and baby oil on my truck. Whenever the subject came up, I'd suggest the two and explain that they were the same thing. Sometimes I'd rub a little side by side on their appliances. Sometimes the polish had an emulsifier to make it feel thick and give it color - usually white - which is associated with "clean." This was more acceptable to a customer's eyes. Some people would buy the polish, some would buy the baby oil. I didn't really care which they bought. I just carried it because folks asked me if I had something to polish and protect it from time to time. Usually the poor people bought the baby oil or had some already. If you are wary of "home remedies," I'd suggest buying some polish out of the appliance isle at your local grocery store or Home Depot. I think it would be cheaper than an automotive or boat store. One brand's about as good as another. Like a lot of others have said on here, stainless steel will last for a very long time. Oil just gives it an extra shine and makes it look wet. Oil or polish may collect dust. Any simple car wash detergent should wash it and the dust both off, then you can apply another layer. You're not really preserving it. You're just making it look shiny and wet. Any oil will work but Baby oil is the best because you can't feel or smell the baby oil like you can motor oil or mayonnaise. WD-40 works good and is probably handier to a gear head like us. It does have an odor, though. I kind of like it, but my ladies say it sticks. Mayonnaise is fun because when you're done you can stand back and say, "Mayonnaise some shiny parts!" (Man, they is some shiny parts - old Jeff Foxworthy joke. Ha. Ha. Even though it works because its mostly vegetable oil, I really don't recommend it because it would spoil.) Be careful not to clean it with steel wool or anything that has iron it it. The iron will cause the stainless steel to rust. The way it was explained to me is, the surface of the stainless steel oxidizes, just like iron. Unlike iron, it forms a protective layer that oxygen can't penetrate. That's why its so durable. The layer is so thin, you can see through it to the shiny metal below. When iron scratches through this protective layer and embeds into the stainless steel, it can't form this layer because of some molecular mumbo jumbo that happens. The rust from the iron keeps it from forming somehow. We had some x-ray film processors with stainless steel tanks in them. Someone cleaned them with steel wool. They were trash in about a year (leaking because of the pitted metal). There were some acids in the photographic chemicals that sped the process up, though. Some stainless steel will actually rust. I don't remember which kind, but it has a lower nickle content. A good rule of thumb is, if a magnet won't stick to it, it's probably OK. If you have sheet metal behind it, the magnet may stick to it through the stainless steel, thereby fooling you into thinking it's the cheep stuff. By the way, if you have a scratch in finished wood, you can make it virtually disappear by rubbing some oil on it - but I digress. Please post some pictures. We want to see how shiny it is!
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