Polishing stainless steel parts

[loply]

Morning folks,

I took some 600 grit wet & dry and applied it to my stainless steel downpipes, and it turned them from brown/rust colored to silver.

But they're a sort of "dull" silver. Very clean looking, but definately not shiney.

Can they be polished up at all, or will the effect be too temporary?

Same applies for the heel plates on my rearesets.

Thanks for any tips!
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Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[Whosthedaddy]

My down pipes are the same, brown and rusty, rubbed down and now shiny but they wont stay that way for long.

Craigs23 please do not open

Thats what happens when you polish something and dont lacquer and protect it, I know my FZR is rusty, but
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Current : MSX 125 Past : CBR 900RR Monkeybike : c50 LAC : ZXR750 H2 : FZR600 : ZX7R P3 : YW100 : TRX850: Trophy 900 T309 : GSXR 600 L0: Monkeybike : XJ6S Whosthedaddy

[Cillit-BANG]

The stainless steel will naturally brown (not rust) from the heat after a very short period of time. By all means clean off the surface rust but polishing them for appearance is short lived. A polishing mop for a drill is the best way to get them from dull to shiney. £20 usually gets you a good 3-grade set from ebay.

Stanless steel being quite hard will take a while to get a good polished finished. Personally I'd leave them at the dull stage.

As for the heel plates, it depends on what they are made of. If they are aluminium then said polishing kit will bring them to a mirror finish within a hour of working down the different grades.

[jimbothe]

I found a 1200 grit (much finer) worked well on my old zzr.I then polished over the top with autosol and it came up a treat (clean the nasty excess off first though before using the polish).Lasted around three months with a brilliant shine before it dulled a little but a quick once over again with autosol brought it back again.

I think using the 600 grit has scratched the pipes giving you the dull appearance which is a lot harder to polish out than finer scratches.
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[ZRX61]

[cestrian]

I use Autosol on my pipes, although they are quite new.

[Cillit-BANG]

Dude, your getting pedantic.

Be it bench mounted or hand held, your ultimately getting the same goal; using a cloth wheel and a cutting compound to polish the pipework, which is what I was getting at.

Sure a bench mounted polisher is a beter solution but your average Joe is much more likely to have access to a drill than a bench grinder. And as for ruining your drill thats slightly OTT. I've polished loads of stuff using my drills and have never had any issues. The side loads are minimal as the pressure your applying is minimal and anything other than your Woolworths-special is more than up to the job.

Jesus, the stick my drills get at work, a little light polishing in comparison is a walk in the park.

[colin1]

[mr jamez]

When you can get a 550W mains drill for a tenner, who gives a toss if it doesn't last forever?
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NSR 125F > BROS 400 > NC30 > BROS 400 > Trumpet S4 > '97 VFR 750

[loply]

Thanks for the advice folks, I'll try and post pics of the outcome. The downpipes look (and feel) gorgeous, and I havent got the polishing mop stage.

It'll be a shame when my new tires come and I ride it again...
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Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[Paddy Blake]

[loply]

I opted for the bench grinder route, bought a 350 watt 6" grinder, though I'm going to fit 8" mops to it and sort out various parts.

Impulsive buy Polished half my tools so far, just waiting on mops to arrive to do the bike itself.
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Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!