Polishing stainless parts.

H

Hotrodster

Member
I have a couple of 30-31 headlight buckets and grill shells that need to be polished up. The headlights especially have quite a bit of water staining (how can that be on stainless steel, lol). What products, equipment and techniques have you had success with on stainless? Thanks for any help.
 
I used Mothers Mag Wheel polish and a high speed buffing wheel. It took me more hours than I wanted to count but they turned out great. It's amasing how many people think they are chrome. Once they're done they will stay that way a very long time. Be very careful with that buffing wheel!! Good luck Ron
 
Do not overheat your work. I had a burnt spot on a practice piece. Maybe start on the underside of a lamp first.
 
There was a good write up on this in the "Restorer" several years ago. It was reprinted in one of MAFCA's early "how to.." books. My advice: 1. get the right compounds and wheels (you need several going from course to fine) from a supplier that specializes in compounds and not just a "one size fits none" compound from the local hardware store, 2. don't overheat the metal by forcing it into a high speed wheel or you will end up with ripples that you cannot remove, 3. don't catch the edge of the part in the wheel or you will loose parts (they go into orbit) or fingers, and 4. draw a grid on the part with a felt tip and buff one section at a time

Charlie Stephens
 
I've put 100's of hours into getting a mirror finish on parts. Unless you have mint(no scratches) polish will not work. You first need to start hand sanding with sand paper. Usually starting with about 120 grit and then work your way through all the other finer grits and finishing with 2000 grit, THEN polish.
 
I just polished my head light buckets and they came out just beautiful. I started with 1500 paper and soapy water and finished with 2000 paper. You are just trying to get out the fine scratches. I don't think it is possible to get out deep scratches without taking too much metal. Then get four grades of polishing rouge and four polishing wheels and label them so that you don't get them mixed up. Start with the most coarse and finish with the fine. Most importantly, go very easy on the Ford logo. If you are not careful you will end up with just a faint Ford logo!!!
 
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