Well finally decided to do something about the exhaust which was letting the overall look of the car down.

The chrome ends were black. Its had seven years of burnt on carbon and never been cleaned. I didn't

take a 'before  pic' but its safe to assume they were black. Had a look in the garage to see if i could find

any autosol metal polish which i have used before on an exhaust manifold and had good results but didn't have any

so i decided to got the wire wool aproach . The wire wool although producing a mirror like shine took ages and

lots of pressure to do a very small area. It would have taken me a few days at that rate so i opted for a pad from

work called a scotch bad (bit like and industrial brillo pad) and that did the trick. It quickly cut through years

of black carbon back to the metal. Trouble is now lots of fine scratches have made the surface a bit dull.

Anyone have any tips for making it mirror shine again and protect it from going black and pitted again?

 

 

Metal polish and wire wool. Peek is a good polish

For protection, I'd try an alloy wheel sealer

Edited 22 August, 201312 yr by dobbey

For protection, I'd try an alloy wheel sealer

 

 

Wont the temperature be a problem? can i use collinite 845 on it then?

Very fine wire wool (finer the better on the outside) and metal polish, I prefer Britemax Metal Twins - one is the heavy duty muck remover, the other works as a sealant.

Heat shouldn't be too much of an issue. The exhaust gasses loose most of their heat at the front of the exhaust so they are relatively cold by the time they come into contact with the tips.

Ye, try the collinite

Used this to protect mine, works brilliat just need to leave it to cure for a few hours.

http://www.corrosionx.com/rejex.html

Regularly use the Britemax Twins on mine. Did the Mini Cooper exhaust with them when we first had it and it came up a treat.

Acquired some Peek metal polish shine and protect I found at the father in laws. Applied it with super fine wire wool and Its much shinier now but still a bit pitted. Looks a lot better but wont spend any more time on it as its the original exhaust so I'm hoping it gives up and starts blowing soon so I can convince the missis I need a nice new shiny full stainless system.