Polishing Stainless Steel on an MC9

[Ryan B]

Has anybody done this? I want to really make it shine but I'm also hoping for something that will put up with the weather and not go dull really fast in the sun. I know it would require upkeep but any products that I find come in little bottles for doing cutlery or something...

Does anyone know of a good product or process for doing this?

[Jnbroadbent]

Steel wool, wet sand, polishing compound, upkeep with a good SS cleaner.

It's the only way.

[Dave5Cs]

IBP industries has the whole process on their site of which bars to use and how to polish it up. The link below has all kinds of SSpolishing bars at good prices.
Most used are White for touch up green for full polishing and blue on the second run.
& inch grinder and don't let it sit to long in 1 place it will burn the metal. Polishing pads on the grinder or polisher work great. Sewn cotton type.
I just wash ours 2 times a year with soap and water.


http://www.midwayusa.com/product/811360/formax-buffing-and-polishing-wheel-compound-white-lightning-rouge-2-x-2-x-10-bar

Dave5Cs

[LowTide]

Dave,
I checked the IBP site and can't seem to find any article on the polishing process. Is there any chance you could point me in the right direction?

Thanks so much
Mike

[TomsToy]

I'm not Dave but here is the site.
http://www.ibpindustries.com/miscellaneous.html

[LowTide]

I'm not Dave but here is the site.
http://www.ibpindustries.com/miscellaneous.html

Thanks for the link.....greatly appreciated!

Mike

[Dave5Cs]

Mike look down this page you will see polishing instructions etc
http://www.ibpindustries.com/miscellaneous.html

[luvrbus]

3M fast cut for clear coat takes the work out of it just a good buffer with a foam pad works wonder on aluminum wheels too  55 bucks a quart at good automotive paint suppliers

[PP]

The IBP site is good if you're working on dull stainless. But if you're starting with stainless that looks like brushed nickel, you'll have to start with wet sanding first to break through the surface. I started with 400 grit and worked my way up to 1800 grit wet sanding. Then I started using a DeWalt with a 6" wool pad and emery rouge, eventually working up to the white jewelry rouge. Now I can use a damp shammy just to get the dirt and water streaks off and a light going over with Mother's metal polish about once a year. It took me 2 years of wetsanding and polishing to get it up to an acceptable level of shine. it's a lot of work! Of course, I did other things to the bus during those 2 years too.
Will  
PS- I'd attach before and after pictures, but I'm really tired and I have a hard time loading pics on this site. Size restrictions and all. If you want to see them, I will do it tomorrow. Good luck.

EDIT-DON'T USE STEEL WOOL ON STAINLESS, IT DOESN'T SAND-IT SCRATCHES!! Don't ask me how I know.

[jackhartjr]

I'm getting ready to take my truck to Naples, FL, the guy there takes the tires off the rim, puts it on a machine that totally refinishes the wheel, puts a new stem on it and re installs! All for $75.00 a wheel! My friend had it done 6 months ago and they look like new! He will just have to keep them polished going forward!
There are folks that do this all around the country!
Jack

[jackhartjr]

Some of you may remember that at the Arcadia Rally about 2 years back, a fantastic guy did a demonstration on Tom and Fran Mason's Eagle on how to polish wheels and any metal!
He is a distributor for Busch Shine Products, http://www.buschshineproducts.com/

He has a product in that line that is a sealer/wax, that if used after you polish the wheel, will give it several months of shine longer than if it is not used!

That site also has articles on how to polish wheels and any metal!
Jack

[PP]

Hi Jack,
I wasn't aware of stainless steel rims.

Will 

[Chopper Scott]

Not stainless steel rims. Stainless steel covers however.

[PP]

Thanks Scott for setting my feeble mind straight and clearing that up.

Will 

[Larry B]

  When I bought my bus the stainless  looked more like galvanized steel. I was not aware of this site or the other two mentioned in this post so it was a little bit of trial and error finding something that would work to make it shine. I ended up using the red rouge compound, the sewn cotton pad and as a drive unit I used a 3/8 reversible air drill (all bought from Princess Auto). The air drill is much less weight and the reversible part makes it easier to control at panel edges like at bay doors. I found it easier to apply the compound to the stainless and then buff it off with pad. I heated the stainless with an electric heat gun ( 1200 watt oversized hair drier) until the compound would melt when touched on the stainless and quickly rubbed the red compoud around until a very lite red haze was all over the stainless sheet when it cooled. It takes very little compound to get a shine. To clean the glaze and fluff the polishing pad fibers hold the pad on a wire brush mounted in a vise.   I also used the paste polish that Clifford mentioned with a foam polishing pad after the red compound procedure. Both polishing agents turn black when removing old road film and residue. To remove the residue build up around the rivets from the paste polishing compound use flour. The same stuff your wife uses to bake your favorite chocolate cake. Put the flour on a soft cotton cloth and rub on the black residue and it disappears like magic. This same flour gets ride of all streaks and oily film from polishing. This is a very slow process. To get a reasonable shine on a bay door would take a minimum of four hours . I did all polishing in a horizontal direction with the grain of metal. I do not know if this is the correct or best way to polish stainless but it seemed to work for me.

     Larry B