Well I decided To Polish

[RonRonTSI]

I polished my whole turbo kit. Let me know what you think?

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[dlb21]

looks very good but i think it would look better in your car smoking some ricers

 

[xsboost]

Looks great. The question is how long will it keep looking that good when those high exhaust temps start to beat on it a little.

 

[fwdmaster]

looks great

 

[bastarddsm]

umm, not to be a dick, but your polish job sucks. you cant just take a rag with some mothers on it, and go to town.

rough outline on how to polish:

1. Decide how rough your pieces are. Depending on the finish of your pieces you may want to skip ahead to 3 or 4.

2. If Nessesary get out the BASTARD cut file and smooth out large imperfections, taking care not to cause extra gouges.

3. Follow this up with a Mill cut file.

4. Get out some 180/220 grit sand paper and sand out the filing scratches, only sanding areas with gouges rougher than 180/220.

5. Now move up to 320/400. At this point you should be wetsanding. Sand the whole piece. When you are complete with this step the entire piece should have a uniform dull look.

6. Repeat 5 with 600, then 800, then 1200, then 2000.

7. Finally polish with mothers.

 

[RonRonTSI]

Im sorry bastardsm but thats the same process I used. I just didnt take mothers to the parts and go to down. It was a very long process. The only thing I see am doing wrong is not finishing out with a high speed buffer to get a mirror finish. Im currently not worried about buying a high speed buffer right now because its not one of my top concerns. But for what they look like right now im happy with it, not to mention the the downpipe, mani, and dumptube are going to change color in the first place. But for now im pretty satisfied with what I got. The process I used was

Dremeled all imperfections

then moved to 150 dry

then the rest wet 220,320,400,600,800,1000,1500, then finally 2000.

then applied mothers polish with a terry cloth and just wiped the wax off. As i was saying before I should of removed the wax with a high speed buffer. Thanks to everyone who likes it so far

 

[daren_p]

Considering it seems like it was all done by hand, without the use of a high speed buffing wheel & sounds like no polishing compound? I would have to say the results looks great

 

[RonRonTSI]

Yea it was by hand and i didnt have any compound as well. Thanks daren P

 

[matthewdesigns]

Looks good for all hand work. More or less what used to be called a "butler's finish" on silver tea sets...not mirrored but shiny nonetheless.

For those tough places that you are grinding with a Dremel, you can try this, too. Take a wooden ruler, or dowel of appropriate diameter, and wrap sandpaper around it, using it either wet or dry, and it acts like a smooth cutting file. The ruler for wider flat places and tubing, and the dowels to get into tight radius areas, like welds. This will also help cut down high spots after using the Dremel, if you don't have files, since sanding with your fingers allows the paper to follow any grooves, no matter how small, thereby exaggerating them. This will help the surface look less wavy.

You could get away with using a drill-mounted polishing wheel or ball for a final polish instead of going to a buffing machine. Just secure the object in a vise, with either soft wood or leather liners for the jaws. Or you could lock the drill in the vise and work the piece around it. Not ideal, since my buffing machine spins faster than any drill I've got, but it will work in a pinch.