Scratch Removal

[Guest salty_monk]

No reason why you can't polish out the scratches & then lacquer the bonnet. It will polish up. The lacquer is there to stip it from then tarnishisng quickly.

 

The plastic film from factory is only there to stop it tarnishing, the idea that you can't polish any metal to a "mirror" finish is ludicrous, you can, it just takes patience & a whole lot of time. Go speak to an injection moulding tool maker & ask them how they work a tool for a translucent part (think something like a ferrero roche chocolate box...). That's tool steel & they get it to a mirror finish with patience & by using grade after finer grade of polish for hours at a time...

 

Your scratches may only be on the plastic film but now you have to remove all of it or they may be on the metal, either way if you can see the scratches it means the didn't polish enough or the abrasive was too high.... either way you need to get them out there again!!

 

Dan

[Big Jim]

No reason why you can't polish out the scratches & then lacquer the bonnet. It will polish up. The lacquer is there to stip it from then tarnishisng quickly.

OK on a small area (but it is very difficult to get it looking the same) but a whole bonnet! Yer having a laugh Salty!

You would have to remove the whole of "the plastic film" from the whole of the bonnet before starting to polish it up.

Rather you than me, that's why mine still has all the little scratch marks on the scuttle through putting tools on there!

 

In theory Salty is correct, but theory and practice are 2 different things!

[Guest Jaffer]

In my opinion, for what its worth , I would have thought polishing the individual scratches or the whole bonnet is a bit of a non-starter! It would take a very, very long time, use several £'s worth of wet and dry/ polishing compounds etc, knacker your wrists and fore finger and try your patience to the limit!! I would have thought the options are, live with it, flat it back and spray it in a colour of your choice or get a new bonnet!

 

I am not sure how the stainless is 'polished' when manufactured, it may not be done with abrasives in the conventional manner and I haven't tried to polish it so don't know even if it would!

 

Jaff

[Longboarder]

Someone should tell what they do for a living.

 

Nigel

[Grim]

it is doable, but it would require a look into precisely what compounds to use and in what order, and would certianly require power tools.

[Guest Jaffer]

It 'could' be doable Grim, but not all Steels will take a polish. If Autosol has produced a scratched finish it may be a bit soft or not have a high enough chrome content within the steel etc etc...

 

 

Nigel, !

 

 

Jaff

[Grim]

nah, it just needs a finer and finer stages of polishing!

 

http://www.englishcustompolishing.com/usca/stainless.html

[Guest Jaffer]

OK Grim

 

[You may have been right Nigel! ]

 

Jaff

[Grim]

[Guest salty_monk]

I reckon Nigel & Jaffer know something you don't Grim...

 

Anyway, my comments come from theory & also from practice... from driving my car in the snow to Llandow a year or so back.

The salt on the road (pinging up) marked the bonnet quite badly, it will polish out, locally anyhow.

 

I'm quite aware of how it's done commercially (at least in China) we do a lot of polished finish stainless in our factories, you don't even need paste to get there we use very fine motor driven flap disks.

 

As for how it's polished at the manufacturer, I don't know either. RH don't do it. It will be polished before they even see it so could be chemical I guess.

 

Personally I would have a try with one of those cheap car polishers & some fine compound or metal polish on a corner & see what happens, if it looks terrible I don't suppose you have a lot to lose.

 

OK on a small area (but it is very difficult to get it looking the same) but a whole bonnet! Yer having a laugh Salty!

 

Jim, you prove yourself wrong in your own sentence "it's ok on a small area" - that means it will polish - "it's difficult to get it looking the same" - that's probably because it was polished a different way at manufacturer, the obvious answer is to polish the whole bonnet instead of just a small piece

 

I agree with everyone that effort invested will be large - depends how bad it looks & how short you are for 230 quid I guess.....

 

[Guest docter fox]

what does Jaffer do?

 

for a student like me 200 quid is not something I have a lot of, time is plentiful and also free I've polished steel to a shine in places but it does take a lot of time, a bonnet would definately be an epic mission and I seem to remember there being lots of ridges rivets and louvres in the way on the rh bonnet? that said I would still give it a go if it looks that bad

 

perhaps clever positioning or some sort of sticker?

[Grim]

I reckon Nigel & Jaffer know something you don't Grim...

Clearly!

 

Well, you wont see me polishing my stainless (it's full of scratches), but it is possible!

[Guest docter fox]

make them all go in the straight line and just say it's brushed stainless

[Guest Jaffer]

Ok, I've done a bit of testing on some RH stainless this evening. Autosol scratches will polish out fairly well, but it took quite a bit of work with three different compounds. Obviously, the definition of 'mirror finish' varies from person to person, and might even vary from the first part polished to the last!

 

It is not the case that any material can be polished, hence my caution earlier. Tool steels used in plastic injection mould tools for example, need to be a type that will hold a polish if that is required for the component to be produced. Many 'regular' tool steels will flatten out fine, but will not produce a mirror finish however hard you try with various grades of paper and/or compound. [Aluminium will not polish well if it is too pure either!]

 

Jaffer

 

PS Manufacturing plastic injection mould tools is part of what I do for a living

[Guest paul091085]

what compounds did you use and where can i get them? I dont have a lot on this week, so i might aswell attempt to try and have a go at removing them. Even if it only removes a few