Polishing The Stainless!

[Guest boggie]

Hi all,

I am about to sort the 7 out ready for spring / summer. I have the stainless steel body shell but it is looking a bit sad at the moment. It has a few light scratches and coffee cup marks on the top of the dash, greasy finger prints around the engine bay and water marks around the squirters that are very hard to remove.

Can anyone tell me the best way to get it looking like new again? I was considering buying a rotary mop for my drill and going over the whole car with metal polish (messy job) but does the surface have a protective layer that will be destroyed if I do?

Cheers,

Boggie

[Guest Cooey]

Hi Boggie

 

Found this stuff on the net, never used it, but it might save hours with the metal polish.

 

"Stainless Steel Cleanser and Polish is specially formulated for stainless steel and is particularly suitable for highly polished stainless steel."

 

Most big supermarket chains sell it apparently.

 

HTH

 

Cooey

[Big Jim]

BE VERY CAREFULL of any metal polish, you do not want any abrasive stuff, as yes, there is a film on the surface, and it's not "proper" stainless steel, there's a high % of "ordinary" stuff in it, (Just try a magnet!) I find that cheap glass cleaner spray does the job, £1 from our local bargain shop. Don't use the fancy glass cleaner like Windolene, it smears like hell.

What that stainless spray is like, I don't know.

[Guest boggie]

Maybe I should take a trolley around Tescos and see what I can find!

 

Jim - if there is a protective film on the surface does this mean I will not be able to polish out minor scratches? If I try will the tub then rust without the coating?

[Big Jim]

Don't try to polish out scratches, unfortunately you'll have to put up with them, it won't rust, but it will oxidise slightly and show a grey mark, theres nothing that you can do. (unless someone else knows otherwise, and I'd want to see the results first!)

[Bob Tucker]

The blue bottle of stainless steel cleaner from the local "Pahnd" shop

works just fine. It's not abrasive & polishes off completely with no smears.

Works even better than Baby Oil (on the car anyway!)

Bob.

[Guest 2BBoulton]

A couple of my mates have suggested that I use baby oil on the stainless of my 2B. Haven't given this a go yet but I intend to once I have finished a minor repair job. Small hole in the sump due to speed ramps.

[Guest Peejay]

You can polish out scratches, but then you need to use a protective(steady Chris) polish, like on paint. auto glym seems ok to me. no liability, bla bla etc.......