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My "new" stainless exhaust tips

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Old 04-13-2005, 07:54 PM
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Default My "new" stainless exhaust tips

My exhaust tips on the aurora were previously rust colored, and some parts were still covered in factory black paint covering the tips. Since the entire exhaust system is stainless steel I figured why not sand down the tips and shine em' up after seeing a post of somebody else doing the same thing on the Aurora board. Basically first you have to start off with 80 grit sand paper and remove all rust and paint until you get bare metal. Then you need to go to 120 grit to 220,300,400,600,800,1000,1500,2000. Here are a few pictures of the progress. Sometimes I swtich from one tip to the other in the pictures because I didn't get pictures of each individual tip on each individual stage.

Before any work:
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some rust removed:




All paint/rust removed. a wire sanding bit for a drill works GREAT for this!



this is the tip at stage 1000 Grit of the sanding:
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after the 2000 grit and polished applied. I couldnt' get a good picture of this stage for some reason. camera was acting up. :(


I hope that this is useful for someone! It sure is a GREAT cosmetic mod!

Total Cost
Sandpaper: $22.75
Stainless Steel Polish: $4.75
7 Hours Labor: Free By me

Total: $27.50
Old 04-13-2005, 08:01 PM
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Sweet. I wonder what the exhaust trim is on 92-95 Bonnies...
Old 04-13-2005, 08:04 PM
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wow big difference. looks good
Old 04-13-2005, 08:06 PM
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wow will stock bonne tips do the same?
Old 04-13-2005, 08:11 PM
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the same thing should be able to be done to the Bonneville as long as the tips are stainless steel (which I'm sure they probably are.)

i forgot a picture! One tip is done, and one is not in this picture. What a huge difference that really made..

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Old 04-13-2005, 08:14 PM
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i love those tips all nice clean and shiny
Old 04-13-2005, 08:14 PM
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looks great custom!! i commend your work...all 7 fricken hours!!!!!!!

musta been a huge pain in the **** to do all that work with them still on there..

how did the tops turn out?

did you polish them? wax them?
Old 04-13-2005, 10:07 PM
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I used some stainless steel/aluminum polish on them. About 3 coats of it. it also serves as a protectant. The tops look just as good as the side. I just didn't get a picture of the top because of how close they are to the bumper. Very close. (less than 1/2 an inch)
Old 04-13-2005, 10:11 PM
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Originally Posted by harofreak00
looks great custom!! i commend your work...all 7 fricken hours!!!!!!!
The funny part is the passenger side still isn't done yet. I'm only at the 400 grit sandpaper stage on that one so I probably have a good 1-2 hours left to totally finish up with this project. It'll be a real bummer if they start rusting again! Hopefully the polish/protectant will be enough to stop this from happening.
Old 04-13-2005, 10:13 PM
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Hopefully they stay all pretty for you. Looks good though.


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