Polishing titanium?
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In the past there have been several posts here on the forum about polishing the titanium exhaust. A search should bring up a few threads that you can check out.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: rochester n y
Z06 exhaust
Originally Posted by JDs00PewterCoupe
In the past there have been several posts here on the forum about polishing the titanium exhaust. A search should bring up a few threads that you can check out.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,353
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From: Richmond Hill Ontario
Stockman provides these tips
Kudo's to Ed (Stockman)
From Ed,
I started by using a buffing wheel and some compound that I got at Lee Valley tools. A green bar of compound for polishing. That got out some scratches that I didn't think would come out. Then I used some Autosolvo that I had for polishing metal. Then on to Mothers Metal polish. And that really brought the tips to a great shine. As for the mufflers I washed them with detergent and water and then used what was left of the Autosolvo. I didn't have much at all left in the tube when I started. And didn't have enough to finish the job. So that's when I went to Canadian Tire and bought the Mother's Metal Polish. It's just as good as the Autosolvo. I also bought a buffing pad from Canadian Tire and used it with the buffing pad on the mufflers and pipes. After using the polish and cleaning everything up I used some clean rags and lacquer thinner to get the polish off. The polish cleans everything up really well but I noticed that it left a lot of the black crap on the brackets and in the nooks and crannies. So the wash down with the lacquer thinner really cleaned up things and now they look great. Just wish I could use the polish without it creating the black stuff.
So there it is. Have fun!!!
Tino
From Ed,
I started by using a buffing wheel and some compound that I got at Lee Valley tools. A green bar of compound for polishing. That got out some scratches that I didn't think would come out. Then I used some Autosolvo that I had for polishing metal. Then on to Mothers Metal polish. And that really brought the tips to a great shine. As for the mufflers I washed them with detergent and water and then used what was left of the Autosolvo. I didn't have much at all left in the tube when I started. And didn't have enough to finish the job. So that's when I went to Canadian Tire and bought the Mother's Metal Polish. It's just as good as the Autosolvo. I also bought a buffing pad from Canadian Tire and used it with the buffing pad on the mufflers and pipes. After using the polish and cleaning everything up I used some clean rags and lacquer thinner to get the polish off. The polish cleans everything up really well but I noticed that it left a lot of the black crap on the brackets and in the nooks and crannies. So the wash down with the lacquer thinner really cleaned up things and now they look great. Just wish I could use the polish without it creating the black stuff.
So there it is. Have fun!!!
Tino
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
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From: Lake Elsinore, CA
When I bought my used Z06 Ti exhaust, it came with a lot of road grime really stuck to it. I used some Simple Green and a brass-bristled brush and scrubbed it hard and thoroughly - it came out cleaner than new. The brass won't hurt the much harder titanium at all but it'll remove anything else on there. Only took abuot 15 minutes a side to get these results. The tips I polished using Blue Coral metal polish. I use Mother's on them as well.
Last edited by Patches; Feb 16, 2006 at 08:27 PM.
Advanced
Joined: Apr 2005
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Originally Posted by frckid
Does anyone make a good product to polish titanium? I really like mothers stuff for aluminum, but I had never seen anything for ti in particular.
frckid
frckid
My 2 cents worth:
A product that works well, but produces plenty of "black stuff", called "Simi-chrome", has been around for years at motorcycle shops. It even does a number on much of the heat generated bluing.
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Originally Posted by lt1george
The tips on the 2001-2004 Z06 exhaust are flashed chrome.The rest of the pipes and muffulers are titanium. (guessing thats what you want to polish)
Tino!!! I am impressed you kept that little diddy I emailed you.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: rochester n y
Z06 titanium
Tino, Patches, Stock Man, Super job on those exhausts. Stock Man, what did you use on those tips ?? Patches thanks for the tip with the bass brush. I used red compound, then white compound, then Blue Magic. The compound worked the best. But my tips aren't quite as nice as yours. The guy who had they must have used a wheel cleaner trying to clean the tips and it dulled them up. The exhaust only had 1800 miles on them. I almost have them as nice as yours. Thanks for the pic's.Save the Wave.>George
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Tino's post lists all the products and procedure that I used. If your tips are not flat in that I mean straight and not rutted out with a harsher than normal abrasive. You'll have to sand them flat then buff them out. I know they are round tips but if their surface isn't flat your not going to get the results you want. I hope that made sense. 
If that's your problem you could use a belt abrasive and a drill with a drum on it and put the belt over the tip and the drum in the loose end of the belt and sand it that way. Of course turn the belt inside out. There I go again probably not making sense. Keep us posted or post some pics of what you have and we can all assess what's going on.
If that's your problem you could use a belt abrasive and a drill with a drum on it and put the belt over the tip and the drum in the loose end of the belt and sand it that way. Of course turn the belt inside out. There I go again probably not making sense. Keep us posted or post some pics of what you have and we can all assess what's going on.
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2002
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From: Vancouver
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St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10
Wow!! Those are not good are they!! lt1George sent me some pics. Maybe there is something to this flash chroming. Something has happened to these. Put it this way you may as well experiment with them to see if you can bring back the shine. It doesn't look like you can ruin them anymore than they are already. Maybe someone else has some ideas to help you out. Here's the pics that he sent me.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2004
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From: . Kona, HI. Orem, UT. PSL, FL
im not sure what you could do to those 
what are the tips made out of? you could start with something "soft" and move to something more abrassive until you start to get a nicer shine. there is some of "that" on my schome wheels and i cant get it off either 
imo if it doesnt really bother you from 5ft away dont sweat it.
what are the tips made out of? you could start with something "soft" and move to something more abrassive until you start to get a nicer shine. there is some of "that" on my schome wheels and i cant get it off either imo if it doesnt really bother you from 5ft away dont sweat it.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Colorado Springs CO
Originally Posted by 99 TorchRed
My 2 cents worth:
A product that works well, but produces plenty of "black stuff", called "Simi-chrome", has been around for years at motorcycle shops. It even does a number on much of the heat generated bluing.
A product that works well, but produces plenty of "black stuff", called "Simi-chrome", has been around for years at motorcycle shops. It even does a number on much of the heat generated bluing.
Expensive but worth it.
http://www.marbeck.com/cleaners_hous...imichrome.html
Steam will remove the black stuff if you have access to a hotsy
Last edited by Ttime; Feb 17, 2006 at 01:06 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,353
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From: Richmond Hill Ontario
I used the technique "Stockman" send me and it worked very well. You will find that the process will initially make the polished titanium dull at first but then will come to a brilliant shine if you do the step by step process. If I am not mistaken a magnet will not stick to these parts which should prove they are not chrome?
Here are the results I achieved:
Tino
Here are the results I achieved:
Tino
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 2,558
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From: rochester n y
Z06 titanium exhaust
Hi Tino, Man they look GREAT ! Just tried the magnet and it does not stick. I haven't given up. Shane, sorry not for sale. Hard enough getting these two sets. I am looking for a third set. My brother in law wants a "perfect" set too. I'll keep trying to find some magic cleaner and let you guys know. Thanks for all the help.Save the Wave.>George
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2005
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From: Dallas Tx
Originally Posted by lt1george
Hi Tino, Man they look GREAT ! Just tried the magnet and it does not stick. I haven't given up. Shane, sorry not for sale. Hard enough getting these two sets. I am looking for a third set. My brother in law wants a "perfect" set too. I'll keep trying to find some magic cleaner and let you guys know. Thanks for all the help.Save the Wave.>George
Shane
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,353
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From: Richmond Hill Ontario
If you wanna really get nuts, here is a picture of my neighbour aka "Vetpet" polishing the h-pipe section of the exhaust with a home made polishing belt (emery sandpaper, taped and inverted) on a drill chuck end! When we finished this job, you could see yourself in the mirror finish 
