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17 year old Tips Polished


BRZN

Question

Someone on another forum told me these cast aluminum tips were originally polished from the factory.

IMG_4092resize.jpg

It's really hard to believe these were ever polished, as the lip and rearward face have the exact same appearance as the rest of the tip, just not quite as rough.

 

About an hour and a quarter was spent on each tip. Since they may have been polished at one time I didn't want to take sand paper to them to change the OEM texture. I started with WD-40 and 0000 steel wool. Once all the oxidation was removed I moved to an aluminum specific paste type polish and then finished them off to almost a mirror finish with both of Adam's Metal polishes #'s 1 & 2 and the edgeless utility microfiber towel.

 

Michelle, whos car it is, saw me just finishing up the first tip and noticed the difference between it and the one I'd not started on yet. Her comment, "holy crap!" I think she approves :)

 

Left side:

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Right Side:

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IMG_4166resize.jpg

 

IMG_4178resize.jpg

 

IMG_4177resize.jpg

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Dave, you don't remember my '98 GP, I used to use a 3M Roloc surface conditioning pad on my air drill to keep those tips clean. The as-cast aluminum was only ground smooth around the OD and the exposed rear "face", the rest was just as they came out of the sand. I then used a sanding drum to smooth the entire outside of mine then paint them BBQ grill black. A little 320 grit on that exposed rear face to remove the paint and they looked GREAT. Unprotected they'll go south from the way that they look now in about 3 days; it's a nasty atmosphere that they live in. :help:

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Someone on another forum told me these cast aluminum tips were originally polished from the factory.

IMG_4092resize.jpg

It's really hard to believe these were ever polished, as the lip and rearward face have the exact same appearance as the rest of the tip, just not quite as rough.

 

About an hour and a quarter was spent on each tip. Since they may have been polished at one time I didn't want to take sand paper to them to change the OEM texture. I started with WD-40 and 0000 steel wool. Once all the oxidation was removed I moved to an aluminum specific paste type polish and then finished them off to almost a mirror finish with both of Adam's Metal polishes #'s 1 & 2 and the edgeless utility microfiber towel.

 

Michelle, whos car it is, saw me just finishing up the first tip and noticed the difference between it and the one I'd not started on yet. Her comment, "holy crap!" I think she approves :)

 

Left side:

IMG_4164resize.jpg

 

IMG_4168resize.jpg

 

IMG_4165resize.jpg

 

IMG_4167resize.jpg

 

Right Side:

IMG_4163resize.jpg

 

IMG_4176resize.jpg

 

IMG_4166resize.jpg

 

IMG_4178resize.jpg

 

IMG_4177resize.jpg

 

That is impressive! Excellent job!:banana:

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The mufflers were just replaced prior to our purchase and I've already loosened the clamps to align the tips so they'd be pretty easy to remove since they've not oxidized themselves together yet. The exterior raw cast of the aluminum does look a bit ruff, but you can't really see it unless your down on the ground and I'm figuring the insides should become a nice flat black as carbon builds back up in them. We'll see?

 

What's next for the car? I've been thinking of this, but will most likely wait until spring to even attempt:

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nash05, this is a '94 Grand Prix. I'm just going by what someone on a W-Body forum stated: that they came polished on this model. Definitely, the finish on the portion I polished is smooth compared to the finish of the portion of the tips behind the lip heading towards the mufflers which is raw cast. If they weren't originally polished they at least had to have had a nicer fininsh than what I started with yesterday. Anyways, they really came out nice.

:glasses:

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