Removing haze from stainless

[Greg L.]

Does anyone have any tricks to remove some haze from stainless trim?

I repaired a ding in my T-top stainless and proceeded to polish it with my Caswell buffing kit. The repaired area was sanded with 400 wet, 600 wet and then a final with 1200 wet. Then buffed with the stiff sewn wheel(with fibers) and black compound, then switched to the semi stiff sewn wheel(no fibers) and green compound and last, the loose cotton wheel with green compound. This is all as per the Caswell instructions for buffing stainless steel.

The repaired area came out really nice but the rest of the trim is hazy and you can see where I sanded and didn't. The sanded area is nice and deep like the chrome corner pieces but the rest still has a haze on it. I sanded on another area and then buffed and it came out nice and deep with no hazing, it's almost like a very thin layed of the stainless is oxidized and has to be removed first???

So when buffing stainless are you supposed to pre-sand the part before you start buffing or am I just doing something wrong?

[Harry S.]

Re: Removing haze from stainless

Greg, before I buff I use 0000 steelwool with a generous amount of metal polish. Using and easy rub it normally cleans up everything nicely. Sometimes I don't need to buff.

[Jack H.]

Re: Removing haze from stainless

Did you notice a grey 'skum' lifting off the SS when you polished it? If so, some say that was the factory original 'smack/flash' chrome plating...

[Gene M.]

Re: Removing haze from stainless

Greg, Some stainless has a very thin plating of chrome. Other pieces is just dulled stainless. If the piece does not have the chrome on it it is easier to refinish to a lush luster. As you illustrated the sanded and buffed area shows up nicely. If you want the entire part to look even you need to sand and or fine steel wool and buff. The actual part was not finished buffed originally. The original surface was a "2B" brite surface as supplied. It's not dull and not as polish as in one gets on a buffer with compound.
If you have chrome ya have to remove it all if sanding to get a uniform surface. Bare stainless has a yellow cast while chrome has a blue cast. They are not to noticeable fresh off the buffer but in short time is is very evident on the same part.

[Greg L.]

Re: Removing haze from stainless

Okay I'll try the metal polish with 0000 steel wool and see what that does. I don't really know if it was chromed or not...some people say that they may have been and other have said that in 69 it wasn't.

Jack, I wouldn't say that I had a grey scum coming off...it was almost black like when you polish aluminum.

"They are not to noticeable fresh off the buffer but in short time is is very evident on the same part." Gene what do you call "short time"? Right now there is no evidence of any yellow and for the most part it looks like the chrome end pieces.

[Gene M.]

Re: Removing haze from stainless

Greg, if you give it about a month it will show up. If ya get humid or damp conditions it seems to speed it up as far as showing up more. The buffed thru chrome to the stainless will look almost hazed compare to the chromed stainless surrounding it. A good polishing with Wenol or Mothers will disguise it again.

[William G.]

Re: Removing haze from stainless

Greg, In the early ninties I marketed a stainless steel polishing kit for hand use. It required lots of elbow grease but it worked well with only very light machine buffing at the end. I have used this system on a number of cars very successfully. The problem with polishing systems out there is that there is not an effective imtermediate step between sanding and buffing. So you have to buff an awful lot to get a good polish. And if you don't get the underlying sanding scratches out you will never get a good polish. Although I used 3M products that I bought in bulk, there is a company called MicroMesh in Iowa who will sell you 4x6 pieces of sanding cloth as fine as 10000 grit. They even have a kit. Check out their website at http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/products.htm. I start out with auto body 3000 grit wet paper and then I recommend using MicroMesh 3600,4000,6000,8000,and 10000 (wet)at $4 each.They last a long time. Then finish up with a nice light machine buff with an uncontaminated wheel.You'll have to wash each step. It's a lot of work but is effective.And it's not very messy if you mask off your paint. It is too labor intense for large areas.It's especially effective on small scratches while the trim is still on the car. I have no association with Micromesh. Just trying to help.