How should I sand this?

[mell0]

Hi all, so I recently lowsided my street triple, thankfully the frame sliders and my arrow titanium slider took most of the damage. I managed to clean all of the road grime and stuff off of the exhaust as good as I could. As of now I want to sand/polish out these scratches if possible. The dent in a way flows with the exhaust, so I don't think I'm going to replace it. Any suggestions on how I should tackle this? I believe it's titanium, and I want to give it a finish similar to the rest of the can, clean but not a mirror finish.

Any suggestions as to sanding/ polishing techniques? What grit, what order, wet sand etc? I've never done this before so any insight would be awesome.

Thanks,
Andy

[mell0]

And I'm not sure why the pictures are upside-down, but you get the idea.

[shortbus]

Scotchbrite is what people in the car world use to polish scratches out of their titanium exhaust tips.

I imagine scotchbrite and an hour or two would make that look a lot better...

[shortbus]

Upon some searching though some say that the titanium coating can't be polished, but at the state the exhaust is in now I'd give polishing a shot.

[mell0]

I'm pretty sure I've seen polished titanium exhausts before. I think a scotchbright might work once I get some of the deep stuff smoothed out, but I'm thinking sandpaper might be my best first bet. Any suggestions?

[Manik]

Im not exactly sure how to start, or what your best course of action is in terms of getting it to "like new condition", but if you are unable to do so, a sanding of the entire pipe followed by the aforementioned scotch bright will at least offer uniformity. Choose to do the sanding in a certain direction, down the pipe or around it consistently, and you may decide you like the effect while scotch brighting. A three hour restoration may turn into a 1 hour customization.

[mell0]

Im not exactly sure how to start, or what your best course of action is in terms of getting it to "like new condition", but if you are unable to do so, a sanding of the entire pipe followed by the aforementioned scotch bright will at least offer uniformity. Choose to do the sanding in a certain direction, down the pipe or around it consistently, and you may decide you like the effect while scotch brighting. A three hour restoration may turn into a 1 hour customization.

I thought about that, but I think for now I'm just going to try to get the scratched surface to look uniform. Maybe if I get really confident in my sanding work, or know someone that could make it look good I'll have the whole thing done over, but for now I think I'm going to leave the rest of the pipe as is.

[Manik]

I think that route is definitely best saved for a last resort. you can always sand it... un-sanding is a tougher trade.

[DaveZX6r]

Titanium is just like any other metal it can be sanded/ polished fine. No different than any other sanding process. Start coarse to get the deep stuff out then move down to finer grades. While your sanding it keep it wet with oil like even wd is fine. That will make it alot easier. Finish it up with scotchbrite if you please. If your unsure of what it will look like practice on the back side of the exhaust first. Just jump straight to the final grade or scotch Bruce or whatever.

[hawk]

You can probably just buy a sleeve and replace it for short money. You really have nothing to loose. Have at it!!

[SprintPoser]

I would first look to see if you can get the replacement part. If not, it's just another metal but quite a bit tougher than most to polish.

And you have a LONG way to go from the looks of the deeper scratches. I would probably use a flexible abrasive disc grinder to get the bulk of it done, or you'll be working on it for a month of Sundays. You only finish with ScotchBrite or BearTex woven abrasives to get the final lay. Start with 80 or 100 grit, then step up to 180, 240, 320, 400, 600, and then the woven to get that circumferential lay as the original.

[Lxpony]

Bar keepers friend- get a moist towel and dab some of that on it. Rub it on the pipe and it will polish out... it worked for me. give it a try. You can get it at any grocery store for about $3.00

[SSearchVT]

The deep scratches are going to take a lot to get out. As mentioned before start with a course grit on a wheel (keep it moving). Maybe even a file to take down the really high stuff. I'd go the side of caution and start with 180 for the first swipe. It's a lot easier to go coarse because the finer sandpaper isn't working right. Look at polishing the entire can for the final swipe. I've had good luck getting a nice finish on aluminum using steel wool and WD-40 on the final pass.

[Pigman]

I would do...

P80 just knock down the high spots
P180 Get it a bit more down
P320
P600
P1500
P2000-P2500 Polished finish in the same direction as the previous was done

[03Worc9R]

Cut the pipe up to the badge. Make a super short pipe. Done!

[SprintPoser]

Anything beyond 1200 is really going to polish it beyond the original finish. That original finish on the untouched part is clearly (to my trained eyes) done with ScotchBrite or BearTex type of woven abrasives, something in the 800 to 1200 grit range.

The P2000 to P2500 is what I use to get plastic headlight lenses near perfectly clear. Only a hit from a P2500-P3000 range on a soft foam buffing pad gets them looking like they just popped out of the mold. One thing for sure is that Bar Keeper's Friend is only going to give the most handsomely-polished scratches. The worst of those are quite deep!

[Kenn157]

Buy a new one!

[Pigman]

Yea.....good thing i don't have any abrasives LOLOLOLZ

[mell0]

Titanium is just like any other metal it can be sanded/ polished fine. No different than any other sanding process. Start coarse to get the deep stuff out then move down to finer grades. While your sanding it keep it wet with oil like even wd is fine. That will make it alot easier. Finish it up with scotchbrite if you please. If your unsure of what it will look like practice on the back side of the exhaust first. Just jump straight to the final grade or scotch Bruce or whatever.

Thanks

You can probably just buy a sleeve and replace it for short money. You really have nothing to loose. Have at it!!

Not sure on how the sleeve would work, the can is a weird conical shape.

I would first look to see if you can get the replacement part. If not, it's just another metal but quite a bit tougher than most to polish.

And you have a LONG way to go from the looks of the deeper scratches. I would probably use a flexible abrasive disc grinder to get the bulk of it done, or you'll be working on it for a month of Sundays. You only finish with ScotchBrite or BearTex woven abrasives to get the final lay. Start with 80 or 100 grit, then step up to 180, 240, 320, 400, 600, and then the woven to get that circumferential lay as the original.

I think I may try by hand at first, but if it takes more than a day the abrasive disk sounds like a good second bet.

The deep scratches are going to take a lot to get out. As mentioned before start with a course grit on a wheel (keep it moving). Maybe even a file to take down the really high stuff. I'd go the side of caution and start with 180 for the first swipe. It's a lot easier to go coarse because the finer sandpaper isn't working right. Look at polishing the entire can for the final swipe. I've had good luck getting a nice finish on aluminum using steel wool and WD-40 on the final pass.

Isn't aluminum extremely soft, and titanium extremely hard? You think the steel wool/WD-40 combo would work?

I would do...

P80 just knock down the high spots
P180 Get it a bit more down
P320
P600
P1500
P2000-P2500 Polished finish in the same direction as the previous was done

This may be my course of action, but with a scotchbright instead of the 2000 grit. Thanks.

Cut the pipe up to the badge. Make a super short pipe. Done!

Not sure how that would work, given the odd conical shape of the exhaust.

Anything beyond 1200 is really going to polish it beyond the original finish. That original finish on the untouched part is clearly (to my trained eyes) done with ScotchBrite or BearTex type of woven abrasives, something in the 800 to 1200 grit range.

The P2000 to P2500 is what I use to get plastic headlight lenses near perfectly clear. Only a hit from a P2500-P3000 range on a soft foam buffing pad gets them looking like they just popped out of the mold. One thing for sure is that Bar Keeper's Friend is only going to give the most handsomely-polished scratches. The worst of those are quite deep!

Thanks for the heads up!

Buy a new one!

Ha, if I had $800 floating around I sure would!

[MikeyZ]

I would first look to see if you can get the replacement part. If not, it's just another metal but quite a bit tougher than most to polish.

TI is a bitch to polish. Ive tried it MANY times- it is nothing like polishing aluminum or stainless steel. This was with a high speed buffer too.

[Jim]

Bar keepers friend- get a moist towel and dab some of that on it. Rub it on the pipe and it will polish out... it worked for me. give it a try. You can get it at any grocery store for about $3.00

i got a can of it for my car exhaust.

[Expat]

Replace it with a carbon can....
Check these guys out..
http://pjengineering.co.uk/products.php?cat=5

[SprintPoser]

Titanium isn't hard, though it is a bit harder than aluminum. The characteristic that makes it such a PITA to polish is toughness. The Young's Modulus of titanium can be 60% higher than aluminum. The difference can be a LOT more or little less, depending upon the alloy. Just like any other metal, it's rarely found in a pure form. Oddly enough when you alloy the titanium with a little bit of aluminum, that is when it gets REALLY strong.

With a selection of silicon carbide abrasives, it should clean up quick and look reasonably good again.