Tips on polishing stainless steel?

[Lowell W]

If you absolutely just have to do everything you possibly can on your car, sure: go ahead and polish your own roll bars. Check out the links above and Eastwood is also a good source for buffers and polishing compounds. There's no need to do any hand sanding if you have the right compounds. If you don't have the right equipment, it's boring, time consuming and frustrating. If you do have the right equipment, it's dirty, dangerous, time consuming and frustrating.

If you do decide to do this yourself, BE CAREFUL, as the buffer will likely be the most dangerous tool you own. Polishing round pieces like a roll bar is the best way to learn to use the buffer but a high speed buffer can grab an expensive part out of your hands and fling it against the floor, the wall or you with incredible violence and no warning. Everybody who's used one for any length of time can tell you buffer stories.

Buffing is filthy, dangerous work. The best way to polish your roll bars is to take them to a good chrome plating shop. They'll come back looking like jewelry. While you're there, take a look in the back at the guys doing the buffing.

I've done a lot of buffing over the years and still have a 10" pedestal buffer and an assortment of compounds, also a big belt grinder. I frequently use the belt grinder but when I had some scratches in my side pipes, I took them to the local plating shop and paid them fifty bucks to do the polishing.

Just my $.02

Lowell