How to clean exhaust tips

<p>Exhaust tips are one of those I&&num;8217&semi;s that need to be dotted&period; Exhaust tips can be difficult to clean due to type of build up that can be found on the inside or the outside of the tips&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Why clean exhaust tips<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Detailing a car is about returning it to &&num;8220&semi;as new&&num;8221&semi; condition as much as possible&period; However&comma; this is not always easy&period; The exhaust tips can ruin the looks of a detailed car&period; The paintwork is shiny&comma; the wheels are clean and perfect&comma; but the exhaust tip is black and grey&period; That won&&num;8217&semi;t do&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Also&comma; some of the newer cars have exhaust tips worked into the bumper&comma; being part of the visual design&period; Depending on the color of your car&comma; they may stand out by being dirty and contaminated&period; Cleaning these will improve the look of the car&comma; and will show how much time you&&num;8217&semi;ve spent on details&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Types of dirt found in or on exhaust tips<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Both the outside and the inside of an exhaust tip gets exposed to several types of contaminants&period; The inside of the exhaust tip is mainly covered in carbon deposits from the exhaust fumes&period; This means it will be covered in a mixture of desposits from nitrogen&comma; water vapour&comma; carbon dioxide&comma; carbon monoxide&comma; hydrocarbons&comma; nitrogen oxides and soot&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The outside of the exhaust tip is covered in a combination or iron fallout&comma; mineral deposits&comma; sand&comma; dirt&comma; tar&comma; acid rain deposits&comma; sand and will likely have some surface imperfections due to the impact with particles thrown up from the road&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How to clean exhaust tips<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Before anything can be cleaned&comma; it is important to know what type of dirt you are working with&period; Knowing the type of contamination helps to find a suitable solution for cleaning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Inside of exhaust tip<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>nitrogen &&num;8211&semi; this will only exist in small quantities&comma; trapped or mixed with the other contaminants&period; When these are removed&comma; the nitrogen will be removed with them&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>water vapour &&num;8211&semi; this will most likely cause mineral deposits and an occasional rust spot&period; Clay will be able to remove these if not yet removed by previous cleaning methods&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>carbon dioxide &&num;8211&semi; this chemical is actually soluble in water&comma; meaning any APC or degreaser will have an effect on removing this<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>carbon monoxide &&num;8211&semi; is water soluble&comma; meaning any APC or degreaser will have an effect on removing these&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>hydrocarbons &&num;8211&semi; this substance is not soluble in water&comma; but will be dissolved by turpentine&comma; diesel fuel&comma; IPA or benzene &lpar;not petrol&rpar;&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>nitrogen oxide &&num;8211&semi; this will only make up a very small part of the contaminants and will be mixed with the other contaminants&period; Removing the other contaminants will remove this as well&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>soot &&num;8211&semi; as a form of impure carbon particles&comma; these will be removed in the same way as hydrocarbons&period; Turpentine&comma; diesel fuel&comma; IPA or benzene will dissolve these fairly quickly&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; a combination of non-polar alkane liquids will be able to remove to most stubborn dirt&period; A reasonably easy way to use this is to spray this liquid into the inside of the exhaust tips&comma; agitate it with a brush and then wiped off with a paper towel&period; Either turpentine&comma; diesel fuel&comma; IPA or benzene will do the trick&period; Some tar&&num;038&semi;glue removers have certain ingredients that have similar cleaning power&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;After cleaning off the worst&comma; it can be followed by a degreaser or strong APC&period; This will also remove any residue from the previous cleaning step&period; In the end&comma; it can be followed up by grade 000 steelwool to remove any caked on impurities before polishing the inside with a polish cone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Outside of exhaust tip<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The outside of an exhaust is slightly easier to clean&period; The contaminants found on here are very similar to those found on a wheel&period; Using a wheel cleaner can help to remove a lot of the worst contamination&period; Chemical cleaning such as a tar remover or a fallout remover can remove even more&period; After this&comma; a good clean with an APC or even regular shampoo will suffice&period; Claying is always an option if the surface doesn&&num;8217&semi;t feel smooth and clean&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Most exhaust tips are made from metal&comma; meaning polishing with a metal polish shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be a problem&period; Rubbing the exhaust tip with grade 000 steelwool may help to smooth the surface and make stone chips less visible&period; Since an exhaust gives a difficult working area&comma; and removing the exhaust might not be an option it is often useful to either polish by hand&comma; or to use a polish cone as an extension on a cordless drill&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;