So I scratched my Stillen Gen3 tubes during the install becasue I did not want to remove the bumper.

Not wanting to have my new intakes look like crap, I decided to fix them myself.

Materials:
220 grit wet/dry sand paper
400 grit wet/dry sand paper
800 grit wet/dry sand paper
1000 grit wet/dry sand paper
Fine steel wool
Metal polish
Rags
Some free time

I started by using 220 grit paper, DRY, to remove the scratches as shown.



I then moved to 400 grit WET to remove the marks from the 220 grit



Next step was 800 grit WET to remove the marks from the 400 grit



After the 800 grit it was time to move to 1000 grit WET to remove the marks from the 800 grit



After all the sanding was done, I went over the whole area with fine steel wool



Finally I used a good metal polish and made it all pretty







That was all it took to make it look better than it was out of the box. I had to do the same thing for both sides but as you can see, the scratches can be fixed with a little work.

 

wow its that easy huh??? hmmmm good stuff dude!!

 

Very informative! Thanks.....just in case I ever get scratches

 

pretty nice work man. my buddy polished his stock g35 muffler with a similar method.

 

very nice write up. thanks. I'll be using this soon as I just bought some used stillen gen 3 intakes with some scratches.

 

eh, what i do is buy the CD scratch repair stuff and rub on it. work for my jwt lols

 

Awesome write up. Me and my brother had installed my Gen 3 and we didn't take off my bumper and he scratched the crap out of one of my tubes. I'm gonna make him fix it now.

 

anyone else do this? what was the result overtime? Meaning like fading and what not. Did it stay polished nice?

 

I just did this the other day. The result was a lot better than if I had left the intakes scratched, but I had one very minor problem. I couldn't seem to get the mirror polish look that the intakes came in. Where I did the sanding isn't really noticeable unless you're staring, but of course I always know it's there. LOL. Overall, would I recommend doing this...absolutely.

Edit: Originally I hadn't used any grit higher than 400, but I went over the area again with 1000 grit and again steel wool. I have to say that I got a pretty nice finish, better than before. I'd give my results an 8/10

 

Yes, on exhaust tips of an 08 FX, A++++ results

 

I want to make sure i get the mirror Finnish though... Anyone else?