After a little steel wool and light sanding and then some polish the tip looks much better than the milky white, but still not as good as I think it can be. I'm still need to get some better sanding done.

 

great idea!

 

Actually looks pretty good, defineatly an improvement...

 

SWEET!

I've been kicking around trying that for about a month myself, but didn't know how it would turn out. I was afraid I would make it look worse than it already does.

You have inspired me to polish mine now.

 

I've been kicking around the idea too or just having a chrome tip welded on but now be honest and tell us how much time that took? Its the only thing I wish Ford would of done stock.

 

I'm thinking with a little steel wool and an electric polisher, I could knock that out pretty quickly.

How sweet would that look to polish the whole thing that you can see from the fenderwell?

 

I can't take credit for it, somewhere on here under a "stainless steel" search I found that. I plan to get under there and do more of the vivisble part of the pipe. Need some more steel wool and better sandpaper. I did notice after the first pass and driving a couple days it clouded up a bit. Think it needs sanded smoother to get a better shine. I don't have a buffer but maybe a pad on the drill would work out ok.

quackrstackr, Wouldn't worry about messing it up, I think you can really only improve on it since Ford didn't bother doing anything.

Thumper, it didn't take a long time, maybe 1/2 hr or little more. 5 mins with sw, 5 with sanding pad, some more sw and then 15 mins of polishing.

If I can get to it in next few days I'll do an update if I can get it looking any better. Sure beats $50 for a tip

 

Might be hard keepin it shiny, the elements will quickly turn it back. Might have to use some clear coat.

 

Better get some splash guards. I have a black chrome tip on my truck. Hade the exhaust done about month before I got my splash guards... the tip looks terrible now. The road debris ruined it. Hasnt gotten any worse though since I put the guards on.



I have since changed the splash guards. My tip looks alot worse now.

Dont buy these tips unless you're going to run it infront of the rear tires or straight out the back.

 

I thought I was the only one who did that. I polish mine every time I polish my wheels. I don't go crazy with it, just try to keep it looking new. I just polish from that last bend to the tip.

 

Well scorpio, your pics are 100% better than mine but it's dark here right now... it looks scuffed and cloudy in the pic but it shines like a new nickel in person.

Here's about 20 minutes of work with some steel wool, a 2" buffing wheel in a drill and some polishing compound. I steel wooled the pipe all the way up behind the frame but only hit it with the compound from the hanger back so far. My pipe is so scarred up from being run through the mandrel when bent I don't think it will ever polish up really good. Already a 100% improvement over what it was though. I may run it for a bit before I spend any more time on it to see how long the polish will last before oxidizing, plus I need to be doing this in the daylight so I can see what I'm doing.

Pardon the dirt and roadkill remnants... haven't had a chance to wash it.

 

Looks good quackr, pictures can't really show it off too good. Glad it worked out for you. Suprisingly mine has held up fairly well since I first did it. Just have to take care of it every other wash or so. The bend part on mine is way shinier than the rest, maybe because of the way the mandrel makes that bend. The worst parts to get off were the black lines that run the length of the pipe.

 

The stock exhaust piping is CRUSH bent, not mandrel.

 

It doesn't matter where the tips are at, they are still going to get road debris and other crap on them. I'm speaking from experience: shiny tip(s) at the stock location, in front of the tires, and straight out the back, even with mud flaps they get dirty pretty quick. Our rear wheelwells are just too open....

 

I dont think I explained my self very well.... The tip isnt dirty... trust me. Im a clean freak when it come to this truck.

The tip is ruined. There is a layer, or film on the tips themselves that is gone. The tip looks like its been put in a sand blaster. What ever the process of making these tips is, its bad. They dont last long.

I'll try to get some better pics soon.