Stainless Steel Side Exhaust -- Help!

[Cartman]

Hey guys --

I did something really stupid today and inadvertently had my microfiber towel brush against the hot stainless collector sidepipe when I was removing some road grime from the back portion of the front wheel flare.

One clumsy swipe passed a section of the cloth against the hot collector pipe and virtually cooked a small portion of the cloth on to the stainless surface.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to best remove/dissolve the residue from the collector pipe and restore the stainless luster?

My miscue here really has me bummed out and any suggestions as to how I can correct this problem will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance --

Jeff

[gsharapa]

If it is just stainless that was polished you could take some 1000 grit sand paper by hand and take off the residue and then hit if with some 2500 grit and then some rubbing compound or Mequires #1 and #2 and polish.......

[danw]

I, too, have stainless pipes. I have not had the pleasure of removing baked-on microfiber from them, but I have encountered the occasional runaway plastic bag (and some other unidentifiable stuff…).
The most effective method I've found is to heat the pipes (generally once around the block will do it), then use a wood scraper on any thick layers. What's left comes off with Borla exhaust cleaner backed up by fine or medium grit bronze (NOT STEEL) wool. And the pipes are none the worse for the experience.

[Cartman]

Thanks for the suggestions, Gary and Dan !!

I'll give them a try and will certainly appreciate any other "inside tips" from anyone who has had success overcoming this issue with either a modification of your recommendations or one that incorporates a different approach.

Jeff

[itstock]

Ceramic stove top cleaner and the pad for it also works well for things like this.

[Thor maine]

The micro fibers are some kind of synthetic so they melted on. What I have used in similar cases is what plumbers use " PVC pipe primer/cleaner" it will soften or eat through almost any plastic but won't touch the SS. And use the clear PVC cleaner/primer not the purple.

[Cartman]

Continuing thanks to all for your continuing suggestions and recommendations to help me through this dilemma --

Jeff

[Mr Jody]

Something I have used to remove gasket residue from steel and aluminum surfaces that I didn’t want to risk cutting into is just wadded up aluminum foil. It is abrasive to the gasket material, but not to the surface material, as sandpaper would be. This might work here, as the foil should be tougher than the microfiber material, but softer than SS. It does take a little longer since it is not as abrasive as sandpaper. You may want to try it on an inconspicuous area first to just make sure it doesn’t scratch the polished finish.

I like the idea of PVC primer mentioned above. Sounds like it should do the trick also without the use of abrasives.

If you try a method that requires heat, try using a heat gun as would be used for stripping paint…. better control of the heat application, just don’t get it too close to the paint on the body.

But if you don’t have any primer or a heat gun readily available, maybe you do have some aluminum foil in the kitchen cabinet.