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A brief review of 4 tailpipe cleaning options

timneedscoffee10

Go Kart Champion
So I'm not too proud to admit that my tailpipes are among the most badly neglected in all of GolfMK6-dom. Here's a picture of what I started with. This is at least 6 months of neglect through a very wet fall followed by heavily salted winter roads.

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I had a quick 15 minutes to spare, so I grabbed my four products, my gloves, and ran outside:

  1. 0000 Steel Wool
  2. Nevr-Dull
  3. Bar Keeper's Friend
  4. Brasso

As you can see in the picture, I started on the driver-side tail pipe with nevr-dull, and was very impressed with the immediate result. Here's the tail-pipe after just two or three minutes of light-pressure rubbing

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I hit this with Bar Keepers Friend next, and was pretty happy with the result!

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On the passenger side, I started with Bar Keeper's Friend first to see how it did on that first, grimy pass - and the result was absolutely comparable:

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Then I hit both pipes with steel wool, and followed up with brasso - both of which did nothing to remove any more carbon - but left an okay shine behind.

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All in all - I would very highly recommend both Bar Keeper's Friend and Nevr Dull. Both required very little elbow grease - where steel wool would have had me sitting there for quite a while. Bar Keepers Friend made a more effective first pass than Nevr-Dull, but both did a great job!

I didn't test brasso on the first pass, but it was pretty pointless as a final pass - if anything, it just gave me an excuse to buff the pipes with one more clean cloth, which probably would have had the same result w/o the brasso.
 

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Baosa

Go Kart Champion
Thumbs up for Nevr Dull. Can't wait to clean the car tomorrow. It's finally warm enough in MA.
 

timneedscoffee10

Go Kart Champion
nice review!:w00t:
will definitely keep those brands in mind when mine is due for a clean.

I've seen Nevr-Dull mentioned quite a bit on the forums, but think I've only seen mention of Bar Keeper's Friend once or twice. I wasn't even thinking about it, but happened across some at my local hardware store.

Nevr-Dull is definitely the simplest for use during a routine wash or just hitting the pipes if you're keeping up on them. For neglect like mine, try out that Bar Keepers Friend :thumbsup:

Also - please continue ignoring how horribly disgusting the rest of my car looks. She's up in the air right now, but when she's wheels-down again it's time for a clean/clay/polish/wax cycle.
 

JhnR

Banned
Mine are pretty bad. I never cleaned them... :( flamesuit on - time to get busy tomorrow morning
 

littleazn248

Go Kart Champion
I clean mine with a wheel brush every wash. I should also mention put some wheel wax on the tips.
 

mikent256

Ready to race!
After meticulously caring for my exhaust tips during the warmer months, they got absolutely destroyed over the winter months.

Even with Nevr-Dull and Turtle Wax Chrome Polish, it's not cleaning up the way i'd like, with soot caked on the rolled ends of the exhaust. I'm hoping I don't need to bust out a Dremel buffing tool or anything but needless to say, it got pretty bad.

Any suggestions besides what's listed above?
 

littleazn248

Go Kart Champion
After meticulously caring for my exhaust tips during the warmer months, they got absolutely destroyed over the winter months.

Even with Nevr-Dull and Turtle Wax Chrome Polish, it's not cleaning up the way i'd like, with soot caked on the rolled ends of the exhaust. I'm hoping I don't need to bust out a Dremel buffing tool or anything but needless to say, it got pretty bad.

Any suggestions besides what's listed above?

Tooth paste, yes tooth paste. I used it another cars chrome tips and cleaned them up nicely even after years of never cleaning them.

Golfmk6 on the go!
 

littleazn248

Go Kart Champion

littleazn248

Go Kart Champion
Thanks man! I'll try it tomorrow :thumbup:

You can google it. Some guy used it on a mk5 gti tip. Plus side is it smells minty fresh.

Golfmk6 on the go!
 
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