Sand Blasting Stainless steel

[Lawrence]

I have a vehicle that I am painting that has stainless steel bumpers that are scratched and need some finishing:confused: . Does sandblasting have a nice effect? Or what do I do to refinish these unsitely bumpers.
I wood appreciate any suggestions.
Great site!
Lawrence

[Greg]

The only reason I would want to sandblast them would be to remove paint or some surface rust. Stainless is soft and would show the sandblaster profile. Then I'm not sure what you would do unless you can get an epoxy primer to stick. We end up painting the bottom plates of gate posts which are stainless and it does wear off after a while. I think you can polish stainless and it may remove the scratches. Painting I know defeats the look and purpose of the stainless.

[wolfsautobody]

I have a vehicle that I am painting that has stainless steel bumpers that are scratched and need some finishing:confused: . Does sandblasting have a nice effect? Or what do I do to refinish these unsitely bumpers.
I wood appreciate any suggestions.
Great site!
Lawrence

Have you tried using a Scotch pad and try to scuff them up to clean them? I was told by a guy last week that that was the best way to clean up stainless such as the old window and body mouldings.

[Lawrence]

When alluminum is sandblasted it has a pleasing look. I guess what I was wondering if the same results would happen if I sandblasted the stainless bumpers.
The bumpers on my car are stainless and not painted so you can imagine what they look like. I have tried scotch pads and power buffing but I don't like the results as the finish looks very uneven.
Maybe I should just get them chromed or paint them.
Any more thought on this.
Thanks Lar

[Topgun]

You could sand and buff them to new.

[Len]

I've never tried sanding and buffing stainless but I'd imagine it would be really difficult.

[Topgun]

It can be. There are metal polishing products that make it easier. Typically stainless is hard as rock. You sand it with 500 then 1200 and polish.
You need a highspeed buffer and the right compound and you can bring back like new. You can do the same with aluminum. I seen a mercedes with no paint they stripped it and buffed it bumper to bumper and clearcoated. Chromed the plastic and it looked sharpe.:)

[CraigS]

If you sandblast stainless steel without passivating it, you may get minor rust to show if it's not clearcoated after. Raw stainless is passivated (acid etched) to remove iron from the surface in order to expose its anti-corrosive properties. It all depends on the alloy.

[Lawrence]

After reading the replies. I have decided to polish. I have all winter to do the job and get it right. Thanks a lot for the information,I learned somthing.
Thanks Lar