Synthetic material dry town touched sidepipes....how to remove debris

[accobra66]

Came home in a light rain today and wiped down the car when I pulled into the garage. Accidentally touched a synthetic material towel (Griots Garage) to the stainless side pipes and it instantly left a melted mark on each side before I noticed it.

Here is the link to the microfiber towel:
https://www.amazon.com/Griots-Garage-11117-Micro-Drying/dp/B00449AC9C

Tried

1.) Never Dull - did nothing
2.) Collinite # 850 - did nothing
3.) Lightly tried rubbing a scotch bright pad over the residue - did nothing other than leave scratch marks in the stainless steel

Thinking
1.) The lightest steel wool available - don't have any but can pick it up tomorrow

Stuff if really stuck on there. Be ideal if I could find something that would chemically break down the material of the towel.

[DaleG]

Try heating the pipes back up and wiping it off with a cotton cloth?

[accobra66]

Read that idea on line. Also read using Easyoff over cleaner and 0000 steel wool. Nervous to heat it up as I worry it will bake on further. Going to try Easyoff 1st I think.

[carlewms]

You might be able to try a heat gun on it to see if you can get it soft enough to rub off ...

[cgundermann]

I have used Fltz polish on Harley chrome exhaust with baked on cloth/rubber with success. Polish powder coat with it also...should be effective on stainless...

[accobra66]

Easyoff and 0000 steel wool did the trick...just and fyi

[TMScrogins]

Yes, Yes, Yes to Easy Off.

I had a plastic grocery bag land on my hot pipes and melted the plastic to the sidepipe right at the collector. The pipes are Gas-N stainless steel.

I tried everything I could think of to remove it. I didn't want to use anything abrasive such as steel wool since it would scratch. Also, it had melted into some of the hard to reach places just prior to the collector. So began my quest to find something to remove it.

First was mineral spirits - FAIL
Goo-Gone - FAIL
Simple Green - FAIL
Lacquer thinner - FAIL
Turpentine - FAIL
Acetone - FAIL
Gasoline - FAIL
Flitz metal polish - FAIL
Several road trips to burn it off - FAIL

All Fails were epic. Not even an improvement.

Then... oven cleaner - Success!

Easy Off oven cleaner did the trick. First application I let it set for 2 hours and cleaned it off. It removed 80 percent of the gunk. Second application I let set for the day (8 hours). Every last bit of the gunk was removed.

Caution, this oven cleaner is not safe on aluminum or chrome. Though perfectly safe on stainless steel. I don't know what it would do to paint. To be safe, I removed my sidepipe from the vehicle.

Hope this helps.

Trevor

57993 57994 57995

[Olli]

That really is a fantastic result with Easy-Off. Great tip!

Olli

[willzy]

WOW!!! They look great

[WIS89]

Easyoff and 0000 steel wool did the trick...just and fyi

So happy that it worked! Thanks for passing along the tip.

I am sure you must be relieved.

Regards,

Steve

[AC Bill]

Glad you found a solution..looked pretty nasty before cleaning..:eek:

I'm surprised that acetone failed, although it evaporates so rapidly it may not have had a chance to soak in.

[GoDadGo]

This Is A Great Tip!

Will try to retain it in my brain.

[DavidW]

I'll be keeping a mental bookmark of this thread, in time something like this will happen to me.