Anyone try sanding their stainless steel?

[GatorCyber]

Anyone try sanding our their panels? I've had mine for a month and noticed in the night light that the hood has trails from trying to fix a blemish mark I assume. I can also see circles where they changed direction on the sail panels too, but the hood always showed these streaks and the blemishes.

Don't really want to drive 4 hours and hope they can fix.
How hard is it to sand per Tesla directions with Scotch pads. And don't think I want to leave a new 100k car looking like this. Others may not see it, but I cannot unsee it now that I know it's there.

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[TickTock]

You have to redo the entire panel to fix these. Not just the panel but all panels of a set per the Tesla service manual (https://service.tesla.com/docs/Cybe...UID-D33D78C9-9BCD-46CB-885C-52B4F482852C.html)

 

[tmeyer3]

Kinda par for the course with the raw steel. It's just kind of the look to have blemishes, spots, rugged, etc. I'm not trying to shoot you down here, but even if you go get it perfectly refinished, you'll be back to this in less than 6 months if you drive a normal amount. That's just stainless steel--it'll refinish itself over and over through use.

If you want an even/perfect look, I strongly recommend PPF or vinyl. Nothing wrong with wanting a perfect finish! It's just not going to happen with stainless and it wasn't ever going to, part of the original aesthetic.

Hope that helps!


Add on: I'm realizing now that for some people the stainless is a God-send (like me) because we don't have to care and it'll always look like stainless steel, while it drives others absolutely nuts because it doesn't look like paint.

 

[av8rdude]

I have a few similar blemishes. I may eventually get motivated to do this. Here is a great video showing a professional sand and make it look perfect.

 

[TickTock]

I have a few similar blemishes. I may eventually get motivated to do this. Here is a great video showing a professional sand and make it look perfect.

That's a great video. Also the one he did earlier on assessing the damage.

 

[GatorCyber]

There's another video of a guy sanding the back sail panel.
I likely won't do anything, as someone above said, it will just be back to how it is in six months.
I'm gonna let it sit outside and weather until I get motivated to get rid of storage cabinets to fit it inside my garage

 

[REM]

Guys, we need to start embracing the stainless steel for what it is lol ?‍

 

[tmeyer3]

Guys, we need to start embracing the stainless steel for what it is lol ?‍

I think it caught a lot of people by surprise. "Super tough! Bullet resistant! Lasts longer than you! etc!" While all true, no one who works with raw steel would tell you that it'll look pristine for long. To be fair, it must seem weird to many people that something that resists a 45acp also gets tiny swirl marks from hand washing.

 

[TickTock]

It is very tough. Just yesterday I tried sanding my mirror-delete covers with a random orbital and this is as close as I got after over an hour on just two small pieces. Maybe buy a sheet of SS from your local HW store and practice on that before attempting the truck.

 

[MICyber]

Take a little dab of turtle wax swirl and scratch remover and a microfiber cloth. Lightly rub the affected area. Clean with soap and water.

 

[GatorCyber]

Take a little dab of turtle wax swirl and scratch remover and a microfiber cloth. Lightly rub the affected area. Clean with soap and water.

have you tried scratch remover? I'm not sure if that wouldn't just make a large area stand out. You likely need to match the overall sanding pattern to make scratches disappear, therefore you have to re-sand the whole panel and other similar planes?

 

[MICyber]

have you tried scratch remover? I'm not sure if that wouldn't just make a large area stand out. You likely need to match the overall sanding pattern to make scratches disappear, therefore you have to re-sand the whole panel and other similar planes?

Yes, a small blemish from the factory cleaned right up. I have another and will take before and after pics.

 

[M0unt41nm4n]

have you tried scratch remover? I'm not sure if that wouldn't just make a large area stand out. You likely need to match the overall sanding pattern to make scratches disappear, therefore you have to re-sand the whole panel and other similar planes?

The thing you need to be most careful of is being sure that you use the right grit. If you use one too low, you end up with nastier swirls. Use too high of one, you end up with a mirror finish. I thought I read in one of the Tesla service manuals that they recommended a particular grit. As someone said earlier, get a scrap piece of SS from HD and practice with different grits to find the magic one.

Scratch remover is ultra high grit… I would be careful of that as it’s made to bring a sheen back to clear coat. That will definitely give you a mirror finish.

 

[Balthezor]

I just picked up my truck from service center because they scheduled a sanding specialist to get some darkened blemishes off the frunk. It came back with scratches everywhere. Not just the frunk. But all around the truck. WTF did that specialist do? So frustrated because it looks like a monkey did the work. I was going to keep the stainless look for a year or so before I wrap it. But I might wrap it sooner now. Its crazy, just random scratches all over.

Service manager will contact me Monday. But I'm considering sanding it myself using Tesla instructions...

 

[HaulingAss]

I think it caught a lot of people by surprise. "Super tough! Bullet resistant! Lasts longer than you! etc!" While all true, no one who works with raw steel would tell you that it'll look pristine for long. To be fair, it must seem weird to many people that something that resists a 45acp also gets tiny swirl marks from hand washing.

My Cybertruck has been muddy many times and it never gets swirl marks from handwashing. I use a truck washing brush. I do get very faint straight line scratches from driving a muddy Cybertruck through brush because the saplings can catch the bigger and more abrasive mud particles and rub them onto the body. But you would have to bear down pretty hard with a wash mitt on abrasive mud to get swirl marks.

The marks are easy to polish out with a random orbit sander and non-woven abrasive pads, just like shown the video. I would recommend a dust collection system, both for health reasons and to prevent the fresh sanding particles from being ground in.

There is a version of Barkeepers friend that doesn't contain abrasives, but has all the active ingredients of the abrasive BKF products.

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