Cleaning Stainless Steel prop back to new?

J3ff

Anyone know of a way to clean this without scratching it up ? Hoping there's some kind of magical substance to buy that will get rid of the junk on it!

These were new in July of last year..



It looked like this on Sept 26th.. so a couple months?!

Willhound

Muriatic Acid. Spray on, brush and rinse off. Wear goggles and gloves and do it outdoors.

Black_Diamond

Or “The Works” toilet bowl cleaner. Not the thick type!  Just pour on until it all bubbles away. Rinse with water. 

BTW: on SS props. NEVER use a steel wire brush/steel wool.  They leave behind iron and it will cause corossion.  

Cableguy Greg

I used Muriatic Acid on my props. Do it on a calm day.

Willhound

I should follow up and mention that if the stainless is highly polished the muriatic can sometimes leave a "haze". If you're worried, use it 50/50 mixed with water. My props are the standard factory with a dull finish, so never worried about it, just used it full strength.

J3ff

Thanks ! Going to do it this week sometime, will go with 50/50 as they were/are polished.. 

Handymans342

Want it to look like this?

trip_n

@Handymans342==is that a diesels prop

mattie

Anode not looking too hot - was it replaced last July as well?

J3ff

nah, that was there since April - I change those every spring no matter what. May be a little wasteful but that's not something I skimp on. 

davidbrooks

Muriatic acid cleaned mine up but never got it back to shiny like new. I cleaned mine and then painted them with a prop anti foil spray. 

Dream_Inn

Is there any reason you couldn't use flitz?  I was going to clean mine up with Flitz in another week or two.  It's a great metal polish that I would assume would work fine.

bella-vita

Muratic acid use gloves and long sleeve shirt.I remove them first

Black_Diamond

The stuff on the props is usually lime, thus why the acids work so easily and zero elbow grease. I usually use ~6 bottles of The Works tb cleaner to clean all 4 props.  If you have polished SS props, polish after cleaning.  

Again: Big No-No: do not use any steel brush/pads on SS!!!

Willhound

Yes. By "brush" I should have stipulated nylon bristles. A toilet brush works well.

Handymans342

Why are you guys so anal over the shine of the props? LOL

Cableguy Greg

I would rather keep them clean then wait until they are full of scaling and it becomes a PITA to get them clean. I also clean my trim tabs the same way.

Dream_Inn

Handymans342 said:

Why are you guys so anal over the shine of the props? LOL

Because a nicely waxed outdrive with shiny props look great on the back of my lift!!  Very easy to keep nice when on the lift.

J3ff

I do it because I'd like the prop to be as efficient as possible! 

reneechris14

I just like to shine things up. Keeps me focused. 

zaverin1

Or you can just dig into some sand lol
and they will spit shiny 

craigswardmtb

I use one of those nylon sanding wheels i can put in my power drill.  I used to always use The Works toilet bowl cleaner, which does a decent job, but it still required some serious scrubbing.  This is so much faster with removing the growth and lime deposits.

thepriceisright

So excited for my new SS 4x4s...

J3ff

Hey Craig, do you have a link for that? Don't want to buy the wrong one... How many years have you used this?

craigswardmtb

Last year was the first season.  Google Zoro 150 grit nylon and it will pop up.

J3ff

Thanks, so no rust or anything this year? Thinking I'll hit it with the MA first to see if that'll just take care of it and if not, go with this as a clean up. 

212rowboat

acid is good, obviously, but problematic for also obvious reasons.  

i never was a squid, but used those rascals for transport from time to time.  one of the things i watched them do and then tried myself to great success is 'bug juice' aka kool aide.  mix it up THICK, like the consistency of ketchup or so... spread it on... let it almost dry... spray it off, and use a towel to wipe off the stubbornness if any and any film... clean as you can get with acid (pssssst- it is acid, just not the kind that'll burn the crap out of you or mess something else up if you spill/overspray it somewhere/something organic). 

edited to add: Bug Juice is either lemon flavored or orange flavored... you want the citric acid.  use either of these, preferably lemon... red (cherry) or purple (grape) don't work as well and will stain some surfaces. 

Trashman

I used these 3m 3 inch roloc bristle discs.   They are three inch and come in different abrasions.   They are for a drill and leave a nice finish on ss.

J3ff

so this is different than using steel wool because it doesn't scratch them up like SW would? 

reneechris14

Steel wool will leave deposits of steel behind and this will start to rust. Props are only shiny when they go in the water not when they come out. 

onislandtime

Purple Power full strength! I use it everywhere on the boat. I have a spray bottle half and half and a full strength. My props look just like yours and I sprayed some on and left it for a couple minutes. Took all that stuff off.