Author Topic: Tail pipes cleaned  (Read 2845 times)

Offline Richyb

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 22
Tail pipes cleaned
« on: 06 January 2018, 16:20 »
To follow up on a couple of other posts...

Finally collected my new (used) GTI today and the first thing I did was clean up the tail pipes which the dealer hadn’t bothered to do.

25k miles of dirt vs an hour of elbow grease:

https://ibb.co/iXEpGb
https://ibb.co/d0f72G
2015 MK7 GTI DSG, Limestone Grey, Leather, Nav Pro

Offline Pinky1959

  • GTI forum regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 114
Re: Tail pipes cleaned
« Reply #1 on: 06 January 2018, 17:33 »
That looks a good job .

Offline Booth11

  • Serious forum addict
  • *
  • Posts: 7,739
Re: Tail pipes cleaned
« Reply #2 on: 06 January 2018, 18:36 »
To follow up on a couple of other posts...

Finally collected my new (used) GTI today and the first thing I did was clean up the tail pipes which the dealer hadn’t bothered to do.

25k miles of dirt vs an hour of elbow grease:

https://ibb.co/iXEpGb
https://ibb.co/d0f72G

Excellent job.  How satisfying was that!
Black Beauty: MK7 R 5dr DSG, DBP, 19" Pretoria, DCC, Vienna leather, Keyless, Dynaudio, DNS Pro, Rear camera, HBA
2012 MK6 GTI DSG
2008 MK5 GTI DSG
2005 MK5 GTI Manual

https://www.flickr.com/photos/booth11

Offline Dr Mike Oxgreen

  • GTI forum regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 171
Re: Tail pipes cleaned
« Reply #3 on: 06 January 2018, 20:56 »
My "other" car before I bought my GTI was a Honda S2000, the facelift version with twin oval chromed tailpipes.

By virtue of their shape and location directly behind the rear wheels, these would not only become filthy in a very short space of time, but would also collect bits of tar, which would then attach to the hot exhaust.

The best way that I found to clean the tar and other crud from the tailpipes was as follows:

You will need some paper kitchen towels, two plastic bags, some rubber bands, a can of WD40 and a tube of Solvol Autosol.  You may have guessed from the foregoing that the operation takes place on a cold exhaust.

WD40 will dissolve tar, but will evaporate.  Wrap the kitchen towels around the tailpipes, then soak with WD40.  Place the plastic bags over the tailpipes, secure with the rubber bands, and leave for an hour.  After which most, if not all of the tar and other crud will easily wipe away.  Clean off any residual WD40 and give the tailpipes a polish with the Solvol.


Offline Richyb

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 22
Re: Tail pipes cleaned
« Reply #4 on: 06 January 2018, 21:34 »
@Dr. Mike

Wow, magic. Unfortunately with the GTI the plastic bumper is quite close to the exhaust pipes. Might need to remove the bumper
2015 MK7 GTI DSG, Limestone Grey, Leather, Nav Pro

Offline Wo-Wo

  • Forum Supporter
  • I live here
  • *****
  • Posts: 709
  • www.wo-wo.co.uk
Re: Tail pipes cleaned
« Reply #5 on: 08 January 2018, 08:04 »
Great job!

Disappointing that a dealer would let it go like this.