What is Stainless Steel Electro Polishing?

A few days ago my friend Brent came over and was showing off his recently restored 1968 Camaro SS. This is truly a dream car that few of us will ever get the chance to even see, let alone own! As he was opening the hood the breather element caught my eye. Sure enough, as I leaned in to take a closer look, I noticed it was made of stainless steel . It had a mirror-like reflective surface that shined bright in the mid afternoon sun. I began to ask Brent about it and he said it was indeed stainless steel and had been electro polished to bring up the mirror-like finish.

Fascinated by how he got this stainless steel shining like he did with such a smooth surface and reflectivity that you could shave by I wanted to find out more about just what exactly electro polishing was for stainless steel . I found out that electro polishing is a process that smooths, polishes, deburrs and cleans stainless steel. The process will selectively remove high points on metal surfaces giving the surface a bright finish.

As I started to read more about stainless steel electro polishing I soon discovered that it is being used by a wide array of industries and businesses. Automotive manufacturers have used it for custom performance parts, such as Brent's Camaro SS, but also are using it on newer cars to bring back some of the styling that has been missing since chrome went away. Instead they are using stainless steel accents both inside and outside the car that have been electro polished to give them the appearance of chrome and yet will last a lifetime without worry of rust or corrosion.

It also turns out that electro polished stainless steel is showing up in a lot of housing and commercial building projects nowadays. Several new commercial buildings are using this process to design ornate stainless steel decorations for the building or to add accent pieces such as canopy overhangs made with stainless steel. In private homes it is being used to give a touch of class to homes that run at the more expensive end of the housing scale. It is being used for both outside architectural elements as well as inside in such areas the kitchen and bathroom to electro polish vanities, appliances and tiling.

The medical industry is no stranger to stainless steel electro polishing either. Many medical implants are electro polished on order to get an absolutely blemish free surface, such that the body acids are given no opportunity to get into minute cavities and start an erosion process.

Armed with all my newfound information on stainless steel electro polishing I decided that perhaps my own car could use some sprucing up and adding a few of the stainless steel elements that Brent's Camaro had on it. However, for some reason I don't think that I would get the same reaction in my Ford Taurus that Brent did in his Camaro.

Perhaps I will just go have my sink electro polished to remove those years of scratches…