So I wonder, is there any way to mitigate the black soot that builds up on my exhaust tips? I wonder of a small drain hole or two on the underside of the tips would help? Or maybe a slit on the bottom curve?

Thoughts, anyone?

I would think the only problem that might occur is creating a chance of early corrosion and rust?

Put your CZ box back in when you get it. ;)

I actually wash the inside of the tip on my RX-7. It's stainless, 5 1/4" dia. Need to keep cleaning out the birdnests. :) I find dish detergent works to remove the smoot from the tip.

Again, smoot is the term for the rotary exhaust gunk that adhears to the rear of the car.

Guys I decided towash my Rx8 myself today instead of normallygoing out to get a car wash and everything was fineuntil I got to the back of my car. I checked out my exhaust tips and they were shit black! I figured I justhad to scrub really hard andthey would be back to their good old polished look.

Unfortunately after over minutes of very rough scrubbing there was no way to get the soot off the edges of the tips. I managed toscrape off maybe 2 centimeters worth of that shit at thevery bottom circular portion of the tips but the rest of it is now basically black. In otherwords my exhaust tips now seem to be permanently stained to black afternot taking enough careof the tips during car washes.

I guess all thosetimes I went to get a wash Ishould have told those guysto carefully wash the tips . This ispretty disappointing considering that the car isnteven a year old. The exhaust tips obviously wouldnt be covered by warranty for this right? I think they should cover this b/c their own exhaust system is what is causing this. Then again I supposemine have become this bad due to lack of meticulous maintenance. Ive owned other cars wherethe tips get dirty like this but after a wash they arefresh again never stained. Wouldhave been nice if this hadbeen mentioned in the owners manual b/c now Ill have to buy newtips one day or just live w/dirty tips on a new car. Maybe Ill tryto complain about this next timemy car is serviced.

Here is an older pic I took of the backof the car but even thenthe tips werent looking too good. The stains on the exhaust tips are now very noticeable since my mesh was painted silver.
http://www.rx8club.com/attachment.php?postid=275009

Originally posted by JeRKy 8 Owner
The stains on the exhaust tips are now very noticeable since my mesh was painted silver.

Sorry to go OT, but how'd you mount the mesh? Wire ties?? Glued? Screws?

Sooty exhaust tips are the nature of the beast when it comes to rotary engines - it is the byproduct of burning oil, which we all know is done by design and necessity with the rotary.

Once you get them clean, simply wipe them down once a week with a rag or paper towels to keep the build-up to a minimum.

What's up with the vanity plate?

simplyblue - The meshcame with the car man. Yesits the original mesh. It takes about 2 hours to do and requirespatience and steadiness. Read my post http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?threadid=22525 if you are up for it.

GTF -- thatisnt my real license plate if you lookclosely its just a copy and paste of the single 6 I have on myactual plate. I dont have photoshop or anything spiffy to blur out the plate so I just put thatpic into paint and copied the 6 over the other characters. If youwere talking about the cheesy skull license plate frame wellthat was a gift from mi novia loca :o and willdefinitely be comingoff when this relationship is over.

Yes, I know smoot is the nature of the beast. I still wonder if there isn't something we could do to mitigate it...

(IOW, back on topic...)

Originally posted by JeRKy 8 Owner
simplyblue - The meshcame with the car man. Yesits the original mesh. It takes about 2 hours to do and requirespatience and steadiness. Read my post http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?threadid=22525 if you are up for it.

Awesome job dude! Man that takes a lot of patience....

Has anybody elses exhaust tips been defiled by thesoot like mine?

I noticed how cruddy mine are looking tonight and I've had her only a month :( I scrubbed and scrubbed and they're already stained black. I almost brought out the soft scrub to try cleaning inside the end of the pipes.

As much as I was looking forward to washing her by hand tonight, I'm bummed. Paint nicks all over the nose. I drive about 20mi each way to/from work. About 2/3 of that is highway.

Hit them with wheel cleaner and a wheel brush.

.......... never thought of that. Is the big aftermarket ones having the same problem?

...why do you think it'd be different?

Originally posted by MazdaManiac
Hit them with wheel cleaner and a wheel brush.

I will try that tonight and hey, thanks for the tip.

I've used 3M scrub pads (the green or brown ones). Be careful though, it will produce fine scratches if you get too enthusiastic. Of course that is also a nice look, so if you scrub them all over it will be fine and then easier to clean afterwards as you will not have to worry about fine scratches.

I also used 3M scrub pads (green) on the interior only. Because they can leave slight scratches I do not use them on the exterior but the smoot is only on the inside anyways.

Two words: Never-Dull.

Mine arealready stained so I do not seethe point in using any of thoseproducts. Im either goingto have to get them polished or buy somereplacements.

Mother's "MAG & ALUMINUM POLISH" removed the black smoot for me.

After getting my 8 last summer, when the soot appeared, I just grabbed some stuff I'd had on my shelf for years called "Blue Coral Extra Fine Liquid White Polishing Compound" and a rag. Any polishing compound I'm sure will do as well.

5 seconds per pipe and the whole thing is just like new both INSIDE and out. Never thought anything more about it. Do it every week or so. Makes it just klike new. :)

I had never cleaned mine, and am I've got about 5500 miles on the car... they were disgusting. I just used Tarni-Shield Silver Cleaner with anti-Tarnish Protector, by 3M. I can't say it took "5 seconds per pipe," but after about 15 minutes per side with lots of rubbing, things are back to great.

I have a rag that I keep in the garage to wipe off the tips, I just hit them when I come home every night and they stay looking great with very little effort.

Once they are clean, Rub automotive wax on them. Next wash the crude will wash right off. Same thing for brake rotor dust on the wheels.

THANK YOU FOR SEARCHING!! :D

oh, and good tips.

I used Brasso metal polish and it cleaned the chrome up easily.

Goof Off works great! Great for flame throwing too (I'm kidding!)

wait... clean the insides of the pipes as well?

I find that when I wash my car, I take a sponge and clean the tips with that and the car wash soap... then I use chrome polisher to get them nice and shiny...

Originally posted by jdl
Two words: Never-Dull.

YES, I just tried Eagle 1's never dull. It's a great product. Try it, you'll like it. I did. Much better results than using the 3m scrub pad. Very clean and totally non-abrasive.

Gee, now I just use a little WD40 and a paper towel when I wash them about every 2 weeks.

Of course the first time I tried to clean the smoot of I did use an 1800 PSI pressure washer on them which didn't do anything.

Never dull is the best. I dont care how much biuld up you have it works great. I use it on all my cars that have anything chrome.

Originally posted by RX4+30Years=RX8
Gee, now I just use a little WD40 and a paper towel when I wash them about every 2 weeks.

Of course the first time I tried to clean the smoot of I did use an 1800 PSI pressure washer on them which didn't do anything.

yeah, it's crazy how the lightest dustings of dirt will come right off with a wet towel, but a pressure washer won't touch it... like, the paint will come off before the dust will.

I'll add my name to the list of endorsements for Nevr-Dull. Used it for the first time last night and the smoot came off in seconds.

Blue Magic Liquid Polish :cool: I finally bought something to clean the exhaust tips today. The rest of the car is filthy but I couldn't resist trying this out and they look GREAT! Just a clean cloths and the polish was all it took.

Lately, I just wash the exhaust tips with soap and water at the same time I do the tires and wheels. Smoot comes right off. Then, after I finish washing/drying the whole car, I go back to the exhaust tips and polish with Mothers Chrome Polish. Works great.

Good to see the term "smoot" is still alive and well. :) It was a typo (by Shiv Pathek, I think) on the RX-7 "big list" several years ago that gave birth to the word.

-Max

Hi Max. I'm the one guilty of bringing it over :) . I thought it originated on the Team FC3S list about 7 years ago (Dale, help me out here!).

Gee guys, I have heard smoot used as far back as 30 years ago to describe the smudgy soot that built up on the exhaust tips of my RX-4. I think it was a Mazda mechanic that I heard it from first back then.

As I remember it, the tip was rectangular and it only built up on one half of it. The other half was where the secondary exhaust from the thermalreactor came from. Or maybe it was the opposite, but I remember there were two exhaust pipes, one smaller than the other and one did not carry as much smoot. Both exited via the rectangular tip.

Smoot in the fire place since i was born

Originally posted by EatMyBanana
Smoot in the fire place since i was born

So is that more than 30 years?(running ducking and grinning):D

or, this definition (http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/s/smoot.html) traces back to 1958:
smoot /smoot/ n. [MIT] A unit of length equal five feet seven inches. The length of the Harvard Bridge in Boston is famously 364.4 smoots plus or minus an ear (the ear stands for epsilon). This legend began with a fraternity prank in 1958 during which the body length of Oliver Smoot (class of '62) was actually used to measure out that distance. It is commemorated by smoot marks that MIT students repaint every few years; the tradition even survived the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge in the late 1980s. The Boston police have been known to use smoot markers to indicate accident locations on the bridge.
which is only the first hit of many from google...

That is a lot of smoot!

Born in 1958!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by EatMyBanana
Born in 1958!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No biggie, I was walking by then at 3, but at the time I didn't know what smoot was.

loco4rx8, I used the Mother's chrome polish once. The Borla is not chrome (it is stainless steel) so I noticed the Mother's polish looked a little cloudy. I then tried the Eagle-One-Never-Dull and it is incredible. I still have the bottle of Mother's but will not use it again. Try the Eagle-One and you will not go back to Mother's IMO.

I still get bad exhaust smoot even though I have the M flash, an intake, Borla exhaust and CZ stage 1. It is just a natural side effect of the rotary engine.

Thanks SMigneco. I'll be sure to try the Never Dull. I know the Borla isn't chrome, but I had the Mothers on hand, and it does a reasonably good job, so.... But I'm always looking for an improvement. :)