Well, I tried to have the titanium firewall polished but it didn't turn out quite like I had hoped. The polisher said they couldn't get it smooth, they thought there might be a coating of some kind on it. Turns out, the titanium was shot peened during manufacture to make it harder. This left a pitted or orange peel to the surface which proved very hard to remove. After three weeks at the polisher, they gave up and returned it with a brushed finish.
Not one to leave things alone, I broke out the buffer and went at it. I quickly realized why they gave up. Although I was able to put quite a shine... on parts of it, it brought out the pits too. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it at this point. I have about a week to figure it out before I need to install it permanently.
This is what I got back from the polisher.
What I was able to do in an hour or so.
You can see why they thought there was a coating on it. Actually, it is micro pitting.
Although I think it would look really, really fantastic, I don't think it's worth the effort to try to get the rest of the imperfections out. Decisions, decisions...
