Refurbishing abused stainless truck tanker...

[twinsteer]

I have been given the task of refurbing a 1985 truck tanker. It was sandblasted somewhere along the line and given no protection. Then chemicals have spilled on the surface and turned it a rusty reddish color in many areas. First acided with 10% solution. Then 3m pads to get down to fresh metal, but of course this leaves horrible lines even with the finest pad. I have then worked through the grades from 80 through 320 sandpaper. Started working with green bar with stiff pad up through white bar with flannel. Still, it isn't great, and wow, talk about time consuming. The owner doesn't expect a mirror finish, but I want it to smooth and line free at least. I have even tried glass beads through a blaster for a starting point, but am still disappointed. Any good advice would surely be appreciated...Thanks in advance for your response.

[Crimepays]

I'm not as good as some of the guys on here but when I do steel the process I use is I get it to 600 grit. Now whatever you may use to get there is up to you. I use DA with scotch brite pads to gray, than wet sand 600. Making sure that when I sand I go in the same direction. Cross hatching lines, for me, tend to show up in the end a bit. Once at 600, I buff with black using spiral sewn wheel. followed with white using a loose cotton wheel. II used this exact process on my gas tank, rotors, etc. and it seems to work pretty well but on some pieces if I still see some lines I'll go over again from the buffing stage with black using the sisal wheel, then black with spiral, and white loose. Hope this helps ya out, and good luck.