What can I do to repair a scratch on stainless steel appliances before they start to rust?

Question

What can I do to repair a scratch on stainless steel appliances before they start to rust?

Answer 1

Everyone is right... stainless steel does not rust.

Depending on how bad the scratch is there are a couple of fixes - but I would suggest returning to the appliance seller or contact the appliance manufacturer directly.  The problem with stainless is that the color of stainless varies widely from manufacturer to manufacturer.  So by contacting the manufacturer of your appliance may help.  Appliance outlet centers (such as Sears Outlets) may be able to help you with a fix that they use to help hide a scratch.  But as long as it is stainless - it won't rust - but add character.

Good Luck...

Tom A

Sr. Construction Project Manager

Albion, MI

Answer 2

Stainless steel doesn't rust.  

There's not much you can do except to try to mimic the surrounding finish, and that might be a little tedious to get it right because the finish isn't very forgiving if you just willy-nilly grab a chunk of sandpaper and start trying to "brush" the surface.   ("brushed" stainless steel is a bit of a misnomer; stainless is so hard that a typical wire brush won't do much to the surface, at least not very quickly - it takes something harder, like aluminum oxide or carbide to be able to roughen up the surface and produce the brushed stainless steel look.  

Maybe you could experiement using different grades of sandpaper on a hidden spot until you can get it to look good, then try it on the scratched area.    

Answer 3

Stainless steel does not rust, we have scratches and have had no problems