Stainless Steel Refrigerator Scratched!

[Agent86]

Help! My Wife taped a picture of my sons "artwork" on our brand new $2,700
Stainless Whirpool Refrigerator door. I told her that this was a bad idea and not to ever put anything on our nice Refrigerator door. Needless to say....

She's a woman, and taped it on but then she attempted (HERSELF) to get the tape mark off and Screwed UP!!!! She left a big Abrasive Smudge Mark on our door and I knew this was going to happen.

...Leave it to my wife!!!

Anyone have any suggestions or have been in this same boat? What did you use to help get the light scratches out of the door? I don't want to screw it up worse, and I'm just really rattled by this.

HELP Guys

 

[klrv6]

What was it removed with?

If it's just tape residue, try paint thinnner or car polish. Just have your son make another drawing to cover it up

 

[JOHNDEEREGN]

Just buy the replacement stainless steel panel; no biggie.

 

[TexasT]

Just have your son make another drawing to cover it up

X2

I know it seems like 'the end of the world', but it is just a 'fridge. Go give your wife a hug and tell her you're sorry for getting upset. Life is too short for confrontation over a 'fridge.

This comes from experience. Four kids and many dented, scratched, stained and otherwise damaged items.

 

[tom j]

scotch brite pad

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Any Delorean owners out there?

 

[87GNSteve]

What will it matter 10 years from now?
Hopefully you will still have your wife and son; and the refrigerator will be scrapped and melted down in China to make surgical instruments!

Its only a big deal if you make it one.

 

[KevinB]

X2

I know it seems like 'the end of the world', but it is just a 'fridge. Go give your wife a hug and tell her you're sorry for getting upset. Life is too short for confrontation over a 'fridge.

This comes from experience. Four kids and many dented, scratched, stained and otherwise damaged items.

So true! I have 2 young boys and a puppy. I also have no decent furniture anymore The latest is how my 2 year old destroyed my HD bigscreen TV.

 

[ChrisCairns]

Anyone have any suggestions or have been in this same boat? What did you use to help get the light scratches out of the door? I don't want to screw it up worse, and I'm just really rattled by this.

HELP Guys

I was in Walmart today looking for something to remove residual tape glue from a computer monitor and noticed they did have something for stainless steel. I didn't look closely at it but on the front of the can in big letters it said, "Cleaner/Polish." It was in the soap/cleanser section.

 

[TexasT]

So true! I have 2 young boys and a puppy. I also have no decent furniture anymore The latest is how my 2 year old destroyed my HD bigscreen TV.

That's why those can be hung on the wall. Only good if they(and you) follow the no throwing things in the house rules.

My wife burned our couch when we moved from Houston as the kids had jumped on it too many times and the front board had separated from the side.

Good luck finding some type of polish to get the mark out of your fridge.

 

[Agent86]

Thanks a lot fellas for the tips and the positive posts- Listen, I'm not mad at her, I'm just trying to find something to get this nasty dull, scratched looking area out from my new Stainless refrig door.

Someone at Pepboys told her today to try Neverdull. It helped a little to shine it up, but nevertheless didn't get out any of the scratches. I need maybe to try Mothers Polish with the High Speed ball, like we use for our Aluminum Rims on our TurboBuicks. Do you think this would maybe work?

Or maybe a really, really fine sandpaper, and perhaps a gentle wetsand buff?

If anybody has still any tips, would be greatly appreciated.

I know it's not the end of of the world and I'm not upset with my wife about it. It was an accident i guess. I warned her not to put anything on our refrigerator. So she taped a couple of pictures to our refrig, and tried hard to get the glue off from the tape. All she had to do was call me and I could of told her to use a little WD-40 and that would of taken care of it.

Anyways, thanks again fellas for any possibe good ideas or experiences with this type of situation or very similar....

 

[cruzn57]

take her in the bedroom

and get things straight between you and her, LOL

I have stainless stove, and I did the same thing, ( used green scrub pad to remove baked on drippings) so I tested different grit scotch brite pads on the under side to see if Ican match original pattern, came close, ended up using red pad,, yea ,I can still see it , but most people can't , or won't notice.

go out and work on the car, forget the fridge, better yet...............
tape a pic of the kids art work over the spot, and go play with the car!

 

[ijames]

If the panel was originally polished smooth, like a mirror, you are going to have to start with a grit just a little finer than the scratches you have now, go until those scratches are gone, then work your way all the way up to a polish like Mothers. Something like wet 600, wet 1000, rubbing compound, polishing compound, Mothers - not positive about the last steps but you get the idea. If you don't start coarse enough you will just get shiny scratches - that's what you have now. The last step or so you will have to do basically the entire panel to blend it all in. If it originally had a grained look, this was done with a giant belt sander. Find a grit to match, work your way up to it if needed, then blend in the bad area, making sure to always sand in just the one direction. We use red scothbrite to match the graining on some stainless steel tanks we sell here, when we need to touch them up. You'll never exactly match the original graining but you can get pretty close.