[velorider]

Mine started -- at least in general tone - looking like your blasted tip example; completely flat in appearance with the grain of steel very evident. And you can see my finished product is something just short of how shiny your polished tip is. What is on your black car is all sorts of shiny compared to my "kinda shiny" piece.

So.....I don't know what I've learned. I'm starting to think I polished the hell out of a blasted tip instead of thinking I revived a formerly polished tip that was neglected. I've certainly spent a lot of time with a lot of tips over the years (I'll just let that humor smolder out there without EVEN touching it) and I know chrome vs polished from 10 feet away. But the specifics of these two tips may remain a mystery until I have one in front of me to compare to my memory of what I started with before I went at it with sandpapers and compounds and Makita polishing tools.

The good news? I love the look I have. The bad news? I'm honest enough to admit I'm fickle, and may roll up to your car or another one and like that look better!