What do you use to get the exaust soot off the transom and the underside of the swimstep. I don't want to screw up the finish on the drives....any thoughts??

That stuff is not too hard to get off. Simple Green, Fantastic, or any other normal cleaner will melt it off without affecting the drive finish. Just rinse real good.

Soft Scrub W/bleach. Works awesome with very little effort.

I wouldn't recommend the stuff with gritties in it. Plus, the bleach is not friendly to the metal stuff like drives and tabs. But, if rinsed well, it would be ok. Use the gel stuff, no grit.

Thats what I thought too T-bird. I make sure everything is wet then I apply the SS to a soaking wet rag rinse right away.. It has worked great and has done no damage to my gel or hardware. I usually stay clear of bleach on anything that has to do with my boats but I makes cleaning the transom easy. Especially with these sooty 500's I run

simple green seems to work wonders on cleaning boats. that is all i use.

Simple Green is the best stuff for cleaning exhaust stains, hull stains, vinyl interiors, engines and engine compartments, etc.
Just remember that it also removes wax. Anyplace it touches will need to be re-waxed.
Plus it's biodegradable and won't kill fish or harm pets.

I have a product that is called Clean All, it is red in color and has a pleasant smell, It is a boat and rv cleaner, I sell a bunch of it to my buddies at the Marina, i have it in gal and qts, It is biodegradeable, It removes the soot from the transom, hull,vinyl etc etc, It has teflon in it and does not remove the wax.

What's good for removing rust stains from stainless steel....Latham Steering, tie bars, etc..??

I use a product called shark tower, I use it on my latham, tie bar, etc,etc, It is made specificaly for stainless and it works well, It is made hammerhead products, They also have a wax called waxing frenzy, They used to advertise on this site.