| Author | Message | ||
     Fresnobuell |
Okay guys, so my pipes have some rust buildup and are becoming the one aesthetic sore spot on an otherwise awesome looking bike. Looking for suggestions on what I can do with the pipes ON the bike to clean 'em up? | ||
| Jmr1283 |
u can polish them, i think people were using mothers metal polish. | ||
| Dtx |
Yup, just polish them up. I do it do my Headers and Jardine mid-pipe every now and again.  | ||
| Lunatic |
can you do it with the pipes still on, | ||
| Marcodesade |
What product(s) are you using? | ||
| Geforce |
I do it with the pipes still on and with a red rag. just apply the polish *I use 3M Metal Polish - NAPA has it* and get to it with some elbow grease. They shine up nice! | ||
| Fresnobuell |
That looks a hell of a lot better than mine. Maybe a project for tonight. Does that metal polish that comes soaked in the cotton-like material work the same as what you guys are using? I can't remember the name, but it's in a silver can. Thanks guys. Great suggestions. | ||
| Ponti1 |
Not to thread jack, but I gotta ask... Dtx, I'm completely amazed that there's no blueing on your header pipes! Is that a recent pic, and if so have you not had any color change on your headers at all? | ||
| Dtx |
Ponti1, My headers are only blue up near the top, but not too bad. However, I have noticed that after polishing the headers, they are much less likely to "blue". | ||
| Zac4mac |
Harlan - http://www.nevrdull.com/ Magic stuff, I've used it for years, final polish for my bar-ends and sliders. Z | ||
| Ccryder |
Z: Does never dull polish or just clean the discoloration? Neil S. | ||
| Kttemplar |
Never dull polishes and cleans. I have also used it for years as well, mostly on brass, but it works great on just about any metal. | ||
| Ccryder |
Without any other prep work will it polish the SS headers to the point I can see myself? Or do I need to go through the 400-600 wet dry and then beartex followed by the Never-Dull? | ||
| P_squared |
Neil, Nevrdull & elbow grease is all you should need if the pipes are in good condition. Doing mine this weekend btw. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Or do I need to go through the 400-600 wet dry and then beartex followed by the Never-Dull? Explain this process in some more detail, please. | ||
| Samcol |
I took my headers off and polished them all the way to the jardine starting with 100 grit sand paper and working up to 1000. hen I did some fine buffing with a compound but I forget the name of it. Also did the heat shield.  sorry crappy cell pic | ||
| Ccryder |
In order to get my Aluminum swingarm and tailsection on my X1 polished I 1st removed the powder coat and then block sanded progressively finer through 1000 w/d. Now the fun part with a buffing wheel with 2 grits of rouge. SS is a little easier but you still have to remove any scratches or bending marks. The Tuber headers were wire brushed to cover a multitude of mfg marks. Most marks I was able to remove with Bear-tex pads on a angle grinder. After that a buffing wheel on a drill worked great. Final "See the cracks in your teeth" polish was done with Mother's metal polish and bear-tex then rags. After the "see yourself" polish was done, every week or two about 10 mins with some Mother's would bring everything back to "see yourself" quality. BTW: SS will always turn golden with heat, just the nature of the metal, but the polish will stay. Later Neil | ||
| Hughlysses |
You can buy a stainless polishing kit from Eastwood and similar sources that will give you a mirror finish; the kit's intended for stainless steel trim on older cars. You start sanding with ~120 grit or so (whatever's necessary to remove obvious defects), and work your way up to 400 grit. Do NOT skip any grades in between; if you skip a grade, the sanding marks will show back up during final polishing. Change sanding direction 90 degrees with each change of grit. They give you three buffing wheels each with its own polishing compound. You do need a suitable motor to mount the polishing wheels on. Haven't tried it on my pipes, but it works really nicely on stainless steel auto trim. | ||
| Packdog |
Unfortunately I can't find it in the search feature, but somewhere in the Big, Bad, and Dirty section there was a post about using anti-seize and cooking it on. Yes, you read that right! It was a recent thread, but I suck at using the search feature. It apparently makes a thin coating that looks like ceramic coating, but only lasts about a season. There are photos in the thread. UPDATE: I found the thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/450602.html?1239497394 (Message edited by packdog on April 15, 2009) | ||
| Fresnobuell |
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/450602.html?1239497394 | ||
| Helicon |
That Permatex Never-Seize actually doesn't look too bad ... I wonder if you can get it in black. |
