Exhaust Pipe Polishing

[OneTrack]

I was getting my bike ready for storage this morning, and decided to clean up the exhaust headers. I used a product called "Autosol", which (back in the 1960's) used to be called "Solvol Autosol". Very magical stuff that used to make my Triumphs and BSA's gleam.
I applied the Autosol cream onto some fine steel wool and applied it to the pipes, rubbing fairly hard until the stained stainless was unstained. Then another polish with a cloth using some more Autosol cream. It took me about half an hour to turn them from a golden brown to a shiny "chrome-like" gleam:-

Here's the product in case you haven't heard of it before:-

And a gratuitous pic of my Red Rocket:- :Flash:

 

[poorwboy]

Wow that looks sharp. Why are you putting your bike in storage already?

 

[koolfz6]

looks great, i am going to have to find me some of that stuff.

 

[CrazyBiker]

I use Turtle Wax Chrome Polish and it works wonders too that too with a simple Microfiber cloth!

 

[FZ1inNH]

Jeez!!! It took me 3800 miles to get mine to the all-fancy rainbow blued steel colors... Am I supposed to polish that off now? :rof:

Seriously, GREAT job on the pipes! Maybe when my season is over I'll try some of these techniques. Thanks!!

 

[boo68]

Looks great :thumbup:.. I am always talking to my husband about that coloring.. thinking of powdercoating them with ceramic.. but I think it can be pretty pricy.... we shall see.

 

[Damnitsjeff]

That looks great only a half an hour really. Mine are so bad that it is a definite 2 hour job!!! I ride a lot in the winter so won't be putting my beauty up anytime soon. One thing is could someone tell me what these "Cancer looking" spots are on my pipes!!! Do you think they will polish out or they there for good? Sorry kinda a crappy picture. The spots are a darker color than the pipes not quite black but a definite discoloration from the rest of the pipe. Also there are now 10,000 miles on them and I have really never gave them a good wipe down (laaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyy)

View attachment 6409

 

[Hellgate]

Wow! Those look great. Wanna drop by Austin and polish mine???

 

[mdr]

That looks great only a half an hour really. Mine are so bad that it is a definite 2 hour job!!! I ride a lot in the winter so won't be putting my beauty up anytime soon. One thing is could someone tell me what these "Cancer looking" spots are on my pipes!!! Do you think they will polish out or they there for good? Sorry kinda a crappy picture. The spots are a darker color than the pipes not quite black but a definite discoloration from the rest of the pipe. Also there are now 10,000 miles on them and I have really never gave them a good wipe down (laaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyy)

View attachment 6409

If I had to guess I'd say the spots are iron oxide. AKA rust.

 

[jsteinb95]

Looks awesome!!!

I bet you could start charging people to clean their pipes.

 

[mdr]

Wow. That sure is purty! But I think the blue is faster ... :steve:

 

[Damnitsjeff]

If I had to guess I'd say the spots are iron oxide. AKA rust.

Unless it is rusting from the inside. The spots are on the surface and are smooth to the touch. Also I thought stainless steel would never rust hence to name " stainless " but I am not for sure. They showed up around 3,000 miles even before the pipes turned the golden color.

 

[poorwboy]

Unless it is rusting from the inside. The spots are on the surface and are smooth to the touch. Also I thought stainless steel would never rust hence to name " stainless " but I am not for sure. They showed up around 3,000 miles even before the pipes turned the golden color.

LOL and agreeing with your sig!!!!!!:thumbup:

 

[MarinaFazer]

nice looking pipes for sure...I'm not cleaning mine anymore except for trying to keep em polished. I like the amber/goldish color of the pipes to accentuate the red of the bike...but I'm also blacking out the silver parts....sounds like a good product you have there!

 

[rvbiker]

Nice job!! Goes along with the rest of the bike. I was wondering if the liquid used to clean silverware would work as well but it just couldn't be that easy

 

[Letner]

I used Mothers to clean mine seems to work pretty good

 

[mdr]

Unless it is rusting from the inside. The spots are on the surface and are smooth to the touch. Also I thought stainless steel would never rust hence to name " stainless " but I am not for sure. They showed up around 3,000 miles even before the pipes turned the golden color.

Stainless definitely WILL rust under the right conditions. And the rust can be smooth to the touch. Sounds strange but I've seen it happen. Attachment is a kitchen knife that made it into our dishwasher by mistake. That's rust and it's as hard and smooth as glass. Happened in one wash cycle. ie. Water followed by enough heat to boil the water away. PS: The knife wasn't marked stainless. Are the pipes really stainless or are they just polished cromolly steel? At any rate stuff you wouldn't expect to rust will rust and it can appear hard and smooth. I suspect you'll need to take a thin layer of metal off to get rid of it.

 

[codeblue]

Awesome work. A little elbow grease and Autosol did the job. I will keep this in mind in the near future. Thanks for the post.

Ares

 

[jsp]

In a word: "great!"

 

[OneTrack]

Wow that looks sharp. Why are you putting your bike in storage already?

Thanks! I'm scheduled for lower spine surgery (it was to be tomorrow, but I had a call this afternoon postponing it...), so I won't be riding again this year, I'm sure.