How do you restore/clean chrome?

:?:
Ok, there is a few spots on my exhause were there are rusty looking spots, almost like a thin layer of oxidation on them? Will steel wool take it off without cratching? Any ideas fellas?




This is a link to a short video of my bike.
video.google.com/video...8663937915 <-----------Link

 

Try this "Old School Method" out ...

It's always worked for me.

You cut yourself several lengths of clothes line ... 2-1/2 - to 3-Feet long.
Mix 2 ounces of chrome cleaner and polisher with 1 ounce of Brasso.

Use an athletic sock and fit it on your hand like a hand puppet. "Bite" some of the Mix and spread it on the pipe.

Soak a section of clothes line with cleaner and wrap a loop around the pipe and "Shoe Shine" up and down the pipe. Lay-on some more cleaner with the sock and let the clothes line do all the hard work as you shoe shine away all that grime.

Clean the heck out of them and buff it all off for that "Freshly Pimped" look!

 

so steel wool is a bad idea?

 

Oh, yeah.
Steel wool =bad.
Scratches the $h!t out of chrome.

 

8O

 

Plus leaves little thin fibers of steel all over the work. They will corrode almost overnight and put brand new rust stains right where you just polished.

 

Rick what is it with you and clothes line??? I just use strips of t-shirt cut up about an inch thick. Wrap that around it and go crazy until it is shiny!!

 

Rick's a cool guy, (quintessential eccentric New Englander) so let's just let him have his fetish.

 

Yeah, I know...I was just giving him a hard time. A 100ft spool of clothes line would be a great birthday gift idea there. LOL

 

I'll be getting him a box of alternator brushes

 

LOL, maybe a gross would be better! Yep, he sure is fun to pick on!

 

I could practically do the shoe shine to all your bikes pipes with this one cloth...lasts an amazingly long time. http://miraclecloth.com/
If you've never used one, give it a try because it's a -------->miracle.
I guess you could wrap it around a clothes line too if you want. LOL

 

check the hardware store for brass wool, wood finishing guys use it
it doesn't scratch chrome

 

Hey, I though Rev. Ike had a patent on the Miracle Cloth! I mean you had to pledge a minimum of $25 a month to his ministry and he would send you a piece of the Miracle cloth in green to match his sequined Jacket and he would pray over it so it would arrive "Anointed" at your door. No joke, this was real back in '70's. I guess the old crook died so someone could take the name.

 

Will soap and water work as far as removing some of that rusty color?
Thats things I have here at the house......

 

Probably not much. Check out CLR on our search engine, there was an article recently on it's abilities to bring chrome back.

 

I used CLR to get rust off my bike. Worked like a charm ! Calcium, Lime, an RUST !

 

Well, I tried this and found out that it really is stunning what you can get out of a piece of cotton clothes line. I got some great results from the brasso & chrome cleaner. Turns out I made my mixture backwards, 2:1 Brasso:Chrome cleaner, but that didn't seem to hurt anything. All the chrome that I used it on (from chain guard, pipes, head lamp cover) look a lot better even though they need more elbow grease. Maybe I should wrap the clothes line around the pipes twice to save time. What I didn't expect was how it cleaned up the plastic on the side covers and around the two spedo/tach housing. It looks great. Thanks for the pointers, Rick.

Jonathan

 

I have been buying parts off of fle bay and I found a polish at the local r.v. dealer called flitz. its made in west germany and it does wonders on old parts for shining them up. I will post some pics real easy to use too.

 

CLR works for me.

 

Be careful where you go with that "New Engander" stuff!!!!!!

 

So a CLR scrub with three men in a tub with a little rub a dub dub wont effect the chrome in a bad way?
I guess follow that up with a little wax for a shine

 

I didn't bother with any wax shine. I had a mirror with some good rust spots. I just went at t with CLR then a water rinse and wipe clean with a good rag. Shines like new now.

 

What's the magic ingredient in CLR?

 

pixey dust and dreams
:lol:

 

small children

 

If you're going to make your own cleaner be sure and fatten the children before using.

 

The active ingredient in CLR is Hydrochloric Acid I believe.. strong stuff and make SURE you have good rubber gloves on. Don't ask me how I found out the hard way

 

Actually its phosphoric acid. No significant skin irritants. Here is the msds if anybody cares...

http://www.setonresourcecenter.com/msds ... d025c1.htm