Chrome polishing advice, please.

I just got my bike this past weekend, and it's dirty! It's also really cold in my unheated garage. I was able to use some Nevr-Dull to clean up one of the pipes, but there is a lot of work to do. Here is a picture:



I have read through some posts about using the 3M pads, and drapery cord, and elbow grease. I was also at the motorcycle show last week and there was a polishing company there who had small buffing wheels and some buffing compound specifically for chrome.

Before I got too far into this, and since I have a couple of months until I can ride, I thought I would ask for advice. What do you think the best course of action is to clean up my XJ in the cold, dark winter months?

 

Hey Mark - you're already on the right track.

Take the exhaust and/or other parts off and bring it inside to warm up - you won't regret it. Be careful with the flange nuts - you might want to warm those up with a propane torch before trying to remove them in the cold.

Fine 3M pads to remove the rough stuff, then a good chrome polish like NevrDull or S100 will give you about the best results you can get. Short of using polishing wheels on a grinder of course. Also, the exhaust headers never stay shiny for long because of the heat and what they're exposed too, so don't expect mirror finishes here.

 

Use mid to fine grade 00 steel wool to remove heavy rust on the pipes. Chrome that is scratched, rusted or eroded cannot be replaced e.g. restored, the remaining surface in-between may be polished to look brighter.
Judging from the pics, it might be better to look for another set of head pipes or switch to high temp black paint / or wrap 'em.

Start Out: Get lots of paper towel or old clean diapers. Since no heat wipe; down the frame with Eagle One 'Wax-As-U-Dry'. I use W-D 40 on dirty chassis & engine parts ... if really stubborn oil & grease use Carb Cleaner spray (but not on paint). For rusted screws and fittings around headlight and attachment points, rusty tail-light / fender / license frame use a small Brass Wire brush (Harbor Freight) and Fine Steel Wool. Some hardware stores now carry stainless metric bolts, cap screws etc. These can be polished and they don't rust.

Once it's all clean and shiny I use a Carnuba-based paste wax like Meguiar's on engine covers, paint and chrome. Don't be afraid to apply a drill motor buffing wheel @ 3,600 or LESS rpm and a good quality buffing compound to shine up decor parts, frame etc. Be sure to move the business end carefully; back and forth motion. Ebay has buffing and polishing kits $24.00 USD.

Most auto stores carry Engine Enamel or Caliper Paint in gloss black for tired looking frame and/or engine areas.

Best part is you can remove bits and do some lighter tasks inside where its WARM. You can get 'er done and be proud.

 

The first piece of advice i would give you is to remove those ugly engine guards at once and send them to me for disposal. They are an eyesore and since you're not planning on crashing, they're only adding needless weight and slowing you down, which you don't want. I'll even pay the shipping. PM me for my addy.

As far as the pipes:
1. Spray Gunk Degreaser over the whole front of the engine and wash everything clean, so you can see what you're working on.
2. Get some 000 or 0000 steel wool and your favorite Chrome Polish. I use Turtle Wax's version, but semichrome is good, so is Brasso and others. Mother's probably makes one.
3. After doing your best with elbow grease and liberal amounts of polish (keep it wet while working), wipe it down.
4. Now you can use a soft cloth and some more chrome polish to buff them as shiny as they'll get, using the ole shoe polishing method, similar to working the rope around the pipes.
5. If they still look like heck, yank them off and either hot dip them (ceramic coating) or paint them black with a high temp paint.

cylinders 2 and 3 look like they may come back ok, but i'm worried about the deep pitting and brown-ish red area on the number 1 cylinder.
In places where rust and corrosion have eaten completely through the chrome, there is no polish that will bring it back.

Good luck. Keep us posted how they turn out.
Christopher.

 

I like the turtle wax chrome stuff too - seems to do a good job.

 

Engine guards, gas cap, etc - a little wax on the chrome is a good idea to protect it and keep it shiny.

Exhaust headers - not such a good idea though -- it'll just burn off and leave the finish hazy.

As others have said - chrome is a hard thin layer on the metal, so if it's been worn, scratched, pitted, or otherwise destroyed - there's no bringing it back.
I wouldn't use any Steel Wool on it though, and NEVER on aluminum parts -- it'll just leave fine scratches, and in aluminum you'll end up with rust spots where tiny bits have been left in the metal.

 

Altus you are correct - It does a great job cleaning chrome and I lost sight it was headers we were talking about - never wax headers as you say.

However I have used it to clean headers then cleaned it off with a good degreasing cleaner. I should have added that part. Sorry.

 

If you need an abrasive "carrier" for the chrome polish use Scotchbrite. All the good properties of steel wool, none of the bad. But as mentioned, go easy. Once you've worn through the chrome it's all done.

A side note: Don't even TALK to a chrome plater about exhaust systems, especially double-walled pipes unless you want to spend 4X more than new parts would cost. There is no way to clean (and ENSURE cleanliness) on a used exhaust part, especially a double-walled pipe that could have a crack in its' inner pipe. They don't want them in their tank unless you're willing to pay for a whole new vat of stuff...

 

For those of you panning the Turtle Wax, we're not talking about WAX.
Turtle Wax is a company that makes many products.
Including a specially formulated Chrome polish. i've used it since the 80's on exhausts on many many bikes with zero problems.
And 000 or 0000 steel wool will NOT leave scratches on chrome. Do you guys have any idea how hard chrome is? It has a Mohs hardness scale value of 8.5. That puts it above hardened Steel and equal to Tungsten Carbide.
000 steel wool is incapable of scratching real chrome.
Sure, if you ground it in for all you were worth for a week, you might damage the chrome, but you could do the same thing with a tooth brush and tooth paste, given enough time.

you need somthing abrasive enough to get the rust off.

Scotch brite is not a bad substitute, but so many people have had outstanding results with steel wool, it's just not reasonable to rule it out as a successful method.

I do agree about not using it on aluminum.

Nothing will finish it off as well as PROPERLY applied jeweler's rouge on a buffing wheel, but obviously the part has to be off the bike and manuevered successfully around the wheel. Easier said than done with a header.
Give me 000, then 0000 wool, followed by soft cloth buffing by hand, any day on bike headers.
I've seen too many basket cases brought back by this method to stop doing it.

 

And if you guys want to go Mythbusters on the job, try some real aluminum foil dunked in plain Coca-Cola and rub it all over the chrome.
Just crunch the foil up into a wad and go to town.
Might just surprise you....

 

I'll have to try the foil and coke idea - sounds interesting.

Good to know about the turtle polish. Far from panning it I use it regularly. But since it says it leaves a protective finish I have been reluctant to leave it on. I use it to clean the headers then I clean it off. It has done wonders for the the other chrome parts on my bike.

I have use the 0000 wool on aluminum with great results. I follow it with Mothers aluminum polish and get a great smooth shine.

 

A link on using aluminum foil to clean rust from chrome.
Remember it must be ALUMINUM foil. Not tin-foil. It must also be crumpled shiny side out.

Vintage Life Cycles

 

Thanks for the tip there

I was thinking of trying that also...nearly used tin foil, untill I seen that last post

Cheers guys

 

I agree with your entire post except this part. As I mentioned before, I prefer Scotchbrite over steel wool. I have successfully DAMAGED (intentionally) the bejabbers out of chrome with Scotchbrite to prep formerly shiny chrome-plated parts for painting. A few minutes with a green Scotchbrite pad and you don't have shiny chrome anymore, you have a nice "brushed" finish. Although I've never tried, I'm willing to bet that the chrome is "scratched" beyond resurrection, and I cannot believe that Scotchbrite is harder than steel.

 

Thanks for the replies. I spent some time tonight with my polishing cloth, and here is a slight improvement:



I think most of the improvement is just due to getting the dirt off. I tried the aluminum foil and Pepsi and it sure got the scale off in short order. After that, I washed things with warm water. The blue shop cloths I put under the bike froze to the floor! That's when I decided to quit for the day.

I think what is left is pretty pitted, but we'll see what we can do.

 

eBay another one.

 

The Aluminum Foil and Turtle wax Chrome polish works for most lightly rusted chrome cleanup. The headers on my XS11 were just too far rusted through the chrome to do any good. But it got all the other rust off the handlebars, headlight bucket, fenders, shocks and muffler.

79 XS11 Before Cleanup

79 XS11 After Cleanup

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3Iw631U ... 1&index=21

i found this while researching a good chrome polish. I believe Ace Hardware sells it.

 

Hack - Good job.

Once it begins to thaw err warm up in there... try the exhaust wrap or high temp paint cause new head pipes are almost impossible to find; at any price.

Had the same trouble with my old XS pipes. A can of black high temp and they looked better than the original chrome IMO.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Since I started it has gotten c-c-cold and the polishing is on h-h-hold until it warms up just a bit. At least for now the pipes are a bit cleaner.

 

I have been searching stores for Noxon 7, but can't find it. Anyone know of a Canadian store or chain that carries it or the S100 products?

 

Not so, Grasshopper. At least not for the 550 anyway, the only one you CAN'T still get is #2. BUT THEY AIN'T CHEAP. The best way is eBay or salvage yards and patience and you can put together a real pretty chrome system. I know because I did it twice (with some NOS thrown in.)

Forget re-chroming though (at least double-walled exhaust pipes.) Platers won't take the chance of polluting their tanks.

 

I'd never heard of the Noxon stuff, and never seen it for sale anywhere.

The S100 you should be able to find at any motorcycle dealer or shop -- I haven't seen one yet that didn't carry S100 products

 

Thanks, Altus. I've been stopping at the wrong shops.

 

I see a number of references to "Scotchbrite" here. Keep in mind there are at least four grades of Scotchbrite hand pads that are commonly available, graded by colour. For aluminium I use the maroon (general purpose) and grey (ultra fine) in that order, then finish off with a jewellery cloth. For blending scratches I start with 150 grit aluminium oxide emery then use 320 grit, followed by the maroon, then the grey scotchbrite pad. The grey pad is so fine you'll need a magnifying glass to see the scratches it leaves. (Even 1200 grit wet and dry is still scratching the surface, even if it looks shiny). For an extreme finish on hard materials finish off with Crocus cloth, it's used to finish polish the hardened journals on crankshafts. Most "polishing waxes" do not polish the metal as they have no abrasive in them, just a wax that fills in the irregularities to make it look smooth. For an exhaust though I wouln't bother with chrome, sandblast it and paint it with flat black exhaust paint.