Buffing Chrome header pipes

[Axel]

Recently I have been trying to buff things .The aluminum comes up really nice with this green compound I got locally .
The chrome exhaust is another story . I have dark black blotchy stains on the header pipes that I thought were just bluing . This stuff wont come off .
Any ideas ?

[trbig]

Simichrome from your local bike shop.. and elbow grease.


Tod

[65oldsboy]

Anybody ever try "Blue Away"? The stuff is expensive.

http://www.eastwood.com/blue-away-bo...html?reltype=2

[Axel]

Blue Job

I watched a vid on youtube about "Blue Job" power for this purpose but I have not tried it .
This black stain that I thought was bluing seems to go deeper . I am using an angle grinder and very fine compound but its not touching it just making it shiny

[CatatonicBug]

This black stain that I thought was bluing seems to go deeper . I am using an angle grinder and very fine compound but its not touching it just making it shiny

Maybe you bumped it into something, and bruised it!

[nubee]

I polished my headers this way

Hey Axel,

Three hours of work but worth it:

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16563

[motoman]

Blu-Away is your best bet.........least that's been my experience. A little pricey at $17 a bottle, but works very well..........small dab and alot of elbow grease.

[trbig]

I've heard many people say the Simichrome works better than the blue-away... but can't say this from personal experience.

Your black spot may be a rust spot all the way through though and no polish will help that. If it is baked on tar or rubber though, the Simichrome dissolves that with light rubbing.

Tod

[tw1980]

OK you can see by my signature how I feel about shiny objects.The blue job and the simichrome stuff works ok but save your $.If you don't own a buffer wheel use mothers metal polish and some 000 steel wool.Rub it on and keep rubbing until it turns black.Walha!!They will get shiny.Now that being said if you do own a buffer wheel pull the headers and buff them out with some rouge.1/2 hour and they look like new. Terry

[gareth]

I have used Simichrome and Blue Job. The results for the Blue Job were a bit underwhelming. I took the pipes off and had a few hours on them with rust remover and chrome polish and they came up looking fairly good. The trick I found was to completely clean off all the buffing/polishing/ cleaning compounds with lacquer thinner/ alcohol/ water etc. before running the bike. Otherwise the hot pipes fry the residue and make things messy again. A lot of my "oxidized chrome" turned out to be a lot of "oxidized burnt stuff" on what was otherwise good clear chrome...

[Axel]

Same same

I am using the very same green compound as Nubee . I use a cloth wheel on my angle grinder . My black spot may be rust as it is tenacious .