polishing header pipes

tripe · Post by **tripe** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:36 pm

my header pipes are quite crusty and need a good clean/polish to get the shine back.
What is the best equipment and cleaner/polish?

Henry

theseadog · Post by **theseadog** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:50 pm

Hi Henry

Just use a polishing mop and your prefered metal polish. I've had good results using dialux of various coarseness, up to a mirror shine. You can get a complete kit with mops and compounds from Busters, HG etc etc

Toodle Pip

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:52 pm

What Paul said - got my polishing kit from Hein Gericke, works well. In fact I must get round to re-doing my headers sometime soon as they're looking a bit skanky.

Dog Tyred · Post by **Dog Tyred** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:05 pm

Gromit wrote:In fact I must get round to re-doing my headers sometime soon as they're looking a bit skanky.

By that he means they are less than mirror perfect

tripe · Post by **tripe** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:08 pm

can't be as skanky as mine.

Spurred on to clean yesterday when a very shiny HD pulled alongside me at the traffic lights. he looked me up and down and said "thats a lovely machine you have there..........pause........have you ever thought of cleaning it?"
and off he went

Anyway thanks for the advice

Henry

julian · Post by **julian** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:42 pm

My 3 stage approach .....

1. Medium Wet and Dry with car shampoo.
2. Fine Wet & Dry with Autosol
3. Cloth with Autosol
4. go for a ride and collect black bin liner on newly polished headers

Job's a good 'un.

I have a drill polishing wheel but without a vice it's a pain to use unles the headers remain on the bike.

Ade B · Post by **Ade B** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:09 pm

My 3 stage approach .....

1. Medium Wet and Dry with car shampoo.
2. Fine Wet & Dry with Autosol
3. Cloth with Autosol
4. go for a ride and collect black bin liner on newly polished headers Confused

Thats 4 stages....

Not really the right time of year to be polishing headers is it?

Tripe you need to curb the chrome envy... everyone knows HD riders only come out in the sunshine

Need to re fix my power socket this weekend so I can hook up the optimate.. (and balance throttles) a recent flurry of cycling is meaning the S has stood all week without moving till today - shame they don't self clean... I prefer the matt dirt finish on mine anyway.

Ade

Geoff. Ruffell · Post by **Geoff. Ruffell** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 8:55 pm

Hello All. Just joined the forum, hence late reply. Try a product called Astonish. It is made for cleaning Aga cookers and ovens and available from hardware stores/ kitchen equipment suppliers. Claimed to contain no phosphates or acids and comes as a white paste in 300 ml. tubs.
Can be used on a rag for pipes or with a stiff brush for the awkward bits.
Get the wife to buy it on the household budget!

winger · Post by **winger** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:31 pm

Use anything you like on e'm but to do a proper job you to take e'm off,best results i've had,buy an electric bench grinder and fit a good polishing mop.

theseadog · Post by **theseadog** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:35 pm

Yep I'd agree with Chris it's better and to be honest easier to remove em. Standard drill held in a bench clamp works too.

Toodle Pip

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:42 pm

Yup - remove them. Take less than 5 mins and'll save hours of frustration.

Ade B · Post by **Ade B** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:50 pm

Yup - remove them. Take less than 5 mins and'll save hours of frustration.

And then spend 2 weeks getting the sheared studs removed from the dismantled engine

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:51 pm

Ade B wrote:
And then spend 2 weeks getting the sheared studs removed from the dismantled engine

Oh yeah...forgot about that bit (I was doing a Haynes manual impersonation)

winger · Post by **winger** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:23 am

All the more reason to regularly strip your bike.

tripe · Post by **tripe** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 10:26 am

luckily my chrome envy has evaporated like the last of the good weather. I suspect it will be sometime before I think about it again

Henry