A polishing guide?

[Adrian9912]

So thread after thread I've seen many people fixing up or rebuilding bikes with lots of great photos and tips, but one thing I cant seem to find anywhere is an exact "how to" for polishing. Recently I've picked up a couple of new exhaust systems and both of them are a little sadder looking then I would like. I'm sure alot of you have plenty of expertise with getting things like this back to almost new sparkling conditions and would love to know exactly how you did it.

So far I have some light sandpaper, various cloths and some Brasso, all advice would be much appreciated as this really is my first time doing this : P

[coxylaad]

buy a bench grinder and a buffing wheel, and save yourself hours of graft a smashed fingers

[M.V.]

Don't. Black paint is cheaper, quicker, easier & more pleasing on the eye.



But a bench grinder, course wheel & fine wheel (& polishing compounds) will cover pretty much everything.

[Adrian9912]

I do wish I had a bench, then I would put a grinder on it :p
I'm prepared to do alot of hand smashing, its what I expected. Although they do need more then a bit of a polish, lots of brown nasty stuff that needs to come off and is pretty insistent on staying put. I'll be putting some more pics up tomorrow to explain myself a little better.

[M.V.]

First thing to do would be to hit it with an angle grinder with a wire brush attachment, that'll clean all the rust, gunk & melted things off it.

Then you can decide if you're taking the easy way out with paint, or going all in with polishing! Polishing pipes is tricky, you need to go around the pipes & not up & down to get good results (or the other way around?) Too hard for me!

[alextrx850]

Automotive cutting compound available in a small tub from your local auto parts store would do the trick.
The compound will have an amino cleaner enzyme which is what gives it the bite ,..I would coat the grimey pipes with the compound with a fine brush..paint it on...the enzyme will penetrate the gunk, give it maybe an hour to work but don't let it dry out....you will still have a lot of work in front to get a shine, but at least you will see the gunk come off.
A machine polisher will then bring up the shine.
Oven cleaner..the foamy one..mr muscle is good for the tar and baked oil residue.

[Trixed]

I used a 800 grit sand paper. Followed by 2000 grit dry sanding by hand. Then soft steel wool and jiff. Followed by dish sponge and Colgate! Finish with autosol metal polish. Wash again with warm soapy water. Works a treat but needs patience. And elbow grease.

[Stu99]

I used a 800 grit sand paper. Followed by 2000 grit dry sanding by hand. Then soft steel wool and jiff. Followed by dish sponge and Colgate! Finish with autosol metal polish. Wash again with warm soapy water. Works a treat but needs patience. And elbow grease.

What did you use to clean up all the Elbow Grease ? It must have been all over the place.

[Adrian9912]

It seems as though the pictures may be coming late, as apparently star-track don't actually know how the postal system works...

[davamb]

I thought using Alfoil on chrome was a joke until I tried it recently, but it really works! For alloy a polishing wheel's the go. I also have a wire brush stuck on an old 'lectric motor that I use to take surface rust off - very handy.

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

Wow thats my shopping budjet for the month, if you've tasted my scrambled eggs it's like an 800 grit, steel wool,Jiff, dish sponge, walm soapy water , colgate and alfoil .. I'll get an 8c off fuel docket from Woolworths buying all that...

[alextrx850]

Time to phone the MYTH BUSTERS.

Reckon C4 will clean it.

[Adrian9912]

A few people have said a metal brush is good, but the only metal brush I have can turn a brick to dust with alot of trouble. So I'm thinking I'll need a softer one if I want to keep the part afterwards.

[Trixed]

I used a 800 grit sand paper. Followed by 2000 grit dry sanding by hand. Then soft steel wool and jiff. Followed by dish sponge and Colgate! Finish with autosol metal polish. Wash again with warm soapy water. Works a treat but needs patience. And elbow grease.

What did you use to clean up all the Elbow Grease ? It must have been all over the place.

3 cans of supercheap auto degreaser works damn fine! try it

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

Janet is always on me about putting some elbow grease into the barbie plate..
Elbow grease on the barbie plate spoils the crusty caramelisation flavour if you ask me..