Cleaning header/down pipes with pics

[Beetrootkiller]

Thought I would pass this on as it was the best £8 I have ever spent!

A friend recommended 'Wonder Wheels Super Alloy Wheel Cleaner' (Google it) to use on my exhaust header pipes on my K4, as you can imagine they were in the usual state for standard header pipes:

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/68413fde9fe1c64a944b36cb350d3903.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/25c96ecd9a1c966e0ae3cda941429261.jpg

The 'Wonder Wheels' I bought was a 500ml bottle with a brush and a plastic cap included for £7.99 from Halfords. The instructions state to 'paint' the solution on to the metal and agitate to a foam (think of it like vigarous painting) no real elbow grease and very easy to do with the brush without getting it everywhere. So here was my first coat:

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/37149e70d21a31b7c1485faaa639527a.jpg

Just testing a small area, leave for 2 mins then rinse off with water (I just used a watering can)

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/6317bd1c969c26794e14d5295352fa30.jpg

As you can see not much difference yet so I tried another coat and got this:

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/021d27e8f7f8b401938507dbe5245995.jpg

Starting to show improvement so one last coat for last night

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/57be5dc8995510597fe801bbbed647c1.jpg

Today I got it out again and tried the whole pipe this time and did 2 more coats

First:

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/c002c367111bbc5ad2f488bcfed0962c.jpg

Second:

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/59517ee9be54a1bf4520817481af55fd.jpg

And then finally polished with Wire Wool (00 grade) and Autosol

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/12/7736429eef2204e2be55342d358e6f2f.jpg

As you can see a great improvement (also notice the engine casing.. It worked great on there too!)

There was no real hard work here and the whole thing took maybe 2 hours tops and then 15 mins polishing but I think it's worth it to get all those years of built up rubbish off and looking great again.

Hope this helps someone :-)

[LewSpeight]

Great info, thank you

[smallgirl95]

Tried this on my down pipe, absolutely awesome!
Thanks!:)

[Beetrootkiller]

Nice one, pop some pics up ;-) it's amazing how easy the job is?!

[Fen Tiger]

Having got the shine on the exhaust system, I found some household cream cleaner on a wet sponge is quite good at keeping things nice. Needs a good rinse afterwards and a dedicated sponge but worth the small effort at the end of a whole bike wash.

[Jayneflakes]

I polished my exhaust when I took it off the bike, three rides later and it was manky again. Have given up now, I need to buy a proper stainless system for it I think if I wanted to keep it that shiny. ;-)

[wideguy]

The Wonder Wheels stuff contains small percentages of phosphoric and hydrochloric acid, If you buy either acid separately (muriatic acid is hydrochloric ) you can apply it in higher concentrations, which will work faster, and it will be cheaper too.

[maviczap]

Patio cleaner contains the same stuff & is cheaper I'm led to believe.

Optiglanz is quicker, but more expensive

[punyXpress]

Optiglanz kills the paint on your casings unless VERY ( anal ) careful avoiding contact - hope W. Wheels isn't as bad. :(

[andrewsmith]

Wonder wheels is rated for painted surfaces but its designed for removing brake dust

[PuggledPrune]

Was just about to buy some acid as suggested above, but concerned about my already flaky paint will be made worse! Should I just stick with a bit of elbow grease instead?

[wideguy]

You could remove the head pipe first... I'd do that anyway whether using acid or steel wool. (wire wool, sorry). A wad of aluminum foil will work pretty well as a light rust remover, just scrub with it, or use it to finish after wire wool.