Cleaning/polishing the exhaust

maurice said:

I would be skeptical using steel wool.

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JPHDT said:

I am only using steel Wool grade 000 and a good layer of WD40 to remove anything melted on exhaust. WD40 prevents formation of scratches while very fine steel wool removes plastic, tar, burnt oil.... I started to do that on my young 21 years old HD mostly riding close to ocean. Try this tip and you will be surprised.

I try to avoid use of chemical, and abrasive paste which does the job. But as soon as you start with chemical you have to go on polishing very often.

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JPHDT said:

I am only using steel Wool grade 000 and a good layer of WD40 to remove anything melted on exhaust. WD40 prevents formation of scratches while very fine steel wool removes plastic, tar, burnt oil.... I started to do that on my young 21 years old HD mostly riding close to ocean. Try this tip and you will be surprised.

I try to avoid use of chemical, and abrasive paste which does the job. But as soon as you start with chemical you have to go on polishing very often.

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zenbiker said:

Using ANY abrasive will change the look of the satin finish on the headers. Very tricky to remove burnt on crap without changing the finish.. I keep getting burnt on black crap on the headers and am beginning to think the culprit may be burnt on overspray from the 'ceramic" sprays that I use and burn on when the headers heat up.

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maurice said:

A few have suggested easy off oven cleaner. I assume this does not change metal appearance?

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DHarvey said:

Or just adopt my motto which is best summed up as " I bought my bike to ride, not to shine". Wifey says I'm not 'bike worthy' because of it..but what the hell does she know!

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