I've heard the toilet cleaner method before. What finish does it leave? What do you rinse it with after? - Water?
In combination with some fine wire wool or Scottish bite it takes off all the dark brown discolouration and get it back to bare stainless.
That would come up quite nice with harpic. Don't use harsh abrasives though. Really fine wire wool so you don't actually scratch the stainless. It still need lots of elbow grease and areas around the welds snag the wool which doesn't help
Be careful using 'wire wool' if it's not stainless steel. I once went in hard on a stainless-steel exhaust pipe using a Brillo pad (in the 70's!) and doing that embedded enough iron into the surface that it rusted. If you use 'fine wire wool' as above, I'd go over it with Scotchbrite or similar.
I was going to get my wife to do it as she knows where the cleaning products are, so I'll pass the advice on. 2nd thoughts, if she goes into the workshop and realises how many bikes are really out there, I might have some explaining to do!
I use the grey scotchbrite pads (fine I think they are) when I do my exhausts because like Keith P I’ve had problems with wire wool in the past.
By chance, did this yesterday with Harpic 10x. As mentioned, rinse well with water and wear gloves. Before and after...
I dont have any better pictures of the dry ice blasted exhaust on hand, I can take some pictures when I get home next week. It looks exactly the same as Paul55 #11. It looks good, but I would like to polish it a bit more towards the OEM look. This is how it looked before dry ice blasting: 50mm system: I dont ride my 996 SPS and 916 Racing, neither are registered for the road. Occasionally I ride my 916 SP, but only very short trips. Thailand roads are dangerous, too hot for full leathers and I tend to drive too fast as it only starts pulling around 7000 rpm.
I think a trip to B&M is on the cards for a Harpic X10 exhaust cleaner! I might take the wife, she likes a trip to B&M - I know how to show a women a good time - just ask any of my ex-wives!
It also works extremely well for stripping zinc plating or rust of bolts. And other steel parts. Even diluted with a bit of water, it still strips it all.
She does for sure. She is possibly waiting for what she considers to be the "right time" to mention it...
Get a buffing machine -they're about £30 at machine mart. Not too low hp and a make sure there is brass wheel. Your pipes will be immaculate very quickly.
Brick acid.i did my 916 exhausts with it, here’s a before and after. They are as unpolished as you can get. Took me half an hour.
