My exhaust on the right side looks like it's pitting, or smeared. It's the chrome exhaust on the right going over the rear of the engine. I looked on the search engine but probably didn't phrase it right. I seem to remember someone saying 0000 steel wool would clean this up. Any help out there?

 

I use Neverdull and my finger nail

 

25 responses on whether RK or RKC, but 1 response when asking for some legit advice. Seems to be more pontification that advice going on here. Thanks for your response OregonFXSTC. Maybe I have to be more worthy to get answers, or I need a Harley Decoder Ring??

 

I'm not real clear on exactly which part of the exhaust you are talking about. But it sounds like the cross over pipe. Regaurdless it sounds like a heat shield by the sound of it. Sometimes it's easier to bite the bullet and buy that little section of shield. If you actually do have real pitting it will not be restored to new look and will continue to get worse through the years. Pitting is a chrome's enemy. I go through pain staking links to keep pitting from developing here in the salt air.
Now, I've never used even a fine steel wool. I suppose if it's fine enough to not leave microscopic scratches making pitting easier to develop over time it might be ok...I'm not chancing it although some say it's fine. I've even seen fine little scratches from wiping with soft rag on a dirty pipe.
I use mostly liquids/pastes. The more the damage or stain, the more abrasive the product I use. For very light spots I may use as light of an abrasive as a wax cleaning swirl remover. A little worse maybe a paint scratch remover or product such as Brasso, Scatch-X, Mequires fine-cut-cleaner. A lttle worse a paste fine rubbing compound all the way to a coarser compound. I've had great success with elbow grease and these liquids/pastes and even aluminum polish with slight abrasive such as Semi Chrome paste. For pitting though it's almost a losing fight once it has started. Stains, burnt on oil, scuffs, tar, road grime, shoe marks,hard water spots, etc I prefer these liquid or paste products. Hope this helped.

Peace brothers

 

is this theme going to go on in every thread? People will answer, or they won't, no one is on the clock doing it as a job. I've posted things and not got a single answer. Compared to a lot of other places on the Internet, I think the signal to noise ratio is fine...and I enjoy the occasional funny post....if it doesn't answer your question, skip to one that does perhaps.

 

I may be giving more opinion and advise than one wants to know but let me continue with what I know about chrome, aluminum, painted steel, etc and oxidation in harsh environments like I live in. Oxidation is the eventual demise of metals. Chrome will start rusting with the slightest accelerent. Even a hard water spot left unprotected with the humid air and especially the salt air gives oxidation a place to start. The mild first stages are a tanish progressing to surface rust then developing a pit through to underlying metal. After developing a pit the oxidation can continue underneath the chrome spreading far in size compared to small pit being destroyed from with in. So, the key to keeping this from happening is protection and maintainence. Forexample wax is a great moisture sheading preventative but not totally alone. If you take a hard water spot and leave it long enough it will penetrate the wax. Then waxing over it tends to seal the hard spot (minerals, dirt) underneath the wax. Try breathing your hot moist breath on clean waxed shinny chrome and often you'll see the spots appear in the fogged chrome. So, it's necessary to occasionally use a cleaner to remove this before rewaxing starting from scatch. In dry enviroments such great care may not be so important but harsh like I have on the Gulf coast it can be. Aluminum oxidizes rapidly also. It starts with a grey tarnish then developes pits. To keep tarnish fron developing may parts manufactureres put a clear protective coating over it like the stock forks on our bikes. The problem is that tiny nicks breaking the coating will allow oxidation from within and no way to remove it because it grows bigger underneath the coating and no way to reach it. The only preventative in this case is fighting to keep moisture out by applying watersheading such as wax. But here on the gulf coast it will eventually get the best of ya. When it comes to pinted steel it's the same. trying to keep the surface as free of dirt and ways to penetrate small pin hole nicks using a watersheding protectant like wax. I'm no expert on this subject or anything else but I've been fighting rust all my life and I do put up a good fight.

 

Thans for the well thought out and definitive relpy, and you guys gave me some ideas.

 

Thank you for considering and pondering my experiences and resolutions and pardon me for the hurried response on my little smart phone at work.... and for the misspelled words and grammar. I'm really not that uneducated but glad you got the drift. ...Ride safe brother

 

I used a product called Metal Gloss to clean/polish my exhaust. I have been very satisfied with it.

 

Yea I have asked a few and they went unanswered here I guess I thought everyone was at Sturgis except me....lol
I have been riding for 20 years and don't have a Harley decoder ring either, but like you I spent a chunk of change on this bike and looking for help for those who have been there to help me not F it up. unlike all my import bikes over the years I used up.
Glad I could help.