Keeping the headers shiny?


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Vain, I know... but any suggestions?
Previous owner ran a full akra straight after purchase and reverted to the stock when i bought it.

The stock exhaust is brand new basically. I'd like to keep it like that.

What do you guys suggest?
 

Otters Pocket

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Very hard at this time of year. The headers probably have one of the hardest lives on the bike, going through extremes of heat cycles and getting the road grime blasted straight at them.

If you ride only in the dry you're doing ok, but if you use the bike in all weathers it's hard to keep them nice. Most people simply give them a spruce up now and again with some caustic cleaner such as Harpic, but these can be quite aggressive and nasty to metals like aluminium if you happen to splash it around.

A scotchpad with detergent can work well IMO and then a polish with something like Autosol, but either way, expect a bit of elbow grease to keep them looking top notch.
 

DaveC

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Just sponge on hot soapy water after every ride, regardless of weather.
Never put bike away wet, dry off headers and spray on something like wd40.
I personally would not use anything abrasive or caustic on chrome if you want to keep it.
 

kev

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fine steelwool with autosol, so I've told?
 

Littlebruv

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The best stuff I used to use was Hein Gericke downpipe cleaner which also cleaned off the blue haze as well, not sure if you can get it anymore though
 

Samwise

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To protect over the bad weather I`ve purchased some ACF-50 . Just spray and wipe on after cleaning . As used on aircraft. Expensive,but apparently very effective .
IMPORTANT Keep away from discs.
 

Otters Pocket

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I can't imagine ACF50 working well on headers. It's basically a sticky oil based coating and the temperatures the headers get to would most likely cook it and leave a black mess on them rather than leave them nice.

Elsewhere ACF50 is fantastic stuff however. I've used it on previous bikes and ran them through winter. A clean up in spring and they came up really nice.
 

the cueball

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Zero issues with using ACF50 on exhausts.

If in doubt head to their website for clarification ;)
 

Otters Pocket

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Even on the headers?

If so that's good to know, I kept it off for the reasons above, but if it doesn't burn off I might give a try as well then.
 

the cueball

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Even on the headers?

If so that's good to know, I kept it off for the reasons above, but if it doesn't burn off I might give a try as well then.
It’ll smoke a bit when it’s first on, but will be fine.

I’ve got my fazer headers covered in ACF as we speak!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Thanks for the tips, I shall look into the snake oil stuff you guys are suggesting 🤭

Today I used the soapy water trick mentioned above with some wd40 afterwards.
 


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