Ok the title of this blog post might make this task sound a bit easier than it really is, but with fairly common materials and time and effort you can achieve quite a decent finish on your old cruddy downpipes and exhaust. Of course it all depends how bad they look right now, but whatever you end up with, it should be an improvement!
The CB550 had a little rust problem. And I don't mean the brown paint.
If the metal just has some light surface rust then you should be able to get it nice and shiny with relatively little problems. If you’re digging through 20 years of British weather, you might as well prepare yourself for a whole afternoon of fun!
Use the following things;
- Cillit Bang or similar cleaning product which advertises to get rid of rust (amongst other things)
- Metal polish
- Steel wool (the finer variety, not a brillo pad!)
- If things look really bad try a scouring pad or sponge
- Soft cloth
- vinyl gloves
I found that spraying rusty downpipes with Cillit Bang and then rubbing with steel wool gave a decent enough finish on my bike. Obviously they didn’t look new after, but then they’re 33 years old so that’s ok. Most of the raised rust and pitting came off to reveal a smoother metal surface below and even a bit of shine. For the best results spray the affected area with your cleaning product and let it sit for a little while before starting to rub it hard with the steel wool or scouring pad. If this is your first attempt, do start off slow to make sure you’re not damaging the metal!
My exhaust itself just had very minor surface rust, which a spray of cillit bang and rubbing with a cloth got rid of. In order to make it shiny follow up by applying metal polish according to its own instructions; Generally speaking you rub the polish all over the area to be cleaned with a cloth, rub until it’s clean, then let it get dry and misty looking, and then rub like crazy with a clean cloth until you achieve a mirror finish.
Use the same approach on other rusty metal on your bike but don’t use Cillit Bang on anything that looks like Aluminium so it’s not suitable for cleaning up engine casings.
Common sense but I’ll say it anyway: Cillit Bang is nasty stuff. Wear gloves or prepare to get itchy, dry and sore hands!
