Best way to clean/polish a pipe?
 

I have an older RB 2045 pipe that has turned a bronze/brown color from all the use. Is there a good way to clean it without damaging the surface? Just getting it back to metallic would be good, polished would be better.

I was thinking of trying some Mothers aluminum polish but wasn't sure if it would damage the surface.

This sounds crazy but it works: old crock pot and antifreeze. Put the antifreeze in the crock pot and turn it on high. Put the pipe in the antifreeze and let it sit for about 6-8 hours and you will have a clean pipe. Then you can polish it with mothers.

+1 I have an 086 that I would love to have it look like itdid when I got it.

does that work for the chrome pipes too?

wd-40 and very fine steel wool

used to keep my chrome bike's shinin' when i was a kid :sneaky:

+1 on cooking the pipe it will look like new, i dont know about the steal wool and wd40 this may scratch it up a bit

I have some spots that look like rust from fuel spraying when refueling that I cant seem to get off. I tried the dremel with a polishing bit and it started to dull the polish out so I stopped using that. Do you mean like those steel wool pads with the blue soap on them for cleaning dishes?

the anti-freeze method works great for cleaning!

too repair bents with "freeze" method = plug all holes, fill with water and freeze it over night! pops the bents right out. :batman:

Soak the pipe in CLR at full strength, for a day or two (depending on how dirty) and the grime wipes off :nod: Ive cleaned hard anodized and polished pipes with it and it doesnt affect the finish of the pipe at all.

Very interesting :nod:

Thanks!

For a very old and dirty pipe.First clean it the best yuo can.Then take some 2000 grit sand paper and wet sand the whole pipe useing a cicular motion.wipe clean repeat wet sand if you want.Now get some metal pollish perferably amonia baced.And start rubbing as hard as you can.wash off with water.Now doit again but dont rinse with water this time,enstead buff really hard after the pollish has dried a bit.Keep pollishing...now you got a brand new pipe!!!!:nod:

Careful with the steel wool. There are different grades of that. Some will eat the pipe up. I will check and see what I am using over the weekend and post it. I am working on a pipe now and have one coming in from another guy. I will try and post some before and after pics for everyone to see.

What is CLR and pics would be great and pics of what you are using.

the fine steel wool works great, will not scratch. i even do my windshields with fins steel wool when they get water spots.

That's an awesome tip! I'm glad I read this thread. I would never have thought of that, and 2 of my pipes have dents. Thanks Dude!