Author Topic: Evapo-Rust Rust Removal  (Read 8398 times)

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High On Octane

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Reply #15 on: January 17, 2015, 07:31:11 pm
Matt, unfortunately the cheap Indian chrome is gone.  I think your best bet would be to sand them and paint them black or silver.  But hey, you could always try the Evapo-Rust and see what happens.  :)
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Surfernick

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Reply #16 on: January 17, 2015, 08:40:27 pm
Awesome!

do you think this stuff could save my bullet turn signals?  Bought new from NFG, one year of three-season riding... not too impressive:



It is certainly worth a try.  Get the small jug (should be $8.00) and soak them for 24 hours.  I've salvaged quite a bit of chrome parts that way.
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Surfernick

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Reply #17 on: January 17, 2015, 08:52:11 pm
Here's an exhaust pipe I cleaned up by soaking in Evapo-Rust (it's a rare pipe off a 1969 Honda SL90).  My chrome plating guy would not touch it because the carbon in the pipe would gunk up his chrome plating tanks.  So I plugged the exhaust and soaked it in Evapo-Rust for 24 hours then hit it with 000 steel wool.  It cleaned up really nicely IMO.   

BTW, the scratches on the end of the pipe were put there in 1970 by me (yep, I still have the same bike after 46 years) when I laid the bike down on asphalt (my mother would have killed me if she had found out that I "crashed").  Fortunately my after-market Anderson passenger foot pegs on the swing arm functioned as crash bars and saved me and the rest of the bike from any major damage (so mom never found out, lol). 
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mattsz

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Reply #18 on: January 17, 2015, 11:24:34 pm
Thanks guys!

Surfernick - the question I have is... what do you do after that beautiful clean-up to prevent the rust from returning?


High On Octane

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Reply #19 on: January 18, 2015, 01:01:16 am
If you can save the chrome just polish it again with metal polish.
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Surfernick

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Reply #20 on: January 18, 2015, 07:15:03 am
I keep the bikes garaged and I routinely clean & polish the chrome - it helps living in a dry climate with no snow and very little rain (perpetual drought here in California).   :-\
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Arizoni

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Reply #21 on: January 18, 2015, 11:01:38 pm
Watching that funky TV show where the dude fixes up old things he mentioned using a little oil to wet the rust on the chrome and then rubbing vigorously with  aluminum foil would remove the rust and polish the chrome.

I haven't tried it but it does make sense.
Iron oxide (rust) is a fairly soft abrasive and when mixed with oil it should be capable of polishing chrome plating without damaging it.

It sounds like a much safer way to get the rust off of the chrome and a little bit of aluminum foil and a few drops of oil has to be cheaper than buying some chrome polish.

I'm not suggesting that this method is better than the Evapo-Rust method but it's worth a try.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2015, 11:03:44 pm by Arizoni »
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mattsz

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Reply #22 on: January 18, 2015, 11:19:59 pm
Is this a good point to ask...  what's going on here with chrome and rust?  I assumed that the chrome plating was compromised, so the steel beneath it rusts.  You can remove the rust, but the chrome is still gone, isn't it?  Removing the rust doesn't reveal shiny chrome beneath it, does it?


Surfernick

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Reply #23 on: January 19, 2015, 01:45:18 am
Good question regarding the chrome being compromised by rust - I'm sure the quality of the plating has a lot to do with its salvage-ability.  I can say that the chrome won't be perfect after an Evapo-rust bath.  For example, ER won't fix pits in the chrome.  It does a good job, however, of removing rust on Honda chrome (I can't speak for the quality of RE chrome) and for parts like my shock absorbers and exhuast (in the photos) it's the best alternative to disassembly and re-plating.
I really didn't want to take the shocks apart - it was easier to toss 'em in a tub of ER and rinse them off the next day.

I use aluminum foil for light rust removal too.  Just keep the aluminum wet with water. It works well and doesn't scratch (takes a bit of "elbow grease" ).  It's a good item for your rust removal tool-kit.
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