How to remove melted Plastic from chrome exhaust??

[UK Bike Forum Member]

Has anyone got any ideas of the best way to get melted nylon off of chrome without using abrasives which would scratch it?

My nylon bike trousers touched my exhaust on Saturday and before I realised had burned a massive hole in them and left a massive lump of sizzling nylon smeared all over my chrome exhaust. This happened at the beginning of the ride and so by the end of the ride it was well and truly welded and burnt on!!!

I thought maybe spray on oven cleaner but not sure whether it would damage the chrome.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I am pretty stumped.

Thanks all

[UK Bike Forum Member]

Been there, Done that !!,

Two ways to go mucker:-

1st method, lots of aching and burnt fingers:- AUTOSOL and WIRE WOOL
1, Apply liberal coat of Autosol to affected area, run bike til exhaust really really hot, Wire wool, rub on area, takes a bloody age i can thee and your gonna burn yer fingers dude.

2nd Method, Blow torch and cotton rags:-

Run bike til exhaust hot, apply gentle heat to blob wipe off quickly with cotton wodge of cloth.
Running bike will heat blob and help to remove it, BUT if you wipe to slowly when it's melting you turn the blobb into a Mahoosive smear which will entail using method one.

What ever you do DO NOT ANY Power tools, chrome ain't what it used to be years ago fella and you'll be down to the bare metal in no time at all.

Hope this helps a bit ??

[UK Bike Forum Member]

as Throbs says... wire wool and elbow grease.

then some good quality metal polish to re-shine the area.

[UK Bike Forum Member]

simples buy anew exhausts lot easier

[UK Bike Forum Member]

simples buy anew exhausts lot easier

Yea but when you did that you fuggered up your bike cogs!! 

[UK Bike Forum Member]

simples buy anew exhausts lot easier

Haha, well at 500 quid a set, sadly, that's not an option so it looks like elbow grease and swearing is the way forward.

[UK Bike Forum Member]

simples buy anew exhausts lot easier

Yea but when you did that you fuggered up your bike cogs!!  :fishin
shhh dont tell 

[UK Bike Forum Member]

Park your bike in a freezer wagon overnight and then chip the nylon off with a toffee hammer 

[Pope]

plenty of Autosol will work a treat as it's designed for use on chrome 

[UK Bike Forum Member]

scrape off the excess with the exhaust hot, then autosol and elbow grease

[UK Bike Forum Member]

Thanks all for your suggestions..............

This is what I did,

Heated exhaust and scraped what nylon I could off using aluminium foil scrunched up which didn't remove much at all.

I then let the exhaust cool and tried oven cleaner which had no effect at all, tried the wife's nail varnish remover, no effect, so had a very careful go with paint stripper which I soaked in a cloth and wrapped around the exhaust.

This softened the nylon slightly around the edges after about 15 mins or so which allowed me to scrape some of the nylon off with a piece of plastic. (which I couldn't use when the exhaust was hot).  After this I repeated...... and repeated..... and repeated....... until it was all off.

I then buffed it up with Autosol, it removed the slight scratches which I had created in my efforts to remove the nylon with the plastic scraper but also thinned the chrome so now the nickel shows through a bit and the finish has dulled slightly and has a blue hue.

All in all it took me nearly a day of scraping and swearing but I think the result is better than I expected but note to all, be careful with Autosol on highly polished 'show' chrome unless it's a last resort as it was with me. Oh, and don't wear nylon trousers when there's a chance it can come into contact with a hot exhaust!!!!

 

 

[UK Bike Forum Member]

Glad you got it sorted Dan, re Autosl, that's why I stressed in my reply, Chrome ain't what it used to be, too thin these day's

[UK Bike Forum Member]

Glad you got it sorted Dan, re Autosl, that's why I stressed in my reply, Chrome ain't what it used to be, too thin these day's

Yes, thanks Throbber, it was a last resort and I heeded your reservations and you're right, chrome is very thin nowadays. I seem to remember using autosol liberally on allsorts of chrome in the 'old days' and it never dulled or blued.

Like I said, there were lots of little scratches and also a bit of residue, almost like a stain which wouldn't scrape off so Autosol was my only option but it really isn't that bad.

 

[UK Bike Forum Member]

Used a brilo pad on my bandy link pipe works a treat..