| Author | Message | ||
     Gentleman_jon |
I had been a bit hard perhaps, on my Ducati ridding buddies, who think nothing of turning up on their Italian exotics with the most rusty exhaust headers imaginable. Then all of a sudden Gerry shows up on his Supersport with shinier headers than I have. Don't you just hate that? And worse, Gerry is just a bit vague on how it he accomplished it. Later in the week I am in his shop checking out his Ducati rear brake calipers, and I force the secret out him: Luster Lace. Luster Lace is a product consisting of polish impregnated nylon ribbon, perfect for shinning round objects like exhaust headers. Taking a look at my sorry pipes, I realized that they not only were not very shiny, but they STILL had some pits and tool marks in them. So, I whipped out a new tool, a small, fine grade, Scotchbrite flapper wheel, I bought to brush out my Buell chrome heel protectors, and discovered it was perfect for preparing the pipes for polishing, and a lot easier than sanding by hand. And voila:  Here's the drill: 1. Polish out tool marks, and stains with the fine Scotchbrite wheel. 2. Polish out fine scratches with 320 and then 600 wet or dry sandpaper. This only takes a few minutes, now that the wheel has done the heavy work. 3. Polish to high gloss with Luster Lace. This shouldn't take more than a half hour the first time . After that, I should think a simple two minute touch up with the Luster Lace will bring the pipes back to perfection.  | ||
| Buell_bro |
Hey Gentleman jon, met you at march baddness,marco from ontario here,it was a pleasure,and those headers look awsome,i think i'm going to try it. | ||
| Barker |
Looks great! Did you take off the headers to do that? | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Marco, Nice meeting you too. Glad you like the headers. Give it a shot. Matt, No, that's the great thing about it. Because the Luster Lace wraps around the pipes, you can leave the headers on the bike. By the way, the official name and part number of the Scotch-Brite wheel is: Scotch-Brite Finishing Sander, Fine. 2 1/2" x 1 1/4" # 9416NA | ||
| Buellrcr |
how was the ride , did you like the dragon | ||
| Bads1 |
 No drill,no scotch brite,no find sandpaper, Just some paper towel and Eagle 1. | ||
| Edmbueller |
sorry if this is a dumb question - but were your pipes the goldy blue before you applied this product? | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Keith, Nice meeting you at Roanoke Valley HD, and thanks for helping my friend Mike with his front tire. We really enjoyed seeing your Buell Race Bikes. We had a ball on the Dragon. It was a real mad house, something everyone should do at least once. Dana, I think that you got a particularly "Clean" set of headers. Mine had a lot of tool marks, and just didin't look that nice after the Eagle One treatment, even though I must say that the Eagle One is the best polish I have used up to now. Darcy, Yes the pipes were goldy. Not blue. Blue can mean you are running a bit hot some times. My pipes were not only gold, but they were splotchy from tool marks, rain, road dirt - ugh!! Not a pretty sight. Now that I have polished them, I expect them to turn gold, but still stay shiny. | ||
| Bads1 |
Jon actually no they weren't perfect. The wifes 9 look just as great. Just several applications and bingo. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
Dana...that stuff available at a HD dealer? | ||
| Xb12s_streetdemon |
or, you could just buy the shiny ceramic coated header like i did and never touch it again. ill post some pics in a little bit | ||
| Barker |
Where can i buy the Scotch-Brite wheel and the luster lace? | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
I got the Scotch-Brite wheel at my local hardware store. I got the Luster Lace from my buddy Gerry. No, I DIDN"T steal it!  Gerry ordered two of them from the company web side. We use the wide strips. There is a list of retailers on the company site. Looks like custom bike shops, speed shops and some Harley dealer stock it. http://www.lusterlace.com/ | ||
| Bads1 |
John, I pick it up on line or in a Automotive parts store. If ya can't find it Flitz work just as good with the same method. The owner of Flitz shared the secret of Paper towel with me. Its really not a secret. Flitz has it in there directions. Its amazing!!! | ||
| Bake |
Is the color different from stock now lads? | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
After cleaning, using either method, the pipes are silver. After riding, the pipes start to turn gold. The smoother the pipes are, the more even the gold color, and the longer the shine lasts. Water and debris thrown up from wet roads can make the pipes splotchy, time to re-polish. Only takes a minute or two once the pipes have been well polished once. | ||
| Paul_in_japan |
so these would come up silver then turn gold again? http://w2.bikepics.com/pics/2007%5C04%5C19%5Cbikep ics-869539-full.jpg | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Paul, Nice looking pipes! If in fact, those pipes are sitting on a 2004 XB12, they will polish up nicely, turn silver, and then turn gold. Not brown as they are now. If they are later pipes, I believe they have a ceramic coating that can NOT be polished, or at least I don't know how to do it, if it can be done. Not absolutely positive about the year they changed, but I think it was 2005. Anyone know for sure? Yours look to me like the kind that can be shined. They look a lot nicer when they are shiny and golden than when they are splotchy, scratched and brown, but that is just one man's opinion. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I am a man, and I am lazy, so this is a stunning development for me... | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Gonna try that on my RS turbo header - it's currently a rich golden-blue. I used to take it off and take it to my friend's shop where he has a MONSTER buffing machine, but I need to be careful not to overstay that welcome, as he refused to charge me for the polishing. AL | ||
| Xb12s_streetdemon |
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| Buell_892 |
so the luster lace will work on my 2003 xbs header? What shoud i use to polish my heel guards and the lip of my wheel ? | ||
| Cgocifer |
Sandpaper and a little elbow grease. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/283556.html?1181346288 (Message edited by cgocifer on June 08, 2007) |
