Melted nylon on exhaust header

[Lank]

Probably has happened to a lot of riders, you lay your jacket on the seat of a hot bike and someone brushes it off..  Inner lining is nylon mesh?   instantly you have a beautiful??? nylon mesh pattern on that pipe..   any ideas on what may remove it??  Have tried most products that are readily available with no good results...  Thinking I may have to resort to a wrap and just cover it up???  Ideas???

[rss29]

You could try oven cleaner? I doubt that will work though. When that happened to me I used a fine Scotchbrite pad and spray cleaner. It took the nylon stains off but of course introduced fine scratches to the finish of the pipe. I did both sides the same way and actually liked the result better than it was before.

[guzzi ride]

Warm the bike up and keep wiping with a clean cloth( with gloves ) until most of the residue is removed. Then try some Mothers polish paste
and lots of elbow grease.

[slowmover]

Sometimes letting WD-40 set on it will loosen it.

[LowRyter]

stainless, wd40 and steel wool

chrome, don't know

[grebmrof]

Earlier this summer I had a plastic grocery bag attached itself to a header pipe...I decided to leave it alone and let it burn off over the balance of the riding season.  This fall, all that was left was a series of spots of melted plastic.  I was able to remove it successfully by taking a way of aluminum foil together with chrome polish and rub it down any number of times.  The foil gently rubbed off the burnt plastic and the chrome polish lubricated the process and helped "dissolved" the residue.  This worked for me and maybe for you too?  Surface was chrome though...

[SED]

Bronze wool for chrome.  Don't use steel wool on chrome or it will look hazy.

[StuCorpe]

Chrome cleaner (polish) has worked well for me several times. Especially the Turtle Wax brand but I really think they are all the same.

[Muley]

I managed to burn part of my mesh jacket when it fell off the windscreen onto the header.  It burned off part of a sleeve (cosmetic) and worse, the bottom of the zipper, rendering it unusable.  I fixed the zipper by installing several stainless snaps with a special tool I ordered, but have been unable to remove the burnt nylon.

OTOH, I'm not much into cleaning the EV, and I just leave it on there to remind me not to be so stupid next time with jacket placement

[pehayes]

Easy off oven cleaner.  Work at it with a plastic scraper.  Work at it further with balled up aluminum foil.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[rboe]

Warm the bike up and keep wiping with a clean cloth( with gloves ) until most of the residue is removed. Then try some Mothers polish paste
and lots of elbow grease.

This. heat will soften it up. I'd even try to use soft wood, e.g. door shims, to try and peel it off.

[Demar]

Chrome cleaner (polish) has worked well for me several times. Especially the Turtle Wax brand but I really think they are all the same.

 :1: That is what I use

[creaky99]

I have also used oven cleaner successfully, there will be a very light brown residue left which burns off over a few uses.

[Wayne Orwig]

I go for a long ride. Come home after it has burned off.

Or if you don't ride much, try the other suggestions I guess.

[Tom]

I do the same like Wayne.  Ride burn it off then chrome polish.  Most times I ignore it.

[canuguzzi]

Stains, bluing and such are markings that prove you really do ride it. If the bike is a garage queen, aluminum or lead wool will take it off. Lead wool is easier to find.

[QuattroValvole]

Acetone and a really sharp razor blade.

[Lank]

Thanks guys, ....some good ideas and some laughs...never thought of oven cleaner, got a bunch with a piece of hard wood...will keep working on it with some brass/aluminum/wood...maybe it can be saved...there is a lot there   about 2 inches by 16 or so..

[George_S]

It will never completely come off. And be careful scrubbing or you'll then have plastic residue AND surrounding haze.

[LaMojo]

Paint remover works just fine.  Depending on how much is caked on so you may have to reapply two-three times but it will get it all off.

[ed.bremner]

Yeah, you are right....reckon everyone has done it.   

My experience for what it worth is that the majority can be got off by riding the bike hard, getting it hot and then gently scraping it with a hard wood or even soft metal scraper.

Problem is, as I kinda think you have found out is that you can move the guck, but you still have a pattern left which seems to be right in the metal.  This is harder to remove.   I am not sure with chrome, but with stainless,  I found that you can do it with wire wool or a rag and lots of Autosol or other abrasive paste metal polish.....thing is, if you do this on one side, you end up with one shiny clean header and one blued dirty one.  The only real answer is to get them both of and then just use a polishing wheel/mop and polish.

You could try a stainless steel pickle, the stuff they use after welding to remove all the weld heat tint, that would most probably speed things up a bit, but some of these are pretty nasty stuff, based on oxalic or phosphoric acid, although there are kinder citric acid based ones.

I would just live with it, then remove and polish on a wheel if it is still bugging you in 6 months.

eib

[father guzzi obrian]

I've never had easy off fail when melting various stuff on my pipes, but be cautious, it will remove paint, skin etc,.....

[anthony]

Get the pipes warm but not super hot.  Spray with WD40 and then scrape off with an old credit card.