You can wet sand them and polish them. They will be beautifully polished when you're done and will IMMEDIATELY turn gold when you run the bike. However once they are smoother from sanding you can continue to polish them with Mothers, etc and they will maintain a nice polished golden color. I now have a jet hot coated two bros header but on my stock header I believe I gave it a light grind around 200 grit to smooth it out, and then wet sanded from there-400, 800, 1000, yada yada and finished off with some Mothers-just like polishing any other metal. Beats that nasty brown look you get it you don't take care of them...

 

Here's another option but takes different equipment. Certainly if you have the time and little equipment, you can spend hours sanding and polishing. This is not my bike in the picture but I like the look and am working on my rendition of it on my own bike. If you have access to a sandblaster, use some fine sand (and all the safety equipment) and blast them clean - might take a half hour. Then spray them with high temperature stove or grill paint. Carlos, guy in the picture, did his with header wrap - also an option for the same look.

 

True, the first time you polish can be a LITTLE time consuming, but the header is already very smooth so it doesn't take too long. Not like having to grind a rough finished frame or anything. A black and decker mouse sander is only 30 bucks or so (this step is not even entirely necessary-I'm just **** and wanted to remove any lines in the metal), plus 10 or 20 bucks for a couple packs of paper. Plus it lasts forever-just spend a few minutes with some Mother's to maintain it whenever you clean the bike. Here's an older pic of my bike and the stock header matches the stainless midpipes real nice-has the same rich finish of an aftermarket full system. Actually matches finishes better than my current jet hot header. But I guess it depends on what you like...I did see a superhawk with a black powdercoated header once and it did look pretty cool.

 

That IS a very nice match to the mids. I guess mine are just a bit far gone. I have two headers that came with the bike. One has a center support mount - the other doesn't. The bike was fitted with a high mount set of 2bros but they blew out and the former owner put stock cans back on it. Nice fireman/ems responder that he is, he didn't bother to install the header gaskets. The lower header joint is about 1 1/2 inches from the rear tire. I was pissed but I digress! Anyway the headers that are on the bike now seemed to have been chromed not polished and do not respond to Mothers. Where as the spare (that I thought came with the 2bros) are not and respond well to polishing. Have I got the two mixed up?

 

Yeah you've got it right. Chrome is great when it's in good shape but once it starts pitting, flaking, peeling, etc you can't fix it like aluminum or stainless. It's a coating not bare metal. No matter how nasty your stock header gets you can polish it up like mine (unless it's been chrome plated). That's was great about the material (stainless, or also alum). That's why if I ever restore an exhaust/pipes that I start out with a rougher sanding/grinding-it just knocks that layer of crap off and removes scratches real quick and gets it ready for wetsanding. When you say polishing do you mean just rubbing with compound? You'd have to wet sand the bare metal to get it to shine like mine in the picture. I don't even think a brand new stock header will shine and maintain a shine without wetsanding it. For example even brand new midpipes, like my LeoVinci's, have a grain in the metal. I can keep them clean and they'll shine but nothing like if I sand the grain out of them and wetsand them. Then they'll look like chrome. ANYWAYS if anyone actually puts any miles on these things, and that's what they're for, it's a never ending battle requiring a bunch of elbow grease to keep them in a fresh detailed state.

 

Here's a couple pics. The gsxr was my pride and joy two year resto of a clapped out/banged up/beat up racebike. Learned to polish on that. I spent AN ENTIRE YEAR polishing everything on there with a black and decker mouse and my hands. I also did an entire wheel but actually liked the dark wheels better. Promised I'd NEVER do it again. In the next pics the midpipes were some scratched up dull two bros low mounts, and the devils were also scratched up and nasty and dull as could be. The swingarm picture is my current bike and shows a good contrast as to what I was talking about-you can see the different shine in the polished aluminum swingarm and the way the Leo's (and most others) will come-still shines but more of a "brushed" look. If you want to take the time you can make them shine like the two bros and devils-the pipes are all stainless. It's a bit harder than aluminum but will shine just the same. Of course they'll turn gold a little from the heat, and gold to purple on the header, but I think that kinda looks cool.

 

You're right Captain! When I hit the chromed pipes - nothing. I took a little Mothers Billet Polish and simply rubbed the other headers a little and wiped it off. I could tell immediately that those headers would shine and the others needed to be painted. With a little more work the stock headers could be really nice. I do take seriously what you say about the papers. When I was a teen I got farmed out to help finish custom furniture. I sanded a lot so I am familiar with the yada. I bought a Mothers Mini Ball and that's going to be my next experiment. I also wondered about the welds. How deep can those be sanded down without going through?

 

I wouldn't go crazy trying to grind them smooth or anything (like I was doing on that GSXR before I realized that wasn't such a smart idea) but you can sand them enough to make them shine too. I guess pros use wheels and different grits of compound to get into the tight spaces but not too many tight spaces with stuff like exhaust pipes. If you just sand the high spots of the weld and then polish real good when you're done they'll look plenty good enough.

 

Looks good! I'm going to get my sander out and get them sparkling again....a few boot burns and dirt has taken away the gold shine.