So I'm thinking about restoring my first ever bike that's been collecting dust in the garage. The paint is all very good but the chrome was never really good to start with and it's not aging well. Will re-chroming fill in any pits? Is there anything I can do short of replacing the parts which would be nearly impossible to find? I'm not worried about the headlight bezel and the bars, I'm worried about the wheels and exhaust mostly. Thanks.

I am sure it can be done, but as to how practical it is going to be is the question.

Depends on the bike. Most of the time you can pick up aftermarket exhaust cheaper than replating.

Yeah I really doubt re-chroming will fill N any pits. If the part can be stripped down and re-polished then maybe you'll be good to do. With that that it might be better to just look for a good replacement.

I don't wanna go aftermarket for two reasons. One is that there is no such thing as aftermarket for this bike. Two is that it's bone stock now and it was my first bike. It's sentimental. I'm willing to spend the money to do it right, I just wanted to know if it could be done. Guess I'll just have to call a couple Harley dealers and see what job shops they use and talk to them.

Ok, what you need to know is that the pit you see is much smaller than the cavity inside the surface of the metal. It literally is the tip of the iceberg. If you polish it out it ALWAYS looke like shit. DON'T DO IT!


You need to have the part stripped by the chrome shop and see how bad it is. If there is minimal pitting they can do the copper and polish it out. It doesn't fill much though so don't expect miracles. Copper is between .001 and .0015 thick as is the nickel and then the chrome is about .0005 to .001. If the pitting is bad and the part isn't replaceable you can have someone solder the pits up and then polish and chrome the part.



PS I didn't check your location but if you are in cali send it to Nevada if possible. Cali chrome shops suck because of the environmental rules and are spendy. A good chrome shop can solder the pits for you but it does cost. Check Nevada for a few places.

Thanks Mark, I'm in Pennsylvania. I think the exhaust will be okay because it's just cosmetic. The real question is the wire wheels because they're structural. After a lot of hunting on the net I found a place out west that has a lot of new old stock for these bikes, but two new rims might be insanely expensive. Maybe I can have the hoops done and get new wires? Guess I'll just start by tearing it all apart and cleaning everything and seeing what I'm up against.