Dr Downpipe Motorcycle Exhaust Downpipe Cleaner - 500ML Spray Bottle

Product Information

What IS the same is that every cleaner really needs agitating to get it to work at its best, so to find what I believe to be the best motorcycle cleaner, we need to first look at material safety.

Prices are shown per litre, with any dilution taken into account. PH values are tested, not claimed. I’ve been accused of bias in the past with these big tests (by those who didn’t score well), but I can assure you that there is no influence in any way. DrDownpipe Exhaust Remedy is all you need to get your stainless steel Downpipes shining again. With its strong and aggressive formulated solution it will break down even the most in grained dirt on your Downpipes. All the products made light work of the S100 White Chain Lube that was applied to the sample sheets; this is clearly an easy lube to remove from your wheels.

Alpinestars Andes Suit

Slightly easier-to-use alternatives are products like S100’s gloss spray wax, which gives good results, or even a speed detailer, which is typically an easy-to-apply carnauba wax suspended in water. Armed with the information below, you can decide how much the potential for damage worries you; after all, a strong degreaser or wheel cleaner that damages polycarbonate or acrylic is fine as long as it doesn’t get near the screen or headlights.

Alkaline products tend to be used in cleaners as they’re effective on oil and grease; acids tend to be more effective on mineral deposits and rust. The PH value of a product indicates acidity (0 to 6) neutral (7) and alkalinity (8 to 14). You can have a very strong acid (0 is the strongest), or a very strong alkali (14) that’s diluted, but they will maintain their PH regardless of how concentrated they are. Most people are looking for one product to do all of their motorcycle, but there are some cleaners designed for specific areas, so if you want a wheel cleaner, for instance, you don’t really need to worry about the compatibility with plastic and acrylic. Aluminium safety does matter here though. While S100 Total Gel Cleaner works far better when agitated, it does do a very good job of loosening dirt when you leave it to dwell. That means it requires minimal effort to get a bike properly clean with a brush, and if your machine’s not too grubby you can just spray it on, leave it for 10-20 minutes, then rinse it off without even having to wipe dry. It was the best ‘no-touch’ motorcycle cleaner, but it is expensive and you won’t get a showroom finish on a really dirty bike unless you use a brush.

The average motorcycle has many different materials used in its construction, each of which could be affected by chemicals over time –that’s why most bike manufacturers will only recommend water and a mild detergent to clean them. Diluted to 20%, the XCP product just missed out on making it into the recommendeds, with a cleaning performance score of 7/10. But at 60p/litre when diluted to 20%, it’s the cheapest one I’ve tested by a long stretch, so the fact that it can be used as a degreaser at full concentration, a general cleaner at your choice of dilution, and that it’s safe on all materials means it’s another Best Buy for the Scottish chemical company. All 70 plates were left overnight to dry before testing saw them held at an angle of 35° and the cleaning products applied as per the instructions; some require the surface to be wet first, while some don’t. I drilled a 2.5mm hole (with a pillar drill for consistency) in all the samples of the three different plastics, then carefully inserted a stainless steel M3 6mm self-tapping screw. This creates a stress riser that highlights any incompatibilities between the material and the chemical. Well it is pretty simple solution to use, spray it on after covering any other areas up, leave for a minute, and then use a pad to wipe off and repeat until clean and shiny. Well that’s seems pretty straight forward, but for me it was not…. After a couple of goes it did not do that well on my rear sections of my system, the header pipes came up a lot better thou, but not a lot of change in the mid to rear. Now could that be to a reason of age its been dirty, or that I have a coating on it… unsure. If it was a coating the same was done to the wife system and that turned out so much better.

I didn’t test chrome as it’s a very hard surface that was far less likely to show any damage compared to the materials I already had. My Kawasaki Vulcan S is seven years old. It is cleaned on a regular basis but aside from a wipe over with the same (admittedly excellent) cleaning products I use on the rest of the bike, the downpipes have never been treated to a decent, deep-level clean.Some materials can be affected by acidity or alkalinity – aluminium, for example, can be damaged by strong alkalis in higher concentrations – so some manufacturers might shout about their product being PH neutral. I left anything out that showed significant damage under my immersion test method to steel, aluminium, painted steel, anodised aluminium, ABS, polycarbonate, acrylic or rubber, then selected all those remaining with a score of 8/10 or above for cleaning performance. These are what I would recommend for use on motorcycles… I’ve tried to condense all the data I gathered from my testing into as easy to digest a format as possible, but I’m well aware that it’s a lot to take in, so here’s a summary… Washing up liquid does contain a ‘salt,’” he told me, “but this is the active ingredient and should not be confused with road salt; the term ‘salts’ covers a very wide range of anions that dissolve in water.

The Unlimited Passion Thunderbolt Wipes are very effective, and while they can damage some materials, the risk is lower than other products as it’s less likely to run into nooks and crannies. I’d still be very careful around polycarbonate and acrylic, and while they can be folded multiple times to get the maximum use out of them, they are costly. The container also doesn’t seal brilliantly, so they can dry out over a period of several months. The slight swelling evident on the O-ring seems to tally with the strong smell of acetone from these wipes. I wouldn’t recommend these or any of the other wipes for use on helmet visors. Some anions – like chloride – can pit metals, while others – like chromate –protect metals but damage the environment. Others – like ‘anionic surfactants’– will degrease metals. And there’s a crazy world in between.Ammo .243 can also be used diluted, but as it’s supplied in a spray bottle and can be used neat, it was tested at full concentration. Here are the results of this testing, based on material compatibility and performance. I’ve split them into standard cleaners and waterless washes– while some manufacturers make big claims about waterless washes, they really are only suitable for light cleaning. The chemistry helps lift fine dust and dirt from surfaces, but rub too hard and you could scratch areas like the screen. A lot of people worry that washing-up liquid contains salts that will cause your motorcycle to rust, but this isn’t the case. I spoke to Professor Bob Eden PhD– founder and managing director of Rawwater and an Honorary professor at Manchester University, with a master’s degree and doctorate in Corrosive Science and engineering.