This evening I used two forms of chrome polish on a sport bike exhaust system, Eagle One Never Dull wadding polish and Brasso liquid polish. Here's a picture of the item to be polished, which was washed and claybarred before being attacked by polish:
To conduct my test, I used the canister holder as a reference point to "split" the polished area into two sections...the section on the left was polished using EO, and the lower, smaller right portion of the canister was polished with Brasso liquid polish.
First of all, both products STINK...a strong chemical smell is present. Nevertheless, I used liquid Brasso first. To do so, I applied the tan liquid onto an MF cloth and I started to wipe the cloth onto the metal. After vigourous wiping, I let the product sit for a couple seconds so that it can dry (as stated in the directions), and then I got another MF cloth and buffed the polish off until completely removed. The results...an improvement indeed, but the single application left me wanting more. A couple little dots and swirls remained. The finish looked inconsistent too (it seemed as if there were some "holograms" present).
So, now the EO on the left portion of the canister. Compared to Brasso, I just teared a piece of cotton and polished with that. After just a couple swipes, I noticed a difference...as I was polishing, I could see a black color start to show after each swipe. It seems as if the EO has more "cut." This was evident in the fact that it was easier to remove bits of tar with EO than with the Brasso. This could be because the cotton seems to have too much polish on it (don't people say a little polish goes a long way??????). Nevetheless, after vigorous wiping with the cotton piece, the product left black streaks, not like the brasso which when applied, didn't leave black streaks (I know this is normal, but this is a difference I noticed between the two products). Anyway, I then started to buff off the product. Because the EO created more black streaks on the surface, naturally my towels turned even more black than when buffing off the Brasso. Looking at the finish, I was surprised...The EO side did not look as clear as the Brasso side. The Brasso side seemed to look more mirror-like than the EO side, there were less "dots" on the Brasso side too. Here were the results . Remember, the left side was treated with EO (the side with the manufacturer's name on it), and the right side was polished with brasso:
I am still new to this polishing metals stuff, as evident from the last thread I started on polishing metals, but I just wanted to show everyone what one application of both products can do. After the initial applications, I ended-up polishing the whole canister with EO just because it seemed to be more aggressive many times over to see what would happen. With a high-speed arm movement, both products seemed to work better at making the surface look more reflective. I am not the happiest with the results because there are still minor, improved "swirls" in the chrome, but I always prefer a swirl-free finish. Here was the result of 2-hours of polishing one little exhaust canister:
Here's the same exhaust in a different light before and after the two hours (this was w/o the flash...there was a much more dramatic improvement under this light):
Before:
After:
All in all, I think both products are good, but Brasso tends to keep my towels slightly cleaner and is a heck of a lot less messier than EO. Nevertheless, EO seems to work better upon multiple applications when compared to multiple applications of Brasso, and I'm a patient person. So, for now EO has a slight advantage mainly due to it's cutting power upon multiple applications...but be aware that it is MESSY!!!!!
To conduct my test, I used the canister holder as a reference point to "split" the polished area into two sections...the section on the left was polished using EO, and the lower, smaller right portion of the canister was polished with Brasso liquid polish.
First of all, both products STINK...a strong chemical smell is present. Nevertheless, I used liquid Brasso first. To do so, I applied the tan liquid onto an MF cloth and I started to wipe the cloth onto the metal. After vigourous wiping, I let the product sit for a couple seconds so that it can dry (as stated in the directions), and then I got another MF cloth and buffed the polish off until completely removed. The results...an improvement indeed, but the single application left me wanting more. A couple little dots and swirls remained. The finish looked inconsistent too (it seemed as if there were some "holograms" present).
So, now the EO on the left portion of the canister. Compared to Brasso, I just teared a piece of cotton and polished with that. After just a couple swipes, I noticed a difference...as I was polishing, I could see a black color start to show after each swipe. It seems as if the EO has more "cut." This was evident in the fact that it was easier to remove bits of tar with EO than with the Brasso. This could be because the cotton seems to have too much polish on it (don't people say a little polish goes a long way??????). Nevetheless, after vigorous wiping with the cotton piece, the product left black streaks, not like the brasso which when applied, didn't leave black streaks (I know this is normal, but this is a difference I noticed between the two products). Anyway, I then started to buff off the product. Because the EO created more black streaks on the surface, naturally my towels turned even more black than when buffing off the Brasso. Looking at the finish, I was surprised...The EO side did not look as clear as the Brasso side. The Brasso side seemed to look more mirror-like than the EO side, there were less "dots" on the Brasso side too. Here were the results . Remember, the left side was treated with EO (the side with the manufacturer's name on it), and the right side was polished with brasso:
I am still new to this polishing metals stuff, as evident from the last thread I started on polishing metals, but I just wanted to show everyone what one application of both products can do. After the initial applications, I ended-up polishing the whole canister with EO just because it seemed to be more aggressive many times over to see what would happen. With a high-speed arm movement, both products seemed to work better at making the surface look more reflective. I am not the happiest with the results because there are still minor, improved "swirls" in the chrome, but I always prefer a swirl-free finish. Here was the result of 2-hours of polishing one little exhaust canister:
Here's the same exhaust in a different light before and after the two hours (this was w/o the flash...there was a much more dramatic improvement under this light):
Before:
After:
All in all, I think both products are good, but Brasso tends to keep my towels slightly cleaner and is a heck of a lot less messier than EO. Nevertheless, EO seems to work better upon multiple applications when compared to multiple applications of Brasso, and I'm a patient person. So, for now EO has a slight advantage mainly due to it's cutting power upon multiple applications...but be aware that it is MESSY!!!!!