You are correct. My headers were very very bad and I had the Polish and wet and dry in the shed and half an hour to get a bright chrome finish. Whatever way you choose there are consequences. I would not want to use wet and dry again if I can help it for example. My headers are quite thin. 5 mins with some metal polish maintaining it sounds OK. Likewise, Harpic's 'active ingredient' is hydrochloric acid and that eats chromium. Chromium makes stainless steel stainless. Whatever works, works.
Also the configuration of the exhaust pipes will determine the best methodology to use. Twins, even with a balance pipe, are relatively easy. I use a strip of denim about 40mm wide from the leg of some jeans that were about to be thrown out when tackling the Ducati insitu but the pipes on the Striple are a different kettle of fish and the belly pan doesn’t help.
I would not have bothered polishing my Speed Twins or Sprint RS headers! They look workman like at best as standard and the cooler for it. The Street Twin does look nice with mirror polished headers, very retro.
