Would like some tips on a rusty exhaust

[Mitsobar]

Heya

New to riding and I just got my first bike, a Yamaha 07 YBR 125.

Overall condition of the bike is good with minor rust on some nuts and edging that I can clean up abit.
The exhaust is heavily corroded though, specifically the thin section directly linking the engine to the larger section. There is significant blistering/pitting and alot of flaking at the worst parts.
All the paperwork came with the bike and it had a yearly service just 4 months ago by an approved Yamaha dealer so I would assume mechanically its still sound or something would of been done at the time.

However I would prefer to do something about it for aesthetic purposes and to reduce any further decay as much as possible.
I have some steel and brass wire brushes but not sure how vigorous to be with the scraping, I dont want to make it worse.
After that should I spray paint it then when dry douse it in wd40?. If so could you recommend a paint.

Thanks for your help

[iooi]

I would be very careful if you are going to take wire brushes etc to that part. Its only mild steel....
They rot like mad and are not that thick. So you can soon end up with a hole and a even bigger problem.

They also don't fall under the service either. So don't expect a dealer to touch it.

Maybe try some rust converter stuff. And proper exhaust paint afterwards. But a lot of the damage is done from the inside.

Best option is a full stainless system, but given the fact you won't keep the bike long. You have to asses the costs.
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[neil.]

No point in using WD40, it just burns off with the heat. ACF50 is pretty good on the silencer (and the rest of the bike over winter - get some!) but burns off on the downpipe. They eventually eat themselves from the inside anyway, no matter how much you keep the outside clean.

After 2 and a half winters from me, my '05 YBR's original exhaust was a rust magnet, sections where I couldn't get the ACF50 on were blistering and rusting away. Under the chrome it's mild steel which corrodes quite quickly, especially in winter. The difference with the '07 YBR is that they painted the pipe and silencer with some kind of HT paint but I have seen rust getting through it pretty easily so I'm not sure if it's any better than the old chrome systems. You could repaint it and I'm sure someone more experienced than me will be along soon to share their experiences with the best paints suited for the job as well as the best methods of applying them. Certainly a cheaper long term option. As long as the system is still structurally sound, and has no nasty holes, it'll pass an MOT, despite it looking disgusting.

In my case, as I plan to keep the bike forever and have little time for things like this which will keep it off the road for a few days, I replaced my rusted exhaust with a Motad stainless steel kit that won't suffer the same fate - stainless steel corrodes very slowly, and the exhaust will probably outlast the entire bike. It does now retail at double the price of a standard system though, although you might be able to haggle them down (I got mine a month or so ago whilst it was hot off their shelves at half price because they wanted feedback on the installation etc).

Shameless photo whore:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/100_0623.jpg
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CBT February 2008 | A2 June 2008 | Yamaha YBR125 (written off) | Honda CBF125 (current)

[Mitsobar]

Thanks for the tips.

Very nice shiny exhaust in the photo . It's difficult to get a really good look of a bike from a photo but your bike looks almost pristine for 5 years old. Seen 2008's looking worse than that pic.

You are right with the paint on the 07 YBR. I can see it clear enough in some places but again as you said it hasn't really accomplished much as it has rusted alot anyway shedding the paint in the process or blistering it away.

The main thing is functionality which seems to be intact. But as ive now learned from you two, heavy rusting on this exhaust/bike is pretty much a fact of life so my concern has lessened knowing this.

[SoND]