Guys, whats the best way to deal with rust on chromed parts on old bikes you are trying to restore? I've used tin foil on some of the smaller spots to some success but others--not so much. Thanks

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Use increasingly caustic acid, starting at something like vinegar. If that doesn't work, use oxalic acid, also known as wood bleach. Read up on it before you start using it. It can harm your health without any symptoms, and the toxin builds in your body over your lifetime. But used properly, it can be safe.

I'm not sure if it's proper to use the words "caustic" and "acid" together because the first word is often associated with alkalines. I'm not a chemist. Don't use alkalines on your chrome. I don't know if it would cause harm to your metal, but it won't help with rust. It is generally more dangerous than acid.

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...honestly, if chrome is badly pitted by corrosion, the most cost effective way to deal with it is to media blast the frame/fork and paint or powdercoat the whole thing. Rechroming anything is pretty expensive now, but you can find places that will do it.

If it's not too bad, IOW if I can get the stuff polished off with rubbing compound (auto parts store), I then just wax over it. It seems to work for quite a while, but I don't ride those bikes in the rain.

I'm trying this on the pitted stuff for a re-furb:
EVAP-O-RUST. List: Rust Remover & Metal Prep | O'Reilly Auto Parts
- The first soaking over night seemed yield promising results.

I've used this to polish some stuff:
Nevr Dull: List: Metal, Chrome & Wheel Cleaner & Polish | O'Reilly Auto Parts

About eight years ago I had a chrome head set start to go, showing the dreaded signs of rust percolating up from under the surface. I rubbed it all off with a WD-40 soaked rag, just because it was handy and the only thing on the work bench at the time. It removed the rust quite easily and shined the heck out of the chrome. I never applied any polish or wax and decided to just keep a close eye on it. The rust has never reappeared. I find that very unusual and surprising.

Auto chrome polish works pretty well, as did Bar Keepers Friend for me with some 0000 steel wool.

My experience is that aluminum foil works pretty well if the rust is just on the chrome and hasn't actually bonded with it. The down side is that if the rust is deep enough in the chrome that aluminum foil won't get it off then rubbing with aluminum foil is likely to make it worse. Of course, worse is a relative term in that case because pretty much nothing is going to bring it back to its original shiny goodness.

This is a fork I experimented on recently. The leg on the left of the picture was scrubbed with foil and then wrapped in Evapo-Rust soaked paper towels. The leg on the right of the picture was just soaked in Evapo-Rust soaked paper towels.



Neither side looks like new, but the foil took off a bit more of the chrome plating (which for the record was fairly cheap chrome plating to begin with). If you look closely you can make out some pitting (in addition to the bare spots) on the "better" side. I think that's the best you're going to get if the rust has taken hold.

This.

Seriously, worth its weight in gold. Dunked a bunch of bolts and fittings overnight.

The only possible warning I can issue is this: With some types of chrome it'll give it a 'smoke' effect if left in for more than the recommended 12 hours, but it's easily polished out with any chrome cleaner or even Mothers mag & wheel polish.

I have heard good things about BlueMagic - BlueMagic

off to pick up some Evap-O-Rust. thanks much all.

WD-40, it's all you need to maintain your bike. De-rusts, lubes, cleans, waxes.....It's a miracle product.

I use that to polish aluminum. Of all the products that I've tried I think it works best.

If you search the forum for Blue Magic, many threads talk about blue magic with some before and after photos - https://www.bikeforums.net/18462985-post7.html

Apparently, it works well on chrome as well.