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Pitting of chrome on motorcycle

hi, My question is I have two motorcycles in my garage AND IT SEEMS THAT ALL OF THE CHROME IS STARTING TO PIT AND IT Has a green color to it, can this be from sulfur I have been told I have Chinese drywall in my house and it is admitting sulfur gases in the garage. Thank you

Jim O'Keefe
consumer - Englewood, Florida
June 14, 2009

The green is either nickel or copper under the chrome plate corroding. Do you live by the ocean? Do you ever clean off your chrome? I live by the ocean in Maine, I have no problems.

George Brackett III
- Maine
June 19, 2009

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June 25, 2009

The green you are seeing is most likely the copper underneath the nickel chrome breaking down. I do not know how old your chrome is or how it was done. I know a lot of the newer motorcycles and the overseas chrome parts that you can get for them have a lot of copper plating on them followed by a thin nickel chrome. This is great for a real pretty smooth shiny finish. But copper does not give the same corrosion resistance that nickel does.
I think you have something in your garage that has some type of chemicals getting to the chrome. It could be swimming pool chemicals. fertilizer, battery acid [affil links] or any number of solvents or cleaners. The chrome only needs to be in the same room for this to happen. I have even seen dryer vents ducted into a garage cause destruction on chrome.
sulfur in the Chinese drywall sounds a bit far fetched. But parts with Chinese chrome plating on them are usually inferior and more prone to corrosion.

Frank DeGuire
- St. Louis, Missouri, USA