trem pitting?

[mike-o]

Why does pitting happen on Floyds (or any hardware), and does it have any affect other than cosmetic issues?

[straycat]

Mostly due to alkaline content in someones sweat.Salt water eats metal.

[mike-o]

Hm. So does it affect the metal's durability or anything?

[RobRR]

No it will be fine as long as you keep everything clean. It just wont look that great.

[wes225225]

wtf is pitting?

[DrDoug]

Pitting is where the surface layer of protective metal (usually nickel or chrome) is not keeping the corrosive substance (sweat, in this case) away from the metal it is protecting (usually steel). This is because metals are porous (at the micro level), and if the plating is thin then it is more likely to corrode when exposed to corrosive substances due to this porosity. I used to run the plating systems in a plating shop, and I laid down 7 mils of copper and 5 mils of nickel on my rear axle (and other parts) for the extra protection!

Keeping your protective metals clean is always recommended. Waxes or oils can be used to keep a barrier coating on the metal and inhibit or eliminate corrosion completely. It does not take serious polishing, nor is that recommended with nickel plating. Periodically, just a quick wipe with a lightly oiled rag and the same with a quick buff off is all it takes. Between doing this, just wipe the metal off with a clean, dry rag when it gets dirty.

You will keep it shiny and bright that way. Also, make sure you are using cloths dedicated solely for polishing purposes. This will help keep fine lines (scratches) from appearing in nickel and thinly chromed surfaces.

Interestingly, chrome (as used in the plating industry) is not applied as a metal, but rather a surface treatment of nickel. It converts the top layer of nickel to nickel-chromium. Thus it is still softer than hard chrome and prone to scratching.