Pipe wrap

[Joe Coastie]

Thinking about wrapping the header pipes on my 1100 RT.

Not for performance or anything like that.

Merely to cut down on the heat in and around the fairing.

What say you, has anyone here done this.

 

Happy happy happy.

[RPG]

I could be wrong, but I don't believe anything gets damaged as long as you're not idling for long periods of time.

[Hosstage]

Pipe wrap was originally designed to keep heat in the headers for drag racing. In doing that long term, it tends to make the metal brittle, prone to cracks and breakage. I have no personal experience in this, but the conversation comes up often in the Harley world, and is generally frowned upon.

While it will cut down on the heat radiating from your pipes in and around your fairing, it does not allow your pipes or heads to disipate that heat.

[BABABeemer]

I sent my header pipe to Performance Coatings for inside and out ceramic coating. They claim it reduces heat better than wrap. They charged $155 including shipping.

[Hosstage]

3 hours ago, BABABeemer said:

I sent my header pipe to Performance Coatings for inside and out ceramic coating. They claim it reduces heat better than wrap. They charged $155 including shipping.

A better option than wrap.

[Joe Coastie]

I forgot about having that option.

Thanks

 

[Hosstage]

11 minutes ago, Joe Coastie said:

I forgot about having that option.

Thanks

Not the cheap option, unfortunately.

[strataj]

11 hours ago, BABABeemer said:

I sent my header pipe to Performance Coatings for inside and out ceramic coating. They claim it reduces heat better than wrap. They charged $155 including shipping.

They look great!  Do they keep this appearance? 

[BABABeemer]

I had it done on a R1150RTP that I had 10 years ago and I ran it daily for a year before I sold the bike and it stayed just as shiny. They have other colors available too.

[LBump]

HI bababeemer,

I was looking at the photograph of your headers and was wondering which color and sheen did you use?  They look great!

I'm thinking of doing the same for the discolored ones on my 2009 RT.

Thanks,

LBump

[BABABeemer]

Hi LBump, I went with the Chromex on both pipes that I had done. It looks like that color doesn’t stand up to as high temps as their satin colors but I haven’t noticed any discoloration. They also can do dry lubricant coatings that are imbedded in the metal. I had this done on some Triumph cams and on a R1150RTP clutch spline with good results. 

 

 

[Miguel!]

They look great. Thanks for posting.

Miguel

[cat0020]

For years I've had kevlar wrap or ceramic coating on my street bikes just to reduce the heat radiating from the headers. 

All of them are done on thumpers, bikes with single cylinder engine that have the header exiting forward from the engine and a loop closer to the front fender. 

The heat radiating from the header would sit just below the radiators and radiator shrouds, somewhat defeat the cooling aspect of radiators in slow moving traffic or dual sport riding. 

I have not experience similar heat radiation problem from oilheads, which seem to have decent airflow direction for the headers. 

Yes, mirror finish of ceramic coated exhaust headers are just fantastic looking.

For insulating the rider from header heat radiation in slow moving traffic, they would probably work. 

[Lowndes]

Joe Caostie - My old '99 RT had some very thin aluminum with a layer of insulation and adhesive that the PO had applied to the inside of the fairing near the pipes.  It looked like an industrial HVAC type material, maybe 1/8" thick.  Could hardly see it without getting down and peering into the openings.  I can't really say it helped or hurt.  Still on there .

 

Does anyone know if this (below) is the same treatment as the Performance Coatings above??

 

Anyone have any experiencewith them??

 

A second price might be good.

 

 

https://www.jet-hot.com/classic-polish

 

 

[Paul De]

For sure the single wall headers are old school and will blue, but I personally prefer that to pipe wrap as the wrap looks fugly.  TETO.   The step up to coatings would be my choice as the esthetics VS pipe wrap is worth the extra cash.

[Hosstage]

Can the coatings be applied to used pipes, as I believe it is inside and outside? Or is it just the outside that gets coated?

[BABABeemer]

At performance coatings they do do both new and used pipes. They sandblast the pipe first and then blast it again with aluminum oxide to give the coating a good grip. If you are on Facebook, you can look them up there and see some of their previous work. They do the pipe both inside and outside.