Jim B Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Just thought I would post some pictures of my bike with the refreshed stainless headers. Mine had turned that crappy brown color like they all do. I talked with the very helpful guys at NIC industries and they steered me away from the "chromex" type coating as they could not guarantee that the pipes would not discolor at the heads. (by the way, Jet Hot does not make their own coatings, they are just a franchised application company that uses NIC products). NIC recommended their "Satin Silver" (V119) which is a metallic silver that matches the valve covers and lower bodywork very well. I took the header to a local shop in Oak Lawn, Illinois (suburb of Chicago) called Lo-Ko Coatings. Great guys, they charged me about $100 to do the work. No issues with the catalytic converter, they just coated the outside of the pipes. Now, I am happy and eager to post some pictures, but I am apparently technologically challenged as I can't figure out how to do this. The "enter an image" command wants a url, which I do not have. All I have are some jpeg images. Any way to upload them? Link to comment
Uggles Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 ........ Any way to upload them? People use places like Smugmug or Photo bucket. Have a look here. Link to Discussion Board Support Cheers, Link to comment
Skywagon Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 you can also add 1 or 2 small pictures with the reply screen. See just below the text area File Manager. Click that and go from there. Link to comment
Skywagon Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Very very nice. Really like it. Keep us posted with pics as they age. Curious how this works. Link to comment
Jim B Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 will do - no problems over a long weekend of riding I am also curious if they will pick up any stains, and of course if they will darken. NIC says no. I will post some pics in the fall......... Link to comment
Dan M Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Looks great Jim. What kind of turn around time with Lo-Ko? Link to comment
Jim B Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 I think it took them about two weeks, but I had it done late last fall at the end of the riding season so I was in no hurry. I suspect they could have done the job in a week if I had asked them. The owner of LO-KO lives and breathes this stuff - he has samples of pipe hanging under his pick-up truck with different coatings just to see how they hold up - other samples hanging on a fence at his shop. I was very happy with the work. Link to comment
BerndM Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Here ya go (LOL) http://www.amazon.com/High-Temperature-Header-Exhaust-Wrap/dp/B003SZP81K <:-)) Link to comment
Jim B Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 The wrap is almost as ugly as your.......naw, I can't say it - he's a cute doggie! Link to comment
RedMac Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Boy.. it *really* spiffs up the look of the bike. Nice.. now you have me thinking... Link to comment
RedMac Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 So they did not coat the catalytic converter?? Link to comment
Jim B Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 They coated the outside of the catalytic converter - they did the entire Y piece on the outside. If there was no catalytic converter to consider, they would do the pipes inside and out, and then you have the slight thermal advantage of keeping the pipes a little cooler and the exhaust gas a little hotter. So what they did for me was strictly cosmetic. Link to comment
DCRT12 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Nice looking pipes. I wish there is one here in San Diego that I could take my 09 RT exhaust pipes...in any case, great looking pipes! DC ----- 09 RT 09 Ultra Link to comment
Jim B Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 I am sure there is someone in San Diego that does this kind of work. Just google "Header coatings San Diego" or high temp coatings. Or, visit the NIC Industries web site as they have a listing of applicators that use their products. Actually you might have better luck calling them (there is a customer service number on the web site) as they can tell you who has been to their application training sessions, who is the most active with their product, etc. They steered me to the guys I used and I am very happy with the results. A few weekends of riding already and no discoloring so far. Link to comment
BeemerLover Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 The Chromeheads forum (R1200C) has a lot of posts about this. the headers on these bikes are chromed as are many other parts. Because of tough environmental laws in Germany BMW could not produce quality chromed parts. Everything rusted after awhile including the spoke wheels! Some owners have had the chrome redone but the headers were often coated with high temp chrome colored coatings with very good results. From what I remember there were some cases where the coating flaked off, probably because the part was not prepared properly. Ask how the part is prepared before the coating is applied to get the best results. Here is the URl for the Chromeheads site: http://www.chromeheads.org/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi Link to comment
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