Ceramic coating on RT exhaust

[wardyRT]

I'm giving some thought to ceramic coating the inside and out of my stock header and y-pipe. It doesn't cost very much, supposedly makes the engine heat dissipate more quickly, and won't blue or stain. Anyone heard of a downside to this? My '05 pipes came from the dealer blued and yellered (it was a demo)and I'm not a fan of polishing.

[TowJam]

I'm giving some thought to ceramic coating the inside and out of my stock header and y-pipe. It doesn't cost very much, supposedly makes the engine heat dissipate more quickly, and won't blue or stain. Anyone heard of a downside to this? My '05 pipes came from the dealer blued and yellered (it was a demo)and I'm not a fan of polishing.

I can't comment on the ceramic coating but I am puzzled as to what exactly the $150 "chrome exhaust" option is for the RT/ST. When I took delivery of my RT, it had 1 mile on it. When I got home (25 miles later), the headers had already yellowed and blued.

[dmenace]

The muffler stays shiney!

[JayW]

I had the exhaust coated with "chromex" on my R1200RT at Performance Coatings, and have been very pleased. I originally had the OEM "chrome exhaust", and it was blue within 10 miles. The turnaround time, including shipping, was less than a week, and the R&R was fairly straightforward. I believe it cost me less than $100, and has held up well for about 3500 miles since then. Their web site is www.PerformanceCoatings.com, as I recall.

 

Good luck.

 

Jay

[wardyRT]

I just ran across a guy 15 minutes from the house that'll do it fer $13. a foot inside and out. He also powdercoats, I'm thinkin' I'll do the wheels at the same time; dark gray or black to hide the brake dust. I'd much rather ride than wash. He wants $90 per wheel fer them, tho. Seems like a good idea. Does that Chromex actually polish up? The examples I've seen are silver but not shiny.

[Buster]

I'm certainly no expert but I'm wondering if adding some coating to the inside of the pipes would adversly affect exhaust flow - causing performance or engine management degradation?

[JerryMather]

I had the exhaust coated with "chromex" on my R1200RT at Performance Coatings, and have been very pleased. www.PerformanceCoatings.com]www.PerformanceCoatings.com[/url]

I used these guys to have my pistons coated for my Ducati and would recommend them to anyone that wants either their pipes or pistons coated. At our shop, we use a local guy to coat our headers for the Turbo bikes with the same stuff Performance uses.

If done in black the pipe will be very hot while running but if done in silver the pipe seems to stay alittle cooler. Also the silver can scratch very easily where as the black doesn't seem to do this as easily.

The coating is just that and comes looking like a semi-gloss powder coating. There should be no need to polish it, a wash should clean it up as new.

As far as engine problems after doing this, I've been told that there are none.

[wardyRT]

I'm certainly no expert but I'm wondering if adding some coating to the inside of the pipes would adversly affect exhaust flow - causing performance or engine management degradation?

The amount of added material is about .015 of an inch. A friend of mine coated his VW buggy pipes and you can barely notice where it leaves off.

[JayW]

I agree that the concern about the Chromex affecting performance is a non-issue. I certainly have not had any problems, and they even left the oxygen sensor threads alone so they were easily screwed back in.

 

Jay

[Tucker2930]

How much was it Jay?

[Tool Man]

I agree that the concern about the Chromex affecting performance is a non-issue.

 

That's right, no effect on the motor at all. One could argue that it helps flow and lowers exhaust temps but not by the seat of any ones pants for sure.

 

It's simply a long lasting heat resistant coating that originaly was designed to coat the turbine blades of jet motors. At only a half mill thick and tough as nails, the tolerences are not an issue.It sagwayed into the hotrod scene in the late 70's when employees thought it would be cool to do their street rods and race cars. Now you can order headers and motorcycle exhaust systems with the coating applied.

 

The stuff is good...I've been using it for years.

 

It costs less than a bill to do the RT headers including shipping.

 

[mmmoore]

Powder coat experience: on wheels I had my RT wheels coated. $40 each get with your powder coater you can have matt, semi-gloss, or gloss in MANY colors! So far as polishing it is paint and will polish off if you use abarasives and can also stain, but very long wearing and tough. I am still very happy after 3 years.

 

On headers Ceramic coat is a different formulation that coats on inside and outside and has similar choices on finish and color (including near chrome gloss finish). I did some checks on surface temp. before and after (went through V8 motorcycle build phase) and the Ceramic coat lowers surface temp of headers by 400 degrees F. Plus it does not blue, but will darken slightly due to the 1800 degree temp of exhaust.

[R4ND0M_AX3]

slight derailment of thread here but; are there any issues with the heat used in the powder coating process affecting the strength of the wheels?

[Tool Man]

slight derailment of thread here but; are there any issues with the heat used in the powder coating process affecting the strength of the wheels?

 

No delrailment, it's a legitimate question.

The curing temp for powder coating isn't hot enough to anneal the Aluminum used in cast wheels. Powder coating wheels is a common procedure and available in a variety of colors now.

 

Depending on the service provided by the powder coat company, they usually will not plug holes or mask surfaces not to be coated. I typically machine a disc to replace the brake rotor and bolt that to the rim. This way it plugs the holes and protects the rotor surface where it mates to the rim. For the bearing area I machine a plug for both ends and hold it together with allthread....such as an axle. It's important to remove the bearings from the rim though! Of you don't, there is enough heat that will boil the grease and seap past the bearing seal and it will ruin the bearing seal in the process.

 

Powder coating is pretty tough and you don't want to be scrapping,sanding or running a tap into a hole to get that stuff off.

[Jim VonBaden]

I just ran across a guy 15 minutes from the house that'll do it fer $13. a foot inside and out. He also powdercoats, I'm thinkin' I'll do the wheels at the same time; dark gray or black to hide the brake dust. I'd much rather ride than wash. He wants $90 per wheel fer them, tho. Seems like a good idea. Does that Chromex actually polish up? The examples I've seen are silver but not shiny.

 

Hey Wardy, who exactly is this guy who will do your pipes? I would love to get my sh!t brown GS pipes done? But I do not want to send them far, so a local source is desireable.

 

Jim

[mmmoore]

The powder coat is typically 400 degrees and do not know temp for Cerramicoat. They sand blat prior to coating so I would remove all seals and bearing seats

[ericfoerster]

Just an FYI for those on the fence about doing this. HPC is offering free return shipping right now on all orders before the end of the year.

Just write "Free Shipping Promo" on the order form.

 

Don't tell my wife, but the pipes are in getting coated and the shocks have been ordered

[wardyRT]

The shop's called Powder Barons, in Middletown, DE.

http://www.powderbarons.com/page/page/1071953.htm?src=overture

The gallery shows some nice silver ceramic headers. I think that's my color.

[mrzoom]

Any problems with the ceramic coating process and the catalytic converter?? On my 1200RT the cat is welded to the head pipes.

[David_S]

I haven't had mine done yet but I inquired to Jet Hot (another company that does it) and they said doing the outside of the cat would not be a problem. I'm half tempted to get that big honkin chrome muffler coated also. I hate chrome because I hate polishing.