Topic: Advice on ceramic exhaust coating.

[Mr Freeze]

So I have had a Cycle X Tri-Y exhaust on my bike for about a year and a half now and it's been great, except for the chrome plating. I had one incident where an exhaust collar loosened up from vibration and causing the discoloration of the lower pipe. The surface rust is really just cosmetic, and has seemed to form where the pipes cross over and there isn't a lot of air space. I am contemplating getting the chrome blasted off and having the pipes ceramic coated in silver.

What do you think?

[calj737]

Have them shot inside and out for best results.

[flybox1]

Have them shot inside and out for best results.

+1

here is a local coater I checked out a while back...for comparison purposes.
http://www.performancecoatings.com/index2.html

[Chachi]

I'm getting my 4-1 header done in black satin ceramic in the next few weeks. Should be a nice upgrade over the VHT rattle can.

[Stev-o]

Do it!  Get a free bid here....

http://www.jet-hot.com/enthusiasts/

Cal - this co is fairly close to you, what if anything, do you know about them?

[calj737]

I don't know them personally, but I know of others who have used them. I use Thermal Tech in Hopewell, VA, about 15' from me. He does all my powder, ceramic, DFL, and thermal dissipative coatings. Reasonable prices, excellent work, decent turnaround.

[madmtnmotors]

I use Thermal Tech in Hopewell, VA, about 15' from me. He does all my powder, ceramic, DFL, and thermal dissipative coatings. Reasonable prices, excellent work, decent turnaround.

We'll know soon enough if they know what they're doing. At first glance they appear to have done a bang up job getting my cruzinimage 65mm pistons "all dolled up":




  

[Powderman]

Ask them how they coat the inside of the pipes. Application thickness is supposedly critical but the manufacturers say you can just pour it inside the pipe after sealing one or both ends and "sloshing" around until you get full coverage, then let the excess drain out. I guarantee this results in uneven thickness and inevitable runs which may fail up the road. The greatest benefits come from coating the outside, coating the inside only gains about another 3-4% of what the exterior advantage is. The biggest advantage to coating the onside is for rust protection. The better shops like JetHot  use an expensive 360° nozzle that is drawn through the pipe as they spray.

[SKTP]

Can "they" ceramic coat right over chrome?

[Mr Freeze]

Have them shot inside and out for best results.

+1

here is a local coater I checked out a while back...for comparison purposes.
http://www.performancecoatings.com/index2.html

That Chromex does look sharp as a tack!

[jcooper]

I used the Perfoemance Coating shop your looking at for the side covers on my engine cases a few years back. Did a fantastic job and still looks incredible.
I would definitely use them again!

[Powderman]

Can "they" ceramic coat right over chrome?

No, done correctly the surface needs a 3mil blast texture.

[CCPcoatings.com]

So I have had a Cycle X Tri-Y exhaust on my bike for about a year and a half now and it's been great, except for the chrome plating. I had one incident where an exhaust collar loosened up from vibration and causing the discoloration of the lower pipe. The surface rust is really just cosmetic, and has seemed to form where the pipes cross over and there isn't a lot of air space. I am contemplating getting the chrome blasted off and having the pipes ceramic coated in silver.

What do you think?

Generally speaking, there are very few bikes that will survive with chrome plated pipes.  This is particularly true with air cooled bikes and questionable chrome plating.  Given the extent of discoloration / rainbow going on with the pipes you're going to have to do something soon regardless.  If you leave the rust on there too long you're going to end up with pitted pipes.  Even though the rust looks minimal on the surface, there is more significant rust / corrosion under the plating that you're not seeing.  Also, ANY rust formation on chrome is indicative that porosity exists on the  plating.  Therefore, there's no real stopping it once it starts....

If you're contemplating traditional "polished ceramic" you may want to do some research before hand.  I'm not familiar with coating on this particular application but MANY bikes of  this genre run to hot for polished ceramic and ultimately require a high temp ceramic.  I know this is the case for many BMW, Ducati and Triumph applications....... 

[CCPcoatings.com]

Can "they" ceramic coat right over chrome?

It depends on the quality and condition of the existing chrome plating.  You have 2 basic types of chrome;  1) flash chrome / nickel plating and 2) traditional triple plated chrome consisting of layers of copper, nickel and chrome.  If given the opportunity, stripping the pipe to bare metal is always preferred, but not always possible.  cheaper flash plating will usually blast off pretty easily. 

Dealing with triple plated chrome becomes much more difficult and people receive a lot of bad info on this one.  In RARE cases this plating will also blast off completely, but again this is VERY rare.  In most cases failures with this type of plating result in sporadic strips of plating ranging from just chrome peeling off the nickel to strips of all 3 layers peeling from the substrate.  This is worst case scenario because because some dummy will try to blast this off and end up removing too much metal between the plating stages.  Reason being that the nickel is the HARDEST stage and very little will be removed as you're removing much more metal from the substrate.   

In rare cases like this its best to have the plating completely chemically stripped.  Again, don't be fooled into just removing the chrome layer.  This is pointless.  You actually need the NICKEL removed which is harder and more expensive to do which is why fewer people do it.

Best case scenario most chrome can be properly profiled to accept the ceramic coating and there is no need for expensive chemical stripping.  Below are a few samples over chrome plating in assorted conditions.