Painting Exhaust Pipes

[BowlingSS]

I think the XS11 I have been working on have the Jardine 4 into 2 spaghetti pipes. Is it possible to paint these black? They look really bad. I was not sure paint would stick to the pipes.

Thanks guys.
Bill

[tcoop]

Ceramic coating would be the way to go.

[BowlingSS]

Ceramic coating would be the way to go.

I am sure that would be costly. Do you know someone that would do the coating? They also have some large dents in them.

Bill

[tcoop]

I meant to say POWDER coating (I think it is/or can be ceramic). You should be able to find a local shop to do it for you.

If you wanted to get them painted for cheep you could get some black grill paint from Home Depot. It will need to be re-applied every so often.

[jetmechmarty]

The auto parts houses have header paint. Use that. You can ceramic coat them when your budget allows. You'll want the dents out.

[IanDMacDonald]

I'll quickly comment on the grill paint, and header paint: they don't work unless you COMPLETELY strip the chrome off. I repeat, COMPLETELY. Done two bikes trying both types of paint. The grill paint does not hold-up, and the header paint gets a gray color. The Rev used a spray-on ceramic coating with great results. I believe the company is JET Coatings. See his "Standard for a $1.00" thread for more info.

[mrhammer2u]

Another cheap alternative would be to wrap the headers. Doesn't do much for your mufflers though. Just an idea.

[crazy steve]

Another cheap alternative would be to wrap the headers. Doesn't do much for your mufflers though. Just an idea.

The bad thing with header wrap is it retains moisture and will quickly rot them out. If they're already rusty, this will accelerate the rusting. Plus your bike will smell like a wet dirty dog when the wrap gets wet....

You can get paint to stick to chrome, but you'll need to scuff the surface really well. If you do this, you'll never get them shiny again. Paint will be a continuing maintenance item as pretty any of them will discolor/stain over time.

As to the dents, getting those out will be a chore. You'll either have to cut out/replace the damaged sections, or fab a mandrel to pull through the pipes to remove the dents. Neither method is easy...

Coatings, while not cheap, will be the most durable option. But even these will stain if 'stuff' is allow to bake on.

Now, I've been experimenting on my XJ exhaust recently. The system is basically sound, but with scratches/scuffs/dings and heavy rust in those hard-to-get-to places that don't always get cleaned well. What I'm trying is buffing the bits on my buffer, with a loose cotton buff and white compound where the plating is still mostly intact, and a sewn buff and rouge compound where it's really rusty. While this won't remove dents/dings, it has 'restored' the chrome much better than I had hoped for. This works really well for getting rust off, and even diminishes minor scuffs, discoloration, and scratches. You have to be a bit careful with the rouge compound as it's aggressive enough that it will buff through the chrome to the nickel. It's a slow, dirty and messy process and I haven't had time lately to finish up because of family issues, but I think I can get the system to an acceptable appearance once I'm done. I'll post up a 'how-to' when I'm done if it works out...

[IanDMacDonald]

Sounds good Steve. Would this be possible with the exhaust system on the bike?

[Prisoner6]

The Rev used a spray-on ceramic coating with great results. I believe the company is JET Coatings.

I believe The Rev used a Cerakote ceramic coating on his exhaust.

The other company is Jet-Hot High Performance Coatings.

Here is a before/after example of just one of the many options Jet-Hot has available:



And here is a pic of Dale's (foreda) former G (recently sold) with ceramic-coated headers. I think these headers look fantastic!

[crazy steve]

Sounds good Steve. Would this be possible with the exhaust system on the bike?

Not really.... You wouldn't be able to get into the worst areas, and you'd make a complete mess of the bike after all the compound and strings off the buffs go everywhere. No way I'd try to do this on the bike...

One advantage of the XJ system is the mufflers are separate, so it's not quite as clumsy as a XS system; the biggest piece is the mufflers. You could do a XS system (and I have one I'll do if this works out) but it'll be a wrestling contest.

[haywardguy929]

Been meaning to post a pic of my pipes, painted the header with header paint and while there are a couple small spots it looks a lot better then they did., use some existing parts, some stock muffler parts that I wrapped. Made the back brackets and got a sweet deal on the Harley pipes.. Pink drive way compliment of a flowering crab tree.. Also used high temp hose for the cross over and has held up great so far.

[IMG][/IMG]

[BowlingSS]

Been meaning to post a pic of my pipes, painted the header with header paint and while there are a couple small spots it looks a lot better then they did., use some existing parts, some stock muffler parts that I wrapped. Made the back brackets and got a sweet deal on the Harley pipes.. Pink drive way compliment of a flowering crab tree.. Also used high temp hose for the cross over and has held up great so far.

[IMG][/IMG]

They do look great. How long have they been painted? Did you sand the chrome before painting?

Bill

[BowlingSS]

I believe The Rev used a Cerakote ceramic coating on his exhaust.

The other company is Jet-Hot High Performance Coatings.

Here is a before/after example of just one of the many options Jet-Hot has available:



And here is a pic of Dale's (foreda) former G (recently sold) with ceramic-coated headers. I think these headers look fantastic!

What color did he use? Was it the Chromex (High Solids)?

Bill

[BowlingSS]

Cerakote ceramic coating is not cheap. For 16 oz is about $87 with shipping.
I am sure the 4oz would not be enough.

Bill