ceramic exhaust coating?

[HawaiianBassHed]

so I picked up a ceramic coated stock exhaust for my LtR the 08+ have a better stock header, so I got a black ceramic'd stock 08 exhaust. my Q is, is it supposed to have a burn in? it seemed like it was burning in and like steaming or smoking and I could definitely smell it.

another Q which I'm gonna search, but can never get a good answer. what's the easiest/fastest way to polish things, aluminum, stainless whatever. I've used the wadding polish, rubbing compounds and my drill with a polish wheel, my dremel with a polish wheel. and sometimes it's just like the metal doesn't wanna cooperate and others it does and I can't seem to figure it out. same brand matching wheels even lol. one comes out nice and gets done quick. then the other I try to repeat the process and I dunno if my wheel just needs to be clean or brand new or wtf but I'll sit there for what seems like alot longer and not get it as shiney as the previous one. currently, I polished my tip and it came out quick, but the heat shield is fighting me pretty good. I got a couple edges nice with the dremel as the tip I polished by hand and it was quick and painless.. the tip and shield are both stainless...

 

[Blasterb0y794]

Legit ceramic coating, is sprayed as a liquid then back for 20 minutes at 450*
If its the crap in a can (high heat) then its going to smoke/smell before it gets cured. There should be no burning of it.

Best way to polish stuff if already bare aluminum;grab a can of mothers mag & aluminum polish, some 1500 grit sandpaper and a dremel with buffing wheel. Ill show you what that can do if youd like. I have some pictures of my stator and clutch cover polished on the raptor.

 

[callmej75]

I can speak for the ceramic coating i use..I shoot it on as a wet application, then let air dry for about 5 minutes after applying 2-3 light coats, totally covering the part. Then baking it at 500* for 1 hour, then putting it on the bike/vehicle and the baking process completes once the engine is at peak temps and ran for awhile. you will smell an odor of chemicals for a little bit...but there should be no smoking or steaming.

Blasterboy is probably correct in assuming it could have been applied with a ratle can and just air dried. The part must also be properly prepped before applying the ceramic coating. Sanded or bead blasted at best, and THOROUGHLY cleaned of any greases left on it, then apply the coating or it will practically flake off after the first few times of riding. It should retain its appearance as well with no "burn in" marks.

I did Harley pipes at one time and had the most difficult time in getting it to stick after prepping. I practically rinsed it in alcohol the last time I did it after totally stripping and the coating stuck.

I have a Toomey pipe now and they are very shiny, so i want to retain that look, so I will use some clear ceramic coating over that to avoid any rusting of it because the hotter it gets, the more it breaks down the chrome and eventually it begins to "blue" and rust up.

Yeh...shouldn't be doing the things as you described if they did it right and used good ceramic coating on it.

 

[HawaiianBassHed]

I actually ended up running a search on polishing stainless and came to the conclusion I was using to light of a polishing compound. so I switched to a heavy compound and it's working MUCH better/faster. but still slow. I'm doing stainless right now and it's not nearly as easy as aluminum. I think the proper compound for material makes a big difference after reading up on it more.

as for the ceramic. I suppose it could be cheap with a rattle can type. I think I'll run it for now and find out. worst case scenario I need to redo the coating. does powder coating work on exhausts? or is ceramic all about the high temp resistance?...

 

[callmej75]

Ceramic coating actually acts as a barrier on the outside of the exhaust that permits the heat from radiating and keeps it in the pipe til it exits from the end. It's major concern would be with the drag racers on quads with big pipes that are near your legs or feet. They aid in vehicles in reducing the under hood temps, which makes the engine a little cooler and make a little more hp out of. They are excellent in corrosion resistance in comparison to a regular high temp paint.

I have used high temp powders on FMF pipes for a banshee and I'm not sure how they held up in the long run. They resist temps...I believe around the 1,000* range. They offer excellent corrosion resistance as well, but you are limited in colors. For a quad that you aren't drag racing all the time, going the high temp powder coating would be the best pick out of them all if it was me. The only reason why i only would use the ceramic on my Toomey is because it is clear and offers a better barrier against corrosion than just the bare pipe. If they had clear powder I would probably be more apt to go that route. If you want, do some reading up on ceramic coatings on the following site:

Caswell Inc. - Tech Line Coatings

You can see the color choices in a broad range here:

http://www.columbiacoatings.com/category_s/7.htm

 

[Blasterb0y794]

I actually ended up running a search on polishing stainless and came to the conclusion I was using to light of a polishing compound. so I switched to a heavy compound and it's working MUCH better/faster. but still slow. I'm doing stainless right now and it's not nearly as easy as aluminum. I think the proper compound for material makes a big difference after reading up on it more.

as for the ceramic. I suppose it could be cheap with a rattle can type. I think I'll run it for now and find out. worst case scenario I need to redo the coating. does powder coating work on exhausts? or is ceramic all about the high temp resistance?...

Regular PC on a header = fail. The high temp will break down the powder and it will flake off eventually.

 

[callmej75]

On a header..yeh it will deteriorate rapidly. On a stock quad...nope. Now if you are bored out alot on the jug, it will produce much more higher temps on the pipe and I would be iffy about doing powder coat on it. You can do stock manifolds on a stock auto engine and get away with it...but if you're running some advance on the timing and the valvetrain is not stock...and bumped up in performance a tad...then no it won't work

 

[callmej75]

I haven't done any research on PC and r&d that much... 8-|

 

[phragle]

If I remember right, on mac dizzy it was mentioned that coating the pipe negatively effects power...

 

[callmej75]

I haven't ran into them situations phragle...but I cannot say that it doesn't without a dyno.