Painting Header Pipes?

[devonbiker]

The only thing that looks sad on my Buell are the stock header pipes. I would like them painted black and I do have some satin black heat resistant paint I bought for my stock exhaust. I just don't want to go through the hassle of taking my header pipes off again and wondering if I could paint them whilst on the bike? I bought paint rather than aerosol can because the paint is thicker but I don't know if the finish job will leave brush marks?

Anyone done this? Advise welcome.

 

[shaunbush84]

The finish will be horrible if you brush it on. If it was a gloss black you could potentially wet sand the brush strokes. This is how paint was applied in the old days (pre-50's). I would suggest taping off your bike, every nick and cranny, degrease the header, prime and paint. You will get overspray all over the place unless you tape it properly. Also you can get great results if you place your rattle cans in a bucket of hot water. It drastically increases the pressure and provides a bit more consistency.

 

[Cosworth]

You need to check what temperature your paint is resistant up to, aircooled xb headers get very hot. Even header specific paint doesnt last very long. Have you considered wrapping it with black or lava wrap it looks pretty good when done IMO.

 

[2004xb12s]

If you actually go through the trouble of taking them off make sure you spend the money and just get them ceramic coated. This would be the true "correct" way to do it. I highly doubt you will have success with that paint holding up

 

[snrusnak]

Paint will not hold up. The headers are way too hot. Even some ceramic coating will not hold up on an xb header.

 

[2004xb12s]

Even some ceramic coating will not hold up on an xb header

How do you know this and what kinds are you referring to? Any data to back this up or just speculation?

 

[Cosworth]

This ceramic is good to 1300 degrees... Ive run ceramic headers and mufflers on high performance aircooled vw engines for years with no problems.

http://www.jet-hot.com/coatings/jet-hot-extreme-1300/

 

[snrusnak]

How do you know this and what kinds are you referring to? Any data to back this up or just speculation?

From a local company. They recommended the high heat black (I initially wanted the silver). They said the silver should work but they told me that with the XB having very high EGT's it may dull over time. They said the black that they had was able to withstand higher temps.

This is what he sent me via email to which I followed up with a phone call:

"Sean,
The price of a v-twin header is $140 and $70 for the muffler in a high polish silver(chrome look) that will not discolor up to 1300 degrees or for $35 more you can get our matte black that holds up to 2000 degrees without discoloring i think the buell has a very high E.G.T. (exhaust gas temp) and would recommend the black.."

 

[d_adams]

This is what I use. Rated to 1800 degrees for the black velvet ceramic. 2000 degrees for the glacier black, I'll be testing that out soon.

http://www.cerakotehightemp.com/testing/

 

[adrnlnjnky700]

shine them up, hour of elbow grease, wd40, and a emory cloth.

 

[SEXT9]

I'd painted my last Buell with some 2000 degree header gloss black aerosol paint I got at Auto Zone. It looked great until a couple of months later. At some point in there it bubbled up through about 6-8" from the engine exhaust port. It flaked off completely closest to the engine and left spots further away where some bubbles flaked off.

I haven't used the ceramic aerosol paint on the headers yet. So I cant vouch for its use there. I did use the aerosol ceramic coat on the muffler though with the High Heat Clear Coat. That was funny when I did that project. My wife was less than enthused with the muffler being in the new oven and the smells coming from it. But, the muffler still looks like when I painted it a year ago.

Upon remembering how my last header paint job turned out, I think I'm just going to let Jet-Hot handle it this time. I hope the information helps you.

 

[neilrl79]

I second polishing them! WD-40 and redscotch bright pads did the trick for me!

 

[Goris]

Been running D_Adams ceramic on my headers for a while now with no issues.

 

[devonbiker]

Here in the UK we have CamCoat but when I made an enquiry about 3-4 years ago I'm sure I was told they only coat new exhausts? But that might be inside and outside coating only, I don't remember.

Well thanks for the info I've learned not to bother with the paint but get it done professionally [silencer]. I really don't want to strip the bike again but I am 10% considering it and 90% not. Last night I applied some satin polishing pad and started rubbing the headers down for about 5min. They started to brighten up alittle and to be honest looks better than the drab dull colour they were. One thing is though I don't want to be a slave to polishing headers, had that on my last exhaust which were chrome polished. Lastly, I never did like the header wrapping.

 

[stellio78]

I polished mine once and didn't like the experience so next time pulled them off and sent them to the ceramic coaters

Still looking good but not as shiny about 12,000 km later

 

[Jcastro4089]

stelllo78, thanks for sharing that last picture. I never knew that the shine would fade on ceramic coated pipes. I guess I naively thought they would keep that shine. Since they are ceramic coated, I'm assuming you can't polish it back out like you would if they weren't coated? Thanks for any info. I've been planning on getting mine polished but haven't done it yet.

 

[stellio78]

I've been told Mother aluminium mag polish is what people use to clean them up but I haven't tried it