Ceramic Coating an exhaust

[kurt535]

i've recently bought a full Akra system.

I'm considering getting the pipes ceramic coated before fitting but wondered whether:

1. it's worth it in terms of improved engine operation
2. protection from corrosion

Ty

[MotorsportTom]

AFAIK cermaic coating doesn't do anything apart from insulating the heat hence I have seen it on underseat Ducatis and the like to avoid a toasting.

At work we have had it done with one of our test engines and the cermaic gets helluva dirty when being handled, not sure what it would be like on a bike exposed, may be better or worse.

There is a chap on here who has had it done on a 1098 I think? Chipchap or Spareparts maybe?

It's probably cheaper to buy a spare exhaust and bolt it on when your original is done in.

[fergus]

Check out zircotec for more info.

[kurt535]

MotorsportTom said:

AFAIK cermaic coating doesn't do anything apart from insulating the heat hence I have seen it on underseat Ducatis and the like to avoid a toasting.

At work we have had it done with one of our test engines and the cermaic gets helluva dirty when being handled, not sure what it would be like on a bike exposed, may be better or worse.

There is a chap on here who has had it done on a 1098 I think? Chipchap or Spareparts maybe?

It's probably cheaper to buy a spare exhaust and bolt it on when your original is done in.

thats interesting. ty

[Yipper]

Some Lamborghinis, like the Gallardo Superleggera, have ceramic tailpipes from the factory, precisely to stop the heat melting the bumper and plastic / carbon surrounds and to minimize temperatures. They do work.

[fergus]

more info: http://www.zircotec.com/products-services/for-the-...

[xstian]

I've got ceramic coated exhausts on my RGV. My main reason was I wanted to keep the bike looking stock and also to stop corrosion on the original pipes. Before I had to paint them every couple of years. They have been on for 3 years now and there is zero rust, but the bike only gets used on dry days. I think being coated should help the gases flow quicker.

I've changed my mind now and think I'll get a set of S/S pipes, but I'll hold onto these, i'm bound to change my mind again at some point.

[spareparts]

Zircotec'd my zorst:





Big difference in heat management. The engine was rebuilt to 14:1 comp, so heat management was really important to avoid roasted inner leg.
Keeping it clean is very easy, and I've had no issue with it.

[tvrolet]

I had the headers on the Tuscan (6.3L V8 track car) zircotec coated inside and out in a shiny silver colour (looks like aluminium), and the old GPz1100 has the pipes coated gloss black (don't know the coating brand).

The good news - I could tell on the car they measurably cut down the under-bonnet heat so there is certainly some insulation delivered; not so clear on the bike with the pipes in the open air. In both cases it's a big improvement looks-wise over bare metal (and even stainless that just goes black/dark brown with the heat); and the pipes showed no signs of corrosion.

The questionable news is allegedly the lower heat transmission through the headers means the exhaust gas keeps hotter and flows faster, so more power - but this was just not noticeable driving or on the dyno.

The bad news - on the car, despite being told the coating holds up to zillions of degrees, the original nice shiny smooth coating changed to a matte finish and sandpaper-like texture over time close to the ports/heads with the heat. Nothing flaked off, and no problems maybe 6 inches down the headers, but the heat near the exhaust ports certainly changed the coating from shiny and smooth to dull and rough. The black coating on the bike has stayed smooth and shiny for 10+ years so I don't know if it's the silver gloss finish that's less robust than black, or if the car just spews out hotter gas - there's certainly more of it! But the black finish on the bike has been fine and still looks pristine.

Also, remember the heat of the exhaust gas coming out the engine hasn't changed and it has to go somewhere. On the car I found the collectors beyond the coated headers were getting noticeably hotter instead. There's no fairing/belly-pan on the bike so any increase in temperature further down the system hasn't made any difference.

[WaferThinHam]

kurt535 said:

i've recently bought a full Akra system.

I'm considering getting the pipes ceramic coated before fitting but wondered whether:

1. it's worth it in terms of improved engine operation
2. protection from corrosion

Ty

Stainless Steel, or Titanium headers?

(It's Akrapovic neither are likely to corrode very quickly).

[kurt535]

WaferThinHam said:

kurt535 said:

i've recently bought a full Akra system.

I'm considering getting the pipes ceramic coated before fitting but wondered whether:

1. it's worth it in terms of improved engine operation
2. protection from corrosion

Ty

Stainless Steel, or Titanium headers?

(It's Akrapovic neither are likely to corrode very quickly).

stainless. i rang the suggested company on this post and they want @ £350

[WaferThinHam]

kurt535 said:

stainless. i rang the suggested company on this post and they want @ £350

They use very good quality stainless to be fair to them. It's not really needed from a corrosion perspective, nor a gas flow perspective. (If it noticeably improved gas flow then MotoGP bikes would use it). If bits of your machine run near your legs or toast your arse then wrap them for a bit of endurance racer chic. Ceramic coating seems largely pointless and expensive to be, but if that's what you want to do them go for it, life would be boring if we all liked the same stuff.

[spareparts]

WaferThinHam said:

kurt535 said:

stainless. i rang the suggested company on this post and they want @ £350

They use very good quality stainless to be fair to them. It's not really needed from a corrosion perspective, nor a gas flow perspective. (If it noticeably improved gas flow then MotoGP bikes would use it). If bits of your machine run near your legs or toast your arse then wrap them for a bit of endurance racer chic. Ceramic coating seems largely pointless and expensive to be, but if that's what you want to do them go for it, life would be boring if we all liked the same stuff.

Wrapping the exhaust on a Ducati superbike goes tatty really fast, looks poor, and is not as effective as ceramic coating. I know this having tried it before going the zircotec route. The wrap also stains the exhaust with the pattern of the fabric. I'd recommend getting it done properly by Zircotec (or Camcote) for a durable and effective finish that works as intended.

[WaferThinHam]

spareparts said:

Wrapping the exhaust on a Ducati superbike goes tatty really fast, looks poor, and is not as effective as ceramic coating. I know this having tried it before going the zircotec route. The wrap also stains the exhaust with the pattern of the fabric. I'd recommend getting it done properly by Zircotec (or Camcote) for a durable and effective finish that works as intended.

Nice, if you like it then fair play.

[kurt535]

ty all

[BrassMan]

spareparts said:

Big difference in heat management. The engine was rebuilt to 14:1 comp, so heat management was really important to avoid roasted inner leg.

Daft question:

Shouldn't a higher comp give a lower exhaust temperature, assuming the valves open in the same place?

[rodericb]

I have the insides done on my 999R. Rear header still gets pretty burny on the right leg. I wanted to keep the natural finish and don't like the look of wrapping. Also did it to avoid burning the paint on the bottom of the left fairing but I also lined that bit of the fairing with Teknofibra which is amazing stuff.

[spareparts]

BrassMan said:

spareparts said:

Big difference in heat management. The engine was rebuilt to 14:1 comp, so heat management was really important to avoid roasted inner leg.

Daft question:

Shouldn't a higher comp give a lower exhaust temperature, assuming the valves open in the same place?

Higher comp = bigger bang = more heat to evacuate = higher exhaust temp

That's my simpletons understanding, but no doubt someone will be along soon to correct me

[BrassMan]

Bump. Expert, plox?

spareparts said:

BrassMan said:

spareparts said:

Big difference in heat management. The engine was rebuilt to 14:1 comp, so heat management was really important to avoid roasted inner leg.

Daft question:

Shouldn't a higher comp give a lower exhaust temperature, assuming the valves open in the same place?

Higher comp = bigger bang = more heat to evacuate = higher exhaust temp

That's my simpletons understanding, but no doubt someone will be along soon to correct me

AIUI, greater compression means greater expansion on the powerstroke, so more energy extracted, higher efficiency and less heat in the exhaust. But turbo engines run a lower compression and the modern high efficency engines are blown, so there's obviously a lot more to it than that.

[InductionRoar]

tvrolet said:

Also, remember the heat of the exhaust gas coming out the engine hasn't changed and it has to go somewhere. On the car I found the collectors beyond the coated headers were getting noticeably hotter instead. There's no fairing/belly-pan on the bike so any increase in temperature further down the system hasn't made any difference.

I've heard of people having their cats destroyed as a result of ceramic coating too due to the extra heat travelling further down the pipes as opposed to escaping through the walls of the manifolds. I wanted to do this ages ago (on a car though) and decided the cost and difficulty of access to remove and refit the manifolds was absolutely not worth it for a road car (for me).

Would have looked lovely though.